Cheap custom PCB – Making PCBs with a CNC machine
If you’re looking to fabricate a cheap custom PCB, then access to a CNC milling machine is something you really need. A simple and cheap way to make custom PCBs is using a CNC or compute numerical control machine. With the help of a CNC machine, you’ll be able to manufacture PCBs in no time. Milling your printed circuit boards on a CNC machine is a quick way to make cheap custom PCB. Other benefits of using a CNC machine to make printed circuit boards include:
- Inexpensive PCBs: you just have to pay for blank circuit boards
- Quick turnaround
- The process is easily repeatable
- The mill performs the drilling
Making PCBs with a CNC machine is rather easy. Therefore, CNC milling provides you with an easy to make and cheap custom PCB. Compared to etching, milling a circuit board with a CNC machine is a quicker and less messy PCB fabrication method. In order to cut a path into copper clad board, CNC mill uses an extremely sharp mill bit. This creates the circuit by cutting isolation paths around the circuit board tracks. There are a number of ways to do this. However, you must always keep the basic steps in mind. Following are the steps involved in this cheap PCB fabrication method.
Gather the required tools
The first step in this cheap PCB fabrication process is gathering the required tools. The hardware you require for CNC milling include the CNC machine, used carbide drills, milling bits and single or double-sided copper clad blank circuit boards. The software you need includes a computer aided design (CAD) program and a computer aided manufacturing (CAM) program.
Create the circuit schematic and board layout
Once you’ve gather all the required tools, the next step in the process is creating the board layout and circuit schematic by using a computer aided design (CAD) program. Today, a number of CAD programs are available for designing printed circuit boards. Some CAD programs include EAGLE, KiCad, Upverter, and Altium.
Generate instructions for the CNC machine
Once you’ve created the board layout and circuit schematic, generate instructions for the CNC machine based on the board design using a computer aided manufacturing or CAM program. The language of CNC machines is G-code. The EAGLE software comes with a plugin called pcb-gcode that transmutes the board design to G-code. However, other PCB CAD programs don’t come with such a plugin. Therefore, the intermediate step of generating Drill and Gerber files becomes necessary with them.
The instructions for generating Drill and Gerber files are what all PCB software comes with. You can use CAM software such as CircuitCAM or FlatCAM to create G-code files once you’ve created drill and Gerber files.
Mill
The final step in this cheap PCB fabrication process is using the instructions generated by the computer aided manufacturing program to mill the board with a CNC machine. For this procedure, you can choose from many different CNC control software and CNC machines.