The Shop > Tools
CNC Engraver
WeldingRod:
Cable chain is well worth the time! You will put a LOT of miles on that thing!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
philf:
Ade,
You could have a go at isolation milling the tracks on your pcbs as well as drilling them on the machine.
I've had some success doing it on my mill. It may not work so well with very small tracks or very densely packed surface mount components.
Phil.
AdeV:
Hi Rod & Phil,
Yep - cable chains are almost as mesmerising as the shaper! Almost.... I'm extremely chuffed I've bought them, they make the machine look much more finished, if you know what I mean.
Speaking of chain - I've got about 570mm left over of the metre I had to buy, if any MadModder wants it for free, just drop me a PM. No end plates I'm afraid (I'm using both of them), but you could 3D print or mill something up easily enough I'm sure. UK only because of postage costs TBH, if you live in Forrin* then you'd probably be able to get it cheaper from a Chinese seller than I can post it to you...
Phil - Yeah... isolation routing... I've never really liked the idea much, not sure why as I know loads of people use it, there's no chemicals involved, etc. However, I've already got most of the chemicals & containers to do a full PTH production line... just need to start putting all the jigsaw pieces together... That will be the subject of another series of MM posts I'm sure (if anyone's interested!).
I'll be doing this "old skool" - using silk screen printing for various stages; lots of chemicals and so on; a UV light box (1st project... it needs a PCB... spot the catch 22!). So far the hardest job has been finding a silk-screenable photoresist, so I may end up going with dry film, which is not the process as I remember it from the 1980s when Dad used to run a PCB production line.
Anyhow... fun times ahead! Still got a couple of slightly more professional looking brackets to make for the little machine, I'm going to try to get a couple of evenings in the shop this week, to get things moving.
* Forrin = Foreign = anywhere outside the UK, in case that wasn't clear!!
AdeV:
That's more like it!
I suppose, one day, I might make some brackets which hide the microswitches away... but I kinda like them being out on show. It makes them easy to test too!
AdeV:
A couple of hours fannying about at the mill (about 1 hr of which was tidying up and lining the vice back up properly; I'd taken it off last week & only roughed it in...), and I produced a dead simple bracket from a piece of 6mm plate I had lying about. No process shots, it's all easy peasy stuff that we've all done.
The bracket is held to the machine with a single M4 screw. I did consider putting 2 in, but I can use the rotation to adjust it "just so" to maximise travel. And, somehow, I've managed to get the full 300mm width with the switch in its new position :clap:
So, a few piccies of it in its new home.
Next up.. a full-size plastic sacrificial bed.... then I guess I'd better design a PCB to drill!
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