Homebrew PCB manufacturing solution using laser etching on painted raw copper-plated PCB
It uses FlatCAM for generating pre-GCode and Klipper for CNC control
The process is simple in steps:
- Create PCB manufacture files (
.gcode,.drl) in any PCB software (KiCad for example) - Convert
.gcodeand.drlto pre-GCode files using custom preprocessors - Convert pre-GCode to GCode using convert.py
- Apply your GCode to CNC and raw PCB material
- Etch PCB
- Remove paint using any solvent (we use IPA and COSMO CL-300.130 for this)
- Use your PCB!
For generating pre-GCode files, you need:
- For geometry creation use Paint tool with V-shaped tool (diameter
0.10, overlap60%, offset0.020) - Add flatcam/bksp_drill.py and flatcam/bksp_engrave.py to
lib/preprocessorsdirectory in your FlatCAM installation - Use them to create drill and engraving pre-GCode files
Use convert.py to convert resuling files to GCode
For our CNC installation use this command line parameters:
python3 convert.py \
--laser-power 146 \
--spindle-power 255 \
--default-speed 2400 \
--laser-z 53.5 \
--laser-feedrate 300 \
--spindle-z-home 115 \
--spindle-z-pre-drill 92 \
--spindle-z-drill 88.5 \
--spindle-feedrate 60 \
-l engrave.nc -d drill.nc -o output.gcodeAlternative configuration by @heeeyflo (80% overlap, 0.020mm offset, 0.10mm diameter):
python3 convert.py \
--laser-power 180 \
--spindle-power 255 \
--default-speed 2400 \
--laser-z 53.5 \
--laser-feedrate 300 \
--spindle-z-home 115 \
--spindle-z-pre-drill 92 \
--spindle-z-drill 88.5 \
--spindle-feedrate 60 \
-l engrave.nc -d drill.nc -o output.gcode