Make Your Own PCBs on a CNC Mill

[markba633csi]

Ah yes I see, Z down is what I was wondering about- you would make it the copper thickness plus a few thousandths

 

[MontanaAardvark]

I still don't quite follow, it is -.067" with respect to what surface? Obviously I don't have a CNC background. Would it not be .062 minus 0.005 = .057? with respect to the sacrificial surface? I was talking about the milling operation not the drilling
Mark

It might be helpful to know the thickness of the copper on a circuit board.

The industry specifies this in "ounces of copper" like 1 ounce or 1/2 ounce. That's measured over a one square foot panel. 1 ounce copper is .0014 thick and half ounce is half that or .0007". Commercial boards are often thicker because of being solder coated, or during the time that holes through the board are plated, they get more plating, and power handling boards can start out as 2 ounce copper, .0028". Both 1 and 1/2 are pretty common, with most modern boards being 1/2 ounce with very fine traces and gaps between them - things like .005" wide traces spaced .005" apart, or thinner.

So a board that's .062 thick, double sided with 1 ounce copper is .0648 thick. Setting the drill to go .067 is just barely going through the board. The included angle of the tip of the bit might not go all the way through.

Hope that's useful. I was just passing through and since I'm a retired electrical engineer/radio designer, this stuff was my world once or twice a year for decades.

 

[jmarkwolf]

I've acquired a like-new LPKF Protomat S62 circuit board milling machine complete. Very nice, Google it.

Don't have a need for it. Will trade for machines/tools.

 

[petcnc]

I've acquired a like-new LPKF Protomat S62 circuit board milling machine complete. Very nice, Google it.

Don't have a need for it. Will trade for machines/tools.

This machine trends at 12,000 $
You are talking serious money here!!!!