Difference between revisions of "Workshop: Introduction to milling with the Bantam Tools PCB Mill"

From Design and Build Lab
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (Kristof moved page Introduction to Milling with the Bantam Tools PCB Mill to Introduction to milling with the Bantam Tools PCB Mill without leaving a redirect: capitalization fix)
(No difference)

Revision as of 19:00, 5 January 2018

The Bantam Tools PCB Mill is a 3-axis CNC mill - a subtractive manufacturing machine. Fabricating with this machine is relatively simple, thanks in large part to its well-developed and maintained software. The process requires only three steps:

  1. Set up
  2. Mill
  3. Clean up

Set up

  1. Set up the machine
  2. Set up the stock
  3. Set up the (initial) tool

Set up the machine

  1. Turn on the machine
  2. Home the gantry

Set up the stock

  1. Clean off the stock as well as the location on the bed where you'll be affixing it.
  2. Apply tape to the side of the stock that will be placed on the bed.
  3. Place and firmly press down on the stock on the bed.

Set up the (initial) tool

This can be done through software prompting.

Mill

Press the "Mill all visible" button. Make sure to pay attention to the machine, since if atool is broken, noticing it sooner rather than later will save you an immense amount of headache.

Clean up

Make sure to always leave the machine cleaner than what you found it! Vacuum up any and all swarf created by the milling process.

Milling considerations

Try to minimize the number of toolchanges while optimizing the paths of the selected tools; that is, small tools for precision work, large tools for removing areas of the material.