Homebrew PCBs

We just got the haas recently so I haven't played with it out much but it's
pretty much effortless.

On my first go, I used 6in/min, 7500rpm (max on the haas).  I noticed the
spindle was very hot without coolant.  Maybe that makes a difference in your
bits wearing out sooner without coolant.  I just used the machine vice on
the machine without any sort of glue or vaccum table.  The only problem I
encountered was it was too deep for the tool to go in so I had to machine
only the inside of the pcb.

I can get 1-2mil thick cutting lines with each pass using the engraving tool
and ordered some 30 deg carbide tips.  The haas has .1mil repeatable
accuracy so I run about 4 passes to make sure I get a good cut,
.1mil*4+2mil=2.4 mil separation of the traces is easily achievable.

It's reasonable fast if you don't do too many passes.

I just ran the singlesided and demo2 boards included with Eagle.  If I had a
big board, I'd just spend the $60 and send it out.

I'm used to Protel and Orcad and Eagle seems a long way from either so my
next task is figuring out how to import gerber files into eagle.


On 8/19/08, Mark Brueggemann <qrq_cw@...> wrote:
>
>   --- Henry Liu <henryjliu@... <henryjliu%40gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> > I want to test how fine a resolution my lines can be.
> > Would be nice to get a good assortment of 1-12mil widths and
> > clearances.
>
> Do you have much experience with the Haas machine? I use a
> QuickCircuit at work, and anything smaller than the 10mil bits
> is virtually impossible. I can't find a combination of bit
> and feed speed that won't break the bits. 12 mil gaps is about
> as fine as I can do reliably, saving the 8 mil to carve out gaps
> between IC pads. Widths of course aren't much of a problem as
> it's a subtractive process. EAGLE generates the gerber and
> drill files for the quickcircuit software just fine, just getting
> the flippin' thing to carve it out is a challenge. Time consuming
> at best. A complex board takes hours and hours...
>
> Mark B.
> Albuquerque, NM
>
> 
>


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