Course: Make printed circuit bords with CNC

Bitraf has a dedicated mini-CNC for producing circuit board (PCB) for electronics. This is a quick way to prototype designs and produce small runs (1-5 boards). You can use the same design files and can send off to a professional manufacturer for larger quantities.

THIS COURSE IS IN ENGLISH.

I this course we go through the basic needed for safe and practical use:

• Possibilities and limitations when milling PCB
• Exporting PCB files (Gerber/Excelon) from KiCAD. Note1
• Set up gcode paths and export in FlatCAM
• Run the jobs on the machine using Universal Gcode Sender

This course is for paying members of Bitraf. You can sign up at https://p2k16.bitraf.no
If you only want to have the course, you can cancel your membership again afterwards.

You can preferably install FlatCAM in advance. This is easy on Windows, and a bit complicated on Mac OS and Linux. If you bring your laptop we can assist during the course with installation.
The software is also installed on a machine for common use at Bitraf.

More information:

• PCB CNC documentation on Bitraf wiki: https://bitraf.no/wiki/CNC3-3018Pro
• Flatcam install: http://flatcam.org/download
• Flatcam manual: http://www.flatcam.org/manual/index.html
• KiCAD design files for our example: https://github.com/bitraf/cnc3018pro

Note1: We use a readymade design in this course. The class does not cover design of PCBs.
If you do not know how to do this, we recommend learning KiCAD.
The process used by PCB CNC mill should work fine also with other PCB design programmer such as Eagle, Fritzing etc.