Autoleveller

I finally got around to documenting the steps I use to mill a prototype PC board on my DIY CNC router. One reason I really love this approach is allowing the CNC machine to drill all those damn holes, perfectly! Anyhow, here's what I've documented so far, from KiCAD to FlatCAM to Autoleveller to mil...

I have a couple of thoughts: Clamping. I had problems with air cuts that were related to bad/poor clamping. See my post: http://www.cncsoftwaretools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=370&p=1253#p1253 What is your Z cutting depth set at? Autoleveller won't fix this if you're just cutting too shallow. Slo...

Okay, here's the latest. Issue #1: Aircuts. I happened to visit a high-end cabinet shop. He has a large-format CNC router (like 6 x 12 feet). He used HOT GLUE (yes, hot-freakin' glue) to secure some smaller parts for milling - parts too small for the vacuum system to hold down. So I put a weight on ...

So, I THINK the issue was the double-stick tape approach. It lifted a bit at one corner/end. The probing applies no pressure, so the probing couldn't detect any deflection. Upon milling, however, the pcb just 'flexed' away from the tool. I intend to try with a different, more secure clamping techniq...

I will do that! I wish I'd have actually RTFM sooner. This looks like it would have addressed several of my issues at one time.
I'm off to the SEMA show in Las Vegas, so I'll be out for the rest of this week.
Will do this upon my return.
BrianV

KiCAD: 4.0.7 FlatCAM: 8.5 Autoleveller Version: 0.9.3u1 LinuxCNC (current) PCB mounted with double-stick tape, 3 peices, full length of the board. It is damn-well stuck down I put a dial indicator on my machine and ensure the PCB is level across all 4 corners the lower-left corner (0,0) reads Zero o...

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I have updated my blog with the complete experience of this latest board run with this autolevelling software.
http://woodworkerbcncrouterproject.blog ... tware.html.

Happy Milling!

Okay then. I cut my PC board today using: Eagle 6.5.0 PCB-GCODE 3.6.0.4 LinuxCNC 2.5.0 AutoLeveller 0.7.7 Some minor odd behaviors, but overall worked perfectly. Board came out excellent . Next time around I will back out my tool a bit more, still cut a bit too deep. Traces that should have been 16 ...

Okay, Upgraded my system to LinuxCNC 2.5.0. Did a whole new install of OS & LinuxCNC. Went perfectly. Of course, I didn't bother to record any of my stepconfig settings, so had to do all that from scratch. Anyhow, just gave the autoleveller it's first trial, and so far, so good. Later today I will m...

I would love to see this support EMC. I tried both the LinuxCNC and MACH variants, both cause balking on my EMC. It could be that I haven't upgraded my EMC in 2+years? I would second the request for an optimizer too - I've tried others in the past and it cuts milling time by 60+ percent. The problem...