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computer aided drill

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andrew2022

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am thinkin bout makin a milling machine type thing, but for drilling holes in a pcb. what i want is when i press a button (right, left, up and down), the drill moves up 2.54mm then when i press anotha button, for it to drill the hole.

basically, what i need will be a circuit eith 5 buttons (up down left right and drill) so when i press right a motor moves the drill 2.54 to the right and so on... any1 help with this?

also, dunno how hard it will be but a program what i pre-program the layout in to automatically drill the board (as in the program has a 2.54 grid upto the size of the board and i click which grid mark i want drilled)

and - if ur still reading - summit so i could engrave the pcb tracks rather than use ferric chloride (as in i engrave both sides of a track seperating then)

thanx for any help with this
 
In school, I was in this class that had a computer hooked up to a . . . . well, I don't know what it was called, but it would etch designs into pieces of wood, plastic, etc. I think the program that the computer used was called Correl Draw. That might not be right, and if it isn't, someone please say something. I don't want to be giving out wrong info here. Anyway, I'm sure you can find something along those lines for drilling.
 
There are standard file types that discribe hole patterns for drilling PCBs. They are called NC Drill files I beleive and most PCB programs should be able to produce them. They should be quite easy to interpret they are just a series of x,y move commands and drill plunge commands. Gerber files discibe PCB tracks. They look very similar to the NC drill files but they contain vector data and trace printing aperature data for vector ploting on photo resist boards.

To build the x,y mechanisim I'd use some fair sized stepper motors with lead screws and limit switches to detect the ends of travel. For the Z axis I'd use a DC motor and a Pot for position feedback. You should be able to find all sorts of mechanical stuff on the MSC website.

Hope this helps
Brent
 
thanx for the help ppl... i also remember in school we had summit like this but for wood and it has itz own program. think it was called summit like 'mcdes2'
 
next question: does any1 have a schematic to controll the stepper motors?

what i need is for whan i press a button it moves a certain distance (since i aint made it yet, itll need to variable so i can adjust it)

also how hard would this be to interface with a computer (parallel or serial)?
 
just to add my two peneth, we also had one at school - it was a small CNC milling machine (a Roland i think) and we used 'PCB Design and Make' to design and make the circuit board (suprisingly...)

can I just ask why you can't use a rig to hold the drill, move the circuit board into posistion, then move the drill down (moving the drill left and right etc could be difficult from a accuracy point of view...)

Tim
 
id prefer it to be automatic, but if i cant do that then al have it with manual controls. am also the type of person where i have an idea (like this) and i intend on completing it. i looked on the net aswell and i found this **broken link removed**
 
Andrew, I hate to throw cold water on your idea but I think, while the electronics might be quite easy to do, you could be defeated by the precision mechanics of the xy table. Such a thing is rather difficult to home built if you want a repeatable accuracy of 2.54 mm. Unless you use quality components (not cheap) for the mechanics and have the equipment and skill to work or modify them, it's going to be disappointing.
Much better to aquire a ready made xy table, one with toothed belt drive for fast response times, and try to get a program to work it. Even so, you need some kind of tacho feedback so the computer driving this thing knows at any time just exactly where the table is.
With regard to routing the tracks, a good Dremel motor might work but the price of the tungsten or diamond tipped tool bits will hurt the budget.

Which got me thinking why you want to do such a project? Just for a few home brew boards its way overkill. If you are planning to start up some commercial venture you might find it cheaper in the long run to get something ready made rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, so to speak :wink:
 
Andrew, if you are not too good with programing,
Instead of pressing a button each time you want the table to move 2.50mm, why not just install a treaded rod with a 2.50 mm pitch. You just need to turn (by hand) the rod 1 turn for each 2.50mm or 0.100" movement (thats if lathes can be geared to cut a 2.5 mm or 0.100" pitch thread).
I'll find out tonight if these threads can by cut.
You can buy m10 and m12 threaded rods in 1.25mm pitch.

I too will be making one of these tables, with steppers, and multiple vertical axis's, so I can produce multiple jobs at the same time.

Good luck with it.
 
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