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Spam and Yahoogroups

 

Hello Everyone,

Recently, Yahoo has change it's policy on sharing user information
with third parties.

How does this effect us? They will provide your information to
Telemarketers, Bulk mailers and Spammers.

If you have created a user profile with Yahoo you should go to it
and make any changes to your "Marketing Preferences" you feel
necessary. I personally changed all the "Yes" boxes to "No".

Here's what you need to do:

Go to My Groups and verify your
password if it asks you to, click on Account Info (at the top of
the page), and verify your password if it asks you to again, and
your Yahoo ID card comes up. Click on 'Edit your Marketing
Preferences' (middle of the page under your email address) and
change all those Yes's to No's! Make sure you also scroll to the
bottom of the page and change the Telemarketing and Bulk Mailing
options as well.

Click Save Changes and Exit

Steve, the moderator


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Re: Milling Circuit Boards

crankorgan
 

Steve,
You can use Corel. I use Turbocad. Make sure that you draw
the trace all the way around and make it overlap onto itself a
short distance. This eliminates unwanted little shorts.

John

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Steve Greenfield <alienrelics@y...> wrote:
Good point. I'm used to using CorelDraw and a vinyl cutter so it
draws it differently, I guess. I make sure and join all objects
that touch so the path is only around the outside of an area. I
would imagine that if I try and use something like Eagle that way,
I'll have to figure it out again.

I can do simple PCBs without much trouble in CorelDraw, but
anything more complex or any changes are a big hassle.

Steve

--- crankorgan <john@k...> wrote:
Steve,
An other thing about using a plotter. If you use
PLT files, you will end up with pads and traces but
they won't be connected. When a plotter draws pads it
makes a circle for each pad. Then it puts in the
connecting lines. If you replace the pen
with a motor tool you can end up with pads that are not
connected to the traces. Have you noticed how your
plotter draws?

John


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Re: Gerber and Excellon to DXF

crankorgan
 

Hi,
Check out KCam at:




John


--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., milwiron@t... wrote:

Does anyone know of an effective and reasonably priced software
program to
convert Gerber and drill files to DXF?
Thanks for any shove in the right direction,
Denny


Re: Gerber and Excellon to DXF

electronic_workshop
 

If you are planning to buy Easy-PC I still have the latest version for
sale. I had it for sale at Ebay for several weeks but no one wanted
it.
Here's a link to the old auction site.... I'm still trying to sell it.

showTutorial=0&ed=1011923141&indexURL=0&rd=1

Hans W

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Tony Jeffree <tony@j...> wrote:
At 10:30 02/04/2002 -0600, you wrote:
Does anyone know of an effective and reasonably priced software
program to
convert Gerber and drill files to DXF?
Thanks for any shove in the right direction,
I use Easy PC, which is capable of outputting DXF and which has an
add-on
module that can import Gerber.



Regards,
Tony


Re: Gerber and Excellon to DXF

Tony Jeffree
 

At 10:30 02/04/2002 -0600, you wrote:
Does anyone know of an effective and reasonably priced software program to
convert Gerber and drill files to DXF?
Thanks for any shove in the right direction,
I use Easy PC, which is capable of outputting DXF and which has an add-on module that can import Gerber.



Regards,
Tony


Gerber and Excellon to DXF

 

Does anyone know of an effective and reasonably priced software program to
convert Gerber and drill files to DXF?
Thanks for any shove in the right direction,
Denny


Re: Milling Circuit Boards

 

Good point. I'm used to using CorelDraw and a vinyl cutter so it
draws it differently, I guess. I make sure and join all objects
that touch so the path is only around the outside of an area. I
would imagine that if I try and use something like Eagle that way,
I'll have to figure it out again.

I can do simple PCBs without much trouble in CorelDraw, but
anything more complex or any changes are a big hassle.

Steve

--- crankorgan <john@...> wrote:
Steve,
An other thing about using a plotter. If you use
PLT files, you will end up with pads and traces but
they won't be connected. When a plotter draws pads it
makes a circle for each pad. Then it puts in the
connecting lines. If you replace the pen
with a motor tool you can end up with pads that are not
connected to the traces. Have you noticed how your
plotter draws?

John


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Re: Printing PCB boards

 

In a message dated 02-Apr-02 05:36:45 Central Standard Time,
derryck@... writes:


Print your layouts using the right transparent medium for your printer
(laser or inkjet) and use that to expose the board under UV

But this assumes the PRINTER will make an exact "1:1" duplicate of the
artwork you "draw" on the screen! Without a special plotter DESIGNED for
that, how can this really happen? Just how accurate ARE these ink-jet
printers? I have a current HP 960c, and it is very fine doing photos in
color, but I have NO clue if it can "draw" say, a grid, of equal squares. I
will have to tinker! Hmmm... Jan Rowland


Re: Printing PCB boards

 

From: "johnman9146" <johnman@...>

I have tried several iron-on toner transfer systems and don't like
Im my opinion you're much better off using photoresist coated boards.

Print your layouts using the right transparent medium for your printer
(laser or inkjet) and use that to expose the board under UV. I made a
suitable lightbox with tubes sold as spare parts for the ready-made
unit sold by Maplin. I also use ready-prepared developer and etcher
from them and get a great result every time.

Cheers

Derryck


Printing PCB boards

johnman9146
 

I am new to this group and I have been tinkering around with making
hobby PC boards for a couple of years now (I am no pro nor do I claim
to be).

I have tried several iron-on toner transfer systems and don't like
them much. The best system (using this method) that I have found is
using the press-n-peel blue sheets and using a Dry-Mount Press (Older
photographic item used to mount old style non-coated paper to matte
board).

This method is the best I have tried so far.... However, I am
considering attempting to use a sort of silk screen method to create
PCB etch resists, but I am wondering if anyone knows of a cost
effective ink or paint that can be used as etch resist. I believe
some sort of fabric ink may hold up using this method.

Does anyone know what material should be used for that green
soldermask like what is found on commercial PCBs? I am looking to
make my projects a little more professional looking.

I appreciate any constructive criticism or help on this topic.


Thanks


Re: Milling Circuit Boards

crankorgan
 

Steve,
An other thing about using a plotter. If you use
PLT files, you will end up with pads and traces but
they won't be connected. When a plotter draws pads it
makes a circle for each pad. Then it puts in the
connecting lines. If you replace the pen
with a motor tool you can end up with pads that are not
connected to the traces. Have you noticed how your
plotter draws?

John


Re: Milling Circuit Boards

crankorgan
 

Hi Steve,
When you use a plotter to draw on the copper
you have to be able to slow the plotter down. If you
don't the ink will not flow fast enough. Over the years
I have made PCBoards with every method. Mechanical Etching
has lots of pitfalls too. My latest one to show up is runout
of the Dremel. For over a year I milled at 16,000 RPMs. Then
I made a stiffer machine. I set the speed of the Dremel faster
and I increased my feedrate to 8" per minute. I got several
boards milled with no problem. Then everything went bad. In
the end I found that you should set the Dremel at 16,000 RPMs
with a feedrate of 6" per minute. With a bit in the Dremel turn
it on and look at the tip of the bit. When you increase the Dremel
past number 3 you will see the tip of the bit grow. This is
caused by centrifugal force and a worn bearing. My Dremel has
many hours on it! The tip of Mechanical Etching bits grows twice
as large above 16,000 RPMs. I am going to buy a new Dremel and
check it out. Mine has paid for itself several times over and
its time for a new one.


Nachbauer

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Steve Greenfield <alienrelics@y...> wrote:
Good point about speed of pen-up and -down. Oops, you're
Kleinbauer. I know a Nachbauer who makes Theremins, hence my
mistake.

I did try a Staedler 313 (Red) pen, just discovered I already had
one. I was etching some boards I'd made with a vinyl cutter and so
I drew onto a bare area with the Staedler 313 and some permanent
pens, the kind they sell at Radio Shack remarked as "Etch Resist".
IE, laundry marking pens.

My acid (Ammonium Persulfate(sp?)) was weak so it took a long time
to etch. The laundry marking pen started out with a few breaks, and
ended up pretty bad. The Staedler 313 was nearly perfect. That was
just me drawing it, I'd expect better from a plotter moving the pen
at a more constant speed.

The vinyl cutter? I drew it in CorelDraw and cut it out of vinyl
sign plastic and stuck it to the board. I didn't do nice traces, it
was done as large areas of copper isolated by thin etched strips.
This was at the limits of small size of the cutter and the vinyl.

Steve Greenfield

--- crankorgan <john@k...> wrote:
Steve,
Don't take the plotter apart until you look at:




Also, hooking up a Dremel or other tool to a Plotter
has a drawback. Pen-up and pen-down signals are too fast. If
you use a dashpot to slow the solenoid, the X Y will start moving
before the Dremel is down all the way. A plotter can make really
nice boards. It is possible to gut a plotter and drive it using
GCode files. Then using the Z axis movement you can get the
timing
right.

John

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Re: Milling Circuit Boards

 

Good point about speed of pen-up and -down. Oops, you're
Kleinbauer. I know a Nachbauer who makes Theremins, hence my
mistake.

I did try a Staedler 313 (Red) pen, just discovered I already had
one. I was etching some boards I'd made with a vinyl cutter and so
I drew onto a bare area with the Staedler 313 and some permanent
pens, the kind they sell at Radio Shack remarked as "Etch Resist".
IE, laundry marking pens.

My acid (Ammonium Persulfate(sp?)) was weak so it took a long time
to etch. The laundry marking pen started out with a few breaks, and
ended up pretty bad. The Staedler 313 was nearly perfect. That was
just me drawing it, I'd expect better from a plotter moving the pen
at a more constant speed.

The vinyl cutter? I drew it in CorelDraw and cut it out of vinyl
sign plastic and stuck it to the board. I didn't do nice traces, it
was done as large areas of copper isolated by thin etched strips.
This was at the limits of small size of the cutter and the vinyl.

Steve Greenfield

--- crankorgan <john@...> wrote:
Steve,
Don't take the plotter apart until you look at:




Also, hooking up a Dremel or other tool to a Plotter
has a drawback. Pen-up and pen-down signals are too fast. If
you use a dashpot to slow the solenoid, the X Y will start moving
before the Dremel is down all the way. A plotter can make really
nice boards. It is possible to gut a plotter and drive it using
GCode files. Then using the Z axis movement you can get the
timing
right.

John

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Re: Milling Circuit Boards

crankorgan
 

Steve,
Don't take the plotter apart until you look at:




Also, hooking up a Dremel or other tool to a Plotter
has a drawback. Pen-up and pen-down signals are too fast. If
you use a dashpot to slow the solenoid, the X Y will start moving
before the Dremel is down all the way. A plotter can make really
nice boards. It is possible to gut a plotter and drive it using
GCode files. Then using the Z axis movement you can get the timing
right.

John


Re: Milling Circuit Boards

 

My concern was that it was becoming personal.

Tony, your website looks like you are pretty advanced. Is it
possible that John's paper is aimed more at the beginner? Reviews
are most definitely on topic but keep in mind that a reasoned
explanation is a lot more useful than a slam.

Posting your On Topic website, commercial or not is allowed here
but only if you stay around to answer questions. John is obviously
staying to take part, as are you.

I was sent a 5.25 inch disk, Commodore formatted, that contains a
Basic program for a Commodore PET computer. It is for milling and
drilling PCBs. That is his machine in the Files section. I have a
C128 in the basement that I'm going to try and read it with. I'm
not going to set up a PET, don't have one, but I'm looking forward
to picking over the code and seeing how he did it.

Otherwise I'm thinking of tearing apart an HP pen plotter. Use the
electronics with beefed up stepper drivers and drive a homebuilt
engraver. Then I could just use a vector drawing program like
CorelDraw, Illustrator, etc. to drive it with HPGL driver.

Has anyone here bought and maybe built one of John Nachbaur's
plans?

Steve Greenfield

--- Tony Jeffree <tony@...> wrote:
Steve -

It is unfortunate that this has ended up as a slanging match, and
I
apologize for my part in that.

My intention, when I saw what looked like a pretty blatant piece
of product
marketing on John's part (pointing the members of this eGroup at
his web
page offering his booklet for sale), was to point out that the
product
might not live up to expectations as to value-for-money (as it
most
definitely had not, in my case).

I believe that if you put stuff up for sale, you'd better be
prepared to
defend how much you charge for it.

Regards,
Tony



At 13:20 01/04/2002 -0800, you wrote:
John, let comments like his roll off your back like water off a
duck. Don't return insult for insult, either of you.

I like John's principles- use good-enough parts so you don't
spend
a fortune. Not everyone -needs- to machine steel, me for
instance.
I'm also one of those people who does not have a machine shop,
who's current milling machine is a drill press and clamps and
who's
lathe is currently just a wood lathe.

Steve, the moderator

--- crankorgan <john@...> wrote:
-snip-
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Tony Jeffree <tony@j...> wrote:
-snip-

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Re: Milling Circuit Boards

Tony Jeffree
 

Steve -

It is unfortunate that this has ended up as a slanging match, and I apologize for my part in that.

My intention, when I saw what looked like a pretty blatant piece of product marketing on John's part (pointing the members of this eGroup at his web page offering his booklet for sale), was to point out that the product might not live up to expectations as to value-for-money (as it most definitely had not, in my case).

I believe that if you put stuff up for sale, you'd better be prepared to defend how much you charge for it.

Regards,
Tony

At 13:20 01/04/2002 -0800, you wrote:
John, let comments like his roll off your back like water off a
duck. Don't return insult for insult, either of you.

I like John's principles- use good-enough parts so you don't spend
a fortune. Not everyone -needs- to machine steel, me for instance.
I'm also one of those people who does not have a machine shop,
who's current milling machine is a drill press and clamps and who's
lathe is currently just a wood lathe.

Steve, the moderator

--- crankorgan <john@...> wrote:
-snip-
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Tony Jeffree <tony@j...> wrote:
-snip-

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Re: Milling Circuit Boards

 

John, let comments like his roll off your back like water off a
duck. Don't return insult for insult, either of you.

I like John's principles- use good-enough parts so you don't spend
a fortune. Not everyone -needs- to machine steel, me for instance.
I'm also one of those people who does not have a machine shop,
who's current milling machine is a drill press and clamps and who's
lathe is currently just a wood lathe.

Steve, the moderator

--- crankorgan <john@...> wrote:
-snip-
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Tony Jeffree <tony@j...> wrote:
-snip-

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Re: Milling Circuit Boards

crankorgan
 

Tony,
Learn to read! $20 not $35. My 4th axis "Pooka" can be built
with hand tools. To build your designs a person needs a machine
shop. Lets face it your designs are nothing new. You must own a
bunch of old mags that you steal from. My designs are innovative
and fun! Keep putting up free stuff, because nobody is going
to pay you for something they can buy cheaper. Get a life!

Where is the moderator! My first message and this guy shows
up!


John



--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Tony Jeffree <tony@j...> wrote:
At 17:54 01/04/2002 +0000, you wrote:
Tony,
You should also say the $18 included shipping and handling
to your country. You left out your shipping but I still shipped.
You're right, and my heart bleeds for you. However, even
subtracting the
shipping, it was an expensive way of buying 15 sheets of paper -
and at
least if they'd been blank sheets I could have re-used them...

One year has passed. I have designed several more cheap CNC
machines for hobbiests. Have you finished your book on milling
circuit boards?
No, but in the intervening year I have added more *free* articles
to my own
website, on other topics. Work on other stuff has gotten in the way
of
paying serious attention to PCB milling, but it is still on the
list.

And by the way, for the benefit of other visitors to John's
website, before
you pay $35 for his plans of a 4th axis constructed out of "Two
gears, a
floppy drive stepping motor and some PVC" (to quote John' own
words), check
out:



which describes how to construct a CNC 4th axis that, unlike John's
design,
is actually usable for light milling of materials harder than soft
wax or
wood - I have successfully used it to machine items in brass and
steel, for
example.

A year is a long time!
You're right...and a year on, $18 for sweet FA is still way too
much.

Regards,
Tony


Re: Milling Circuit Boards

Tony Jeffree
 

At 17:54 01/04/2002 +0000, you wrote:
Tony,
You should also say the $18 included shipping and handling
to your country. You left out your shipping but I still shipped.
You're right, and my heart bleeds for you. However, even subtracting the shipping, it was an expensive way of buying 15 sheets of paper - and at least if they'd been blank sheets I could have re-used them...

One year has passed. I have designed several more cheap CNC
machines for hobbiests. Have you finished your book on milling
circuit boards?
No, but in the intervening year I have added more *free* articles to my own website, on other topics. Work on other stuff has gotten in the way of paying serious attention to PCB milling, but it is still on the list.

And by the way, for the benefit of other visitors to John's website, before you pay $35 for his plans of a 4th axis constructed out of "Two gears, a floppy drive stepping motor and some PVC" (to quote John' own words), check out:



which describes how to construct a CNC 4th axis that, unlike John's design, is actually usable for light milling of materials harder than soft wax or wood - I have successfully used it to machine items in brass and steel, for example.

A year is a long time!
You're right...and a year on, $18 for sweet FA is still way too much.

Regards,
Tony


Here is the link

electronic_workshop