diff --git a/docs/assignments/week04/week04-milling-pcb.md b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-milling-pcb.md index 935c945ca87539a7b775c9088c0fd62d6b007884..390cdf722583a38d4e6e86619b12b30a7e5320d3 100644 --- a/docs/assignments/week04/week04-milling-pcb.md +++ b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-milling-pcb.md @@ -8,25 +8,142 @@ ### Cheatsheet -**Context**: You already have the design of the board you'd like to use, and you are happy with it (no design changes required). +**Context**: You already have the design of the board you'd like to use, and you are happy with it (no design changes +required). -1. Load the design into [mods](http://modsproject.org/) and load the custom program for the Roland SRM-20 that you can find in the Barcelona Lab. - 1. You can find [the customized programs for milling and cutting](https://fabacademy.org/2022/labs/barcelona/students/eduard-almasque/assignments/04-electronics-production/week04-creating-basic-boards/#automating-these-almost-perfect-programs) in Edu's documentation +This assumes that the designs have been customized for the machine that you will be using: e.g. Since the machine will +use a 1/64th inch milling bit, the traces will need to be at least 1/64th inch separated from each other, etc.. + +If this is not the case, you might have to customize your board design. Check out our documentation from **Week 06 +Electronics Design**. + +#### Creating the milling programs + +1. Load the design into [mods](http://modsproject.org/) and load the custom program for the Roland SRM-20 that you can + find in the Barcelona Lab. + 1. You can + find [the customized programs for milling and cutting](https://fabacademy.org/2022/labs/barcelona/students/eduard-almasque/assignments/04-electronics-production/week04-creating-basic-boards/#automating-these-almost-perfect-programs) + in Edu's documentation 2. You will use the milling program to mill the traces, and the cutting program to cut out the outline of your board. - 1. Load the custom program into mods by: - 1. Right-clicking on an empty space, and chosing "Programs > Open program from file" - 2. Load the milling program you downloaded - 2. Load the traces file that has the design of your board (PNG or SVG) + 1. Load the custom program into mods by: + 1. Right-clicking on an empty space, and choosing "Programs > Open program from file" + 2. Load the milling program you downloaded + 3. This program has been customized for the Barcelona Lab machines, so you don't have to customize any other + settings. + 4. If you cannot use this custom program, you will have to customize the settings manually. + See [custom settings section](#manually-configuring-settings) for a detailed breakdown. + 2. Load the traces file that has the design of your board (PNG or SVG) + 3. Click "Calculate" and the \*.RML file will be downloaded + 1. You will use this file to mill your traces when you are on the Roland machine + 4. Repeat the process with the cutting programme, and the outline file + 1. This will give you the RML file to do the outline. +### Launching the milling programs -## Our lab equipment +3. Book time in the Roland SRM-20 machine. + 1. lol. no one ever does it! +4. Go to the computer lab, and launch the _V-Panel for SRM-20_ app. This application is used to send milling jobs to the + Roland SRM-20 machine. +5. Get a new blank board. + 1. Stick it to the bed with double-sided tape. + 2. Make sure you cover the entire surface to avoid it moving out of place. +6. Load the 1/64th inch. milling bit (for tracing) into the machine + 1. Remember to hold it in place with your finger while you tighten it, to make sure it doesn't fall off and break + while you are tightening it. +7. Configure the 0,0 for X and Y axis + 1. Close the safety cover + 2. Use the VPanel app to move the milling bit to the starting coordinates for X and Y only. + 3. Click on the "X/Y" button under the "Set origin point" in order to configure those to 0,0 +8. Configure the 0 for the Z axis + 1. âš ï¸This is the dangerous (expensive) step, if you do it wrong/carelessly + 2. You need to move the milling bit close to the board, without it touching. + 3. You will need to carefully unscrew the bit and lower it gently by hand until it rests on top of the board. + 4. Once it is resting on top of the board, tighten it again, while still holding it in place to avoid it going + up/down. + 5. Click on the "Z" button under the "Set origin point" +9. Validate your settings (Optional) + 1. You can lift the spindle up a few mm + 2. Turn on the spindle. Wait until it reaches 10k rpm. + 3. Lower it very slowly until it reaches Z = 0 and see if it's touching the board and milling a tiny dot into it. + 4. If it's not milling properly, you Z is set too high, and you should readjust. +10. You have successfully calibrated your equipment. 👯â€â™‚ï¸ðŸ‘¯â€â™€ï¸ðŸŽ‰ +11. You are not ready to load the RML file into the application. + 1. Click the "Cut" button. + 2. Delete any pending tasks that might be on the list. + 3. Click on "Add" to load your file + 4. âš Mill the job! + 1. Click on Output to launch the milling job +12. Other tips: + 1. You can always pause the job to check out what it looks like, and resume later. + 2. You can cancel the job to fully stop the operation. This will not let you resume and you will have to restart the + job from the beginning. + +### Launching the cutting programs + +Repeat the steps above, but load the 1/32 inch. into the spindle instead of the 1/64 inch one âš ï¸IMPORTANT: You will need +to recalibrate the Z axis only! + +### Manually Configuring Settings + +#### Milling settings + +1. Make sure that your file has a **DPI of 1000** +2. Under _PCB Defaults_ module; + 1. Set offset number to **4** + 2. Set speed to **3mm/s** + 3.  +3. Under _Roland SRM-20 Absolute Coordinate_ module: + 1. Set speed to 3mm/s + 2. Origin to **0,0,0** + 3. Jog height to **10mm** + 4. Set Z coordinate for home to **20mm** + 5.  +4. Under the _mill-raster 2D_ module: + 1. Check if the offset number is **4** + 2. Check that direction is set to **Climb** + 3.  +5. Connect a line between the _Absolute Coordinates_ module (the _output_ node) to the "Save File" module. +6. Click on _Calculate_ and the RML will automatically be downloaded by your browser + +#### Cutting settings + +Cutting the outline uses the same settings except for these small tweaks +2. Under _PCB Defaults_ module; + 1. Set offset number to **1** + 2. Set speed to **1.5mm/s** +3. Under _Mill Raster 2D_ module: + 1. Set Max depth: set 1.75mm + + + +## Our lab equipment ### Roland SRM-20 +Our barcelona lab has a couple Roland SRM-20 milling machines. + + + +### Testing our machine tolerances + + + +During week 3, we had to test and find out what are the tolerances for our equipment, so we could make important design +decisions when milling and designing new boards. + + + +To find out, we printed out a test board and this is the result. + +#### Conclusions: + +**Physical Constraints**: When cutting from the outside, anything under 0.007mm will be scraped off and will not have any copper material left. +**Mods Logic**: When cutting from the inside, anything under 0.014mm will not be cut, as the milling bit is too wide, and Mods will not +allow it to get milled. -### Authors: +### Documented by: - [Dhanu](https://fabacademy.org/2022/labs/barcelona/students/dhanushree-prakash/) - [Adai](https://fabacademy.org/2022/labs/barcelona/students/adai-surinac/) diff --git a/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/3.jpg b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/mill-raster.jpg similarity index 100% rename from docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/3.jpg rename to docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/mill-raster.jpg diff --git a/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/milling-tolerances.jpg b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/milling-tolerances.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0e7641d660f198198e3a07dc9cebb447385f8945 Binary files /dev/null and b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/milling-tolerances.jpg differ diff --git a/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/1.jpg b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/read-png.jpg similarity index 100% rename from docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/1.jpg rename to docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/read-png.jpg diff --git a/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/4.jpg b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/roland-coordinate-settings.jpg similarity index 100% rename from docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/4.jpg rename to docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/roland-coordinate-settings.jpg diff --git a/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/2.jpg b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/set-pcb-defaults.jpg similarity index 100% rename from docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/2.jpg rename to docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/set-pcb-defaults.jpg diff --git a/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/srm20_png.png b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/srm20_png.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e70ee2c2a5e17f77088ededb558da707e5202bc9 Binary files /dev/null and b/docs/assignments/week04/week04-our-first-board/srm20_png.png differ