Personal Fabrication Tools

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by philso

It seems that you have acquired even more tools since the last time I said that you give me "shop envy"

Your girlfriend IS extremely cool. Hang on to her.

How well does the LPKF work?

I can usually put a trace between 2 through-hole pads on 0.100" centers with a properly installed new contouring tool. With some calibration they both hold 0.001" repeatable accuracy with incidental accuracy of 0.0001". Depending on the PCB material, quality of contour tool and my patience at setup I can make 0.001" traces. These do not have ATC so all tool changes are basically the user's headache. I have the pneumatic SMT paste dispensor attachments for both. I usually do through via with either a short wire, a press copper barrel, or a blob of silver paste from the dispensor (through-holes are usually plated and I do not like the chemicals around my house). I can do multi-layer by stacking thin copper clad and soldering through or using paste. These machines make it easy to test things at 3AM.

I recently did an RF board with a network analyzer as an accessory. Basically setup the process with short connectors on one end of the PCB then: cut, test, repeat till the PCB traces had the desired RF characteristics. Mostly because I wanted to see if I could make that work and it did: I made tuned traces, inductors, and even a really tiny value capacitor which was just a test. (Capacitors like this are usually sub-picoFarad and since the PCB is unsealed and composite PCB material absorbs moisture the value changes).

I have also cut thin stencils so I could screen print UV cure solder mask onto PCB. This is handy when I need to solder something where paste alone would migrate. I use my UV lamp box for curing that resin. My UV lamp box is a storage shelf with a wooden enclosure I made, a thermometer and a timer to run the bulbs. My solder oven is an old kitchen convection oven with better controls I made. My PCB cleaner is either my Chinese ultrasonic tank or the dish washer with a waste bucket to keep stuff out of the septic. (Keep in mind almost all commodity trading on Earth went through a system I made that was soldered in a toaster oven and cleaned in a dish washer. Those boards are 25 years old and still fully operational, even over-clocked by a few MHz. A little ingenuity and some testing saved me a ton of cost on an oven and cleaner.)

[philso]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

I can usually put a trace between 2 through-hole pads on 0.100" centers with a properly installed new contouring tool. With some calibration they both hold 0.001" repeatable accuracy with incidental accuracy of 0.0001". Depending on the PCB material, quality of contour tool and my patience at setup I can make 0.001" traces. These do not have ATC so all tool changes are basically the user's headache. I have the pneumatic SMT paste dispensor attachments for both. I usually do through via with either a short wire, a press copper barrel, or a blob of silver paste from the dispensor (through holes are usually plated and I do not like the chemicals around my house). I can do multi-layer by stacking thin copper clad and soldering through or using paste. These machines make it easy to test things at 3AM.

I recently did an RF board with a network analyzer as an accessory. Basically setup the process with short connectors on one end of the PCB then: cut, test, repeat till the PCB traces had the desired RF characteristics. Mostly because I wanted to see if I could make that work and it did: I made tuned traces, inductors, and even a really tiny value capacitor which was just a test. (Capacitors like this are usually sub-picoFarad and since the PCB is unsealed and composite PCB material absorbs moisture the value changes).

It sounds like LPKF have improved their machine and processes. We had one where I worked 20 years ago that just sat in the corner because it didn't work well and made a lot of hazardous dust.

Your day job sounds fascinating.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by philso

It sounds like LPKF have improved their machine and processes. We had one where I worked 20 years ago that just sat in the corner because it didn't work well and made a lot of hazardous dust.

Your day job sounds fascinating.

I have 2 professional HEPA filtered vacuums powered on by solid state relays to collect the dust. I would not recommend operating either machine without them. They each sit on a short computer cabinet with casters and inside a wooden box with Lexan panels enclosing it. This way anything that does not go up the vacuum is contained. Could send a picture if you like.

My day job is I do core engineering for an International bank I own a part of in Puerto Rico. We do BitCoin/Ethereum and other bleeding edge financial technology. Mostly writing Java/Python/Ruby code. I no longer make weapon systems or manufacture professionally. I got out of weapons because I prefer to make defensive systems and the money was offensive systems. I got out of manufacturing because I could never afford all these tools on the cost my customers were willing to pay (always in need, never sufficiently enriched). I only rebuilt my tooling capacity as a hedge against a throw-away society. All this junk we buy makes us more dependent on the few people willing to make it for the lowest bid. Experience has shown me that sort of dependence does not cause innovation to thrive. So I rebuilt my capacity to insure if crisis comes I was ready to move, plus this stuff is used so I need runway to get it working as desired.

(Long timers on this forum might note that I change jobs often. I do so because I get good money and opportunity each time. My base salary has increased by $100k in 5 years, and I have had as many as a few hundred reports as manager. If I can not get compensated at market rate I may take risk and move. To put that in perspective I worked 1,500 hours of 'over time' last year.)

[MrForbes]

I tried taking the survey, but the second question did not have a viable answer among the choices.

(I chose "none" for the answer for the first question)

[bkahl]

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by bkahl

Hey, lol, if you can not pat yourself on the back...do not expect anyone else to do it for you then wonder why they do not. What matters is you get through the day and do what you can. Haters gonna hate.