PCB milling tutorial with a Proxxon MF 70 CNC milling machine using Estlcam and PCB-GCODE

[@robdevenney]

Joop sorry about some of the other comments..... you can't please everyone I guess. I just wanted to say a million thank yous for explaining the CNC process considerably better than any other video or tutorial I have seen or read you presented the information is a easy to understand way for beginners like me who just finished making a perfectly working CNC machine and then realized I have no idea how to use it properly but just that information about the number of revolutions x steps equals mm of travel has made it so much more clearer. I can do mechanics and practical electronics no problem but was struggling a lot with the software side. You were able to avoid using a lot of technical jargon and present the facts in a friendly manner so for that thank you. Cool name by the way

[@Joop_Brokking]

Thank you for taking the time to write this comment. I really appreciate it!

[@VoltageLP]

wow, that surface level scan thingy sounds great

[@Pavana_sai]

thank you @joop. im trying to design quadcopter after watching your video territorials YMFC 3D its working fine. now im trying to design this milling project.

[@shadowbannedagain1737]

Digging the accent in the EXCELLENT tutorial, certainly breaks up the monotony of the many, many that I watch....RAD.

[@JohnJohnson-dl8oq]

Very nice video! V-shaped bits work really well. The pcb should be flat, as any variations in the height will cause the cuts to varying in width.

[@Telectronics]

Very nice project ! Do you have done anything against backlash or can you compensate for that in software ?

[@CincyPlasmaTech]

I thought you were already milling PCBs with the same gantry mill you use to cut carbon fiber boards. Flat end cutters pull up the copper layer leaving gangly burs to sand off or make a second pass along the contour with a chamfer mill. I look forward to your use of the engraving cutter. The rake should leave smaller burs along the contours (tool path). I need to try it myself.

[@Banzay20]

any sucess on the thinner drilling bits yet? thanks for an awsome project!

[@ricardosugawara9626]

Cool video! Joop, I am considering this conversion, but I am concerned the pcb area could be small. What's the milling area you can get ? Thank you.

[@bramswaneveld3143]

Top video, dank hiervoor. Ik overweeg deze ook te gaan maken (eerst dacht ik aan de 3018 Pro). Ik heb een vraag over de stappenmotoren: Welke zou je aanbevelen Nema 17 of Nemo 23?

[@diywithpapo4576]

can you put the wiring diagram for the arduino drivers lcd box with arduino sketch

[@RinksRides]

EstleCAM will get a try from me! been using FlatCAM 8.5, workflow is "clunky" at best and there is no adjusting the output gcode file in any way and has to be edited manually in Geany (has great find/replace function. using an i3 clone 3D printer I'm using for CNC PCB drill and scratch style engraver (scratches paint/marker off the copper for acid etching). The printer control board will not understand certain M/F codes and will not move unless the X/Y coordinates are separated with a space (the main need for Geany editor is to insert the proper feed rates and the important space character between X and Y numbers... EstleCAM looks much easier to use!

[@ZorlacSkater]

Can you pleae make a video to show how to convert the machine to a CNC machine?

[@pablofernandez2894]

In 4:24, the arduino female pins seem to have a "socket" between them and the male pins. Why is that? Is it in order to fixate them in place?

[@Joop_Brokking]

To connect the wires to the Arduino I used male pin headers. This works better then single connections.

[@shadihal7029]

what router bits do you use? and can yo tell me why my stepper motors glitch when the spindle is at full speed i'm using a relay module which consists of an optocoupler and i tried supplying the motor with a separate source but that didn't fix it so it must be some type of noise on the motor pin but i can't solve it any help?

[@Joop_Brokking]

Make sure you got a solid ground on all components. I'm using the right bit (top left corner) during this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3Wun3qgoJubaacm8s

[@vitovb]

Hi Joop, tnks for the video, can you tell me something about the Arduino sketch, I do not understand how it work.

[@benjaminisaacs4668]

Hey There!! what trace width did you use for your board? Cheers Benjamin

[@Joop_Brokking]

0.016 inch.

[@TheDiylog]

Can you recommend some good end mills for pcb milling?

[@SolidWorksTutorial1]

Thank you dear

[@houseofjax21]

Great video. Thanks!

[@electrobob]

Have you tried milling bigger PCBs? is the calibration good enough?

[@Joop_Brokking]

The Proxxon does not have a lot of travel. But as long as the stepper motor does not skip any pulses it should work fine.

[@electrobob]

Thanks.

[@user-ro6qv1rb3c]

hello did you change the axis M8 mile?

[@keeshoek5690]

Dag Joop, Je filmpje ziet er leuk uit joop en als je een beetje verstand van electronica en computertaal heb zal het best goed te volgen zijn en zoals jij zegt "het is heel makkelijk",Maar voor mij is het allemaal wel een beetje nieuw, en ik zal het zeker nog wel een keer of wat gaan bekijken om er toch wat van op te steken. want ik heb wel een MF70 en die wil ik ombouwen en een programmatje dat ie dat gaat doen wat die mf70 van jou ook doet..... Maar heb hier en daar is gevraagd maar dan komen ze al met prijzen aan van 2 /3 /400 euro, Joop zou jij me misschien aan wat adressen kunnen helpen om voor een schappelijke prijs aan die materialen te komen die ik nodig heb om mijn om te bouwen, ik hoorde wel al iets in je filmpje dat je voor onder de 20 $ aan de slag kan. Nou ik hoop wat van je te horen, alhoewel ik wel zie dat je deze vragen niet altijd beantwoord.. Maar ja dan heb je der toch een abonnee bij. Alvast bedankt

[@kasperjr]

super vid Joop..nu bijna 2 jaar later, zou je me nog steeds dezelfde hardware aanraden om mijne mf70 te automatiseren tot cnc als beginner?

[@Joop_Brokking]

Bij mij werkt het nog steeds. Ik geloof wel dat er nieuwe mogelijkheden beschikbaar zijn maar daar heb ik mij niet in verdiept.

[@domdom-r8w]

yes! estlcam is really good

[@RyuuzakiJulio]

Now how can we do the same with a Mac?

[@ronaldsteele1730]

I've tried it many times. you can't easily do large boards as the curvature of the PCB renders precision depth milling very difficult, also you can't get fine tracks unlike chemical etching.

[@timonix2]

Shouldn't the level scanner fix the depth problem and the engraving bit the "fine tracks" problem? If the software knows how the PCB is curved it should be able to compensate for it.

[@scotthow2933]

I have clamps on my table to clamp the boards down and straighten the curvature. Never had a problem.

[@ulrichkliegis4138]

Answering Tim Jadeglans: Naw. During the process the copper surface changes, not only its temperature but also its structure. Inner tensions in the PCB board lead to a constant minimal change, minimal, but large enough to ruin your job, releasing the holding tension of the copper skin on one side but keeping it on the other. Get a suction table or a depth controller, basically a sled on the Z-Axis that holds the milling tool in a constant distance to the actual surface. The MFC70 is not really suited for that, and I would not go beyond really small boards on this machine, the tool paths are too limited for that. The MFC70 is perfect for small complex objects. I have one myself and use it to make little adapters, couplers, connecting elements etc. Of course computer controlled, my favourite is LinuxCNC.

[@cesarvaldenegro8597]

What do you use under the pcb as a base (the white thing)?

[@Joop_Brokking]

7:23.... Depron ;-)

[@cesarvaldenegro8597]

thanks :)

[@juans7354]

What are your GRBL settings?

[@daskasspatzle2396]

Have you ever tried FlatCAM?

[@saeidsafaei6860]

A few tenths of a drill used? 0.1 ؟ And what Kind !؟

[@fvandermey]

Zeer bruikbare video Joop. Ik heb zelf de proxxon en wil hier ook een cnc machine van maken. Met deze video moet dat wel lukken. Alleen is mij niet helemaal duidelijk wat jij voor voeding gebruikt. Gebruik je alleen een voeding voor de arduino en worden de steppenmotors daarvan gevoed? En mag ik vragen wat voor voeding je gebruikt (hoeveel Volt?). Hartelijk dank voor de video

[@Joop_Brokking]

Ik gebruik een 12Vdc voeding die alleen de stappenmotoren van spanning voorziet. De Arduino krijgt spanning van de USB port. Zorg er wel voor dat de ground (-) van de Arduino en de stappencontrollers met elkaar verbonden zijn.

[@fvandermey]

Dank je wel voor het antwoord.

[@jorgenlannock]

een waterbak op je cnc vloer is een goed gedacht. moet ik ook eens bekijken. enkel jammer dat mijn rtc700 lucht naar beneden blaast, dus het water opspat. maar daar kunnen we wel een 3D printje voor maken. goede video joop.

[@JoeSmith-wu3yz]

Very good, thanks :)

[@rogerdekumbis4199]

Top! Thanks for sharing!

[@GiladOrr]

Good work!

[@johndavidpoloyapoy2433]

can anyone help me . im using micro drill bits for milling. but it keeps breaking :(

[@anilrye325]

sir how can we import circuit diagram to estalcamp