Homebrew PCBs

All Chris said on this forum about ballendo is true. PCB driller that 
ballendo is promising, is never going to happen which means to you one 
thing: guys, do not wait for it, build your own! 

Many things changed in 1.5 year since the original announcement and 
many people built their machines, so what was hot back than, I don't 
think is as hot any more.

Your idea of a $600 machine needs to be revisted: you cannot do it 
although Fred did something similar:

http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=121

as far as I can tell, Fred's machine resembles ballendo's specs almost 
exactly, scratch the servos.

I do not recall ballendo ever mentioning laser cut sheet metal except 
for yesterday. Who knows, maybe there was a discussion on a CNC group 
in the past and laser cutting sheet metal was mentioned? However, 
coincidence of it, is stunning: one day Fred announced his machine and 
few days later ballendo is doing  a marketing research with the same 
specs.

Having said that, instead of describing a pattern of behavior, I am 
asking a question, can a  machine, like Fred listed, be built for $600 
with stepper motors and a controller? I am not sure if ballendo 
offered to add a Dremel but probbaly not so let's assume that a Dremel 
tool is on top of the $600, ie, the PCB drilelr  becomes a $700 
machine.

The answer is:
1. Sheetmetal (material, laser cutting and bending): $300
2. Leadscrews $100
3. Motors (they will be direct coupled): $50 
4. adapters, screws, bolts, nuts: $20
5. Machine has to glide on something, Fred's is gliding on slides and 
they are not cheap, so: 150
6. Machining, drilling: one hour=$60
7. Packaging: $30
8. Controller: $100
9. Power supply (maybe he didn't include one) $40. By the way, www.mfj 
is out of them until Nov 30)

Total: $850 Of course, there is no profit in it (and no spindle either)
and I do not expect a product without a profit. Now, let's talk about 
Fred's machine for a sec: servos $100x3, controller $600=$1000
Do you see that Fred's machine costs $1000, motors and controller are 
another $1000 and software included is free? And he also gave you a 
free spindle. 

Question is how long can Fred advertise that machine before increasing 
the prise...

Feel free to correct my numbers.

Mike

as usual, there is a cheaper alternative: www.kleinbauer.com :)