PCB Routing

[zayance]

....Still need to have a vaccum table tough.....

Make your own. I did so many of them.

1. Make a vacuum chamber (a box) out of 12-15mm mdf. Use plenty of wood glue on the joints to be air tight. Drill holes on the top plane. The larger the holes the more vacuum you will need. So 3-4mm diameter is nominal. Of course you should drill the holes and clean them in advance. On one side of the box you will have the outlet to connect the vacuum pump.

2. Above is your basic box. Get some acrylic (cast not extruded) sheet of  3-4mm thick and drill the same hole pattern as the table. These will go on top as the replacable plates so that if you accidentally plunge the cutter into them the vacuum chamber is not destroyed. In fact when you are cutting/profiling it will naturally be destroyed in time.

3. Use a vacuum cleaner as the vacuum pump.

4. When you are using smaller work piece lay some thin sheets of plastic/ paper over the unused areas of the table so that you are not losing vacuum unnecessarily.

5. Rake through the skips for the MDF and the vacuum cleaners. Recently my guy Dan brought two Dysons in superb condition. The hoses were blocked and idiots did not even bother looking for what was wrong.

For the acrylic sheet ask your local supplier if they have any scratched write-offs. You probably get them free.

So the whole thing will  cost you only the wood glue.

yes i was thinking about it, thanks for the hints.....
Now how much is the paste price, that could be killer, will see if they sell the consumables?

 

[Ptownkid]

They do...it's $250 usd for 20 2.5g packets....

 

[zayance]

They do...it's $250 usd for 20 2.5g packets....

All right i give up.... haha. but their box is a rippoff then....

So 12.5usd fo 1 pack, wich i believe is the kind that when opened, maybe not storable, and so you loose all?
Or maybe like solder paste, just store it in the fridge.....

mhaaa why bother, just get it made i guess, woudl have been nice to try that out tough...

 

[ruffrecords]

I got an email from Roland today. Their little router is going to retail around GBP600 in the UK. Should be out in November.

Cheers

Ian

 

[r2d2]

hello Ian
what model for gbp600?
peace

I got an email from Roland today. Their little router is going to retail around GBP600 in the UK. Should be out in November.

Cheers

Ian

 

[zayance]

what model for gbp600?

Reply #21 and #22

 

[ruffrecords]

hello Ian
what model for gbp600?
peace

It is the iModela iM-01

Cheers

Ian

 

[Paultec]

Hi Ian,

This may be totally irrelevant to your cause, but have you considered making pcbs using the laser printer method?

I know this involves manual drilling etc, but I thought i'd mention it.



Paul

 

[ruffrecords]

Hi Ian,

This may be totally irrelevant to your cause, but have you considered making pcbs using the laser printer method?

Yes, we covered it in some detail earlier in the thread and I got a very generous offer from a group member to make my prototype PCBs for me.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Paultec]

Hi Ian,

The method I suggest doesn't require a UV exposure unit.

I can make PCB's in ten minutes from artwork.

The cnc method is a convoluted way of making boards, IMHO.

Best of luck,

Paul

 

[gemini86]

There are a few pre-sensitized boards out there that don't require UV lamps, just regular light for exposure. I picked up a 6x9 a while back, haven't got around to using it yet. Maybe tomorrow if I'm feeling peppy.

 

[Paultec]

Just out of interest,

Which pcb software do you use?

Regards,

Paul

 

[ruffrecords]

Just out of interest,

Which pcb software do you use?

Regards,

Paul

FreePCB

Cheers


Ian