If you want to go nuts, you can buy a desktop CNC mill (think 3D
printer with a milling head) for Â2-4k ...
MJE
On 19/07/16 20:12, Tom wrote:
On 19/07/16 17:57, Gordon Henderson
wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jul 2016, Tom wrote:
I think this is quite interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLQajSRnELc
I've seen CNC routers make PCBs before - they mostly work out
OK. Registration for double-sided is hard though, and of-course
you get the board in the same state as if you had etched it
yourself - no solder mask, silkscreen, etc.
But as others have said, there is a plethora of small companies
who'll make your board now - and most are more professional than
you can imagine. I did my little ladder board for the Pi 4 years
ago now as a bit of an experiment to see how far the technology
had come - it had been 25 years since I last made a PCB using a
drawing package on the Apple II and printing then photocopying
onto acetate then using photo resist...
I used Fritzing for the layout and a UK prototyping company for
the first boards, then a UK company who did all the Chinese
interfacing when I wanted 600 of them made.
I used http://www.pcbpanel.co.uk/Home.html
for the prototypes - actually quite expensive, but I got 6 Pi
sized PCBs for under Â100 with a 5-day turnaround, then used: http://www.quick-teck.co.uk/index.php
when I wanted batches of 300 boards made.
So there are plenty of options these days.
The setup costs are the biggest part - so for small runs you're
going to pay almost as much for larger runs unless you use a
service that batches up lots of small designs them runs them all
at once... (I think pcb train does this), but they can take a
few weeks.
I know a few people using Ragworm http://ragworm.eu/
now - might use them myself for my next project too...
I do think it's very worth it now to get your own PCB made for
you - even if it's just a one-off project - if nothing else to
impress :-)
Cheers,
Gordon
I was really considering this for a teaching exercise - with
all this RaspberryPi and micro:bit etc going on as an ex
microchip designer I'd like to help teach IT and electronics. It
looks like there is a bootstrapping possibility here - OK solder
doesn't smell right anymore but you can probably go from
RaspberryPi and a small bath of etchant to a full blown PCB
production on a bootstrapped cnc plotter/cutter. The learning
process would result in seriously useful tangible things!
Ragworm are Â40 (+pp) for a one off that should be around Â3 or
Â4 if you have a school/club with a reasonable stock order of
PCB blanks,
|
