Elektor PCB Router

[Ian Bell]

Elektor have announced a ned PCB router for hobby/college/small business use.
Their previous attempt 3 years ago attracted some severe criticism but Elektor
now says it was never intended to route PCBs.

Anyway, the new one is detailed here:

http://www.elektor.com/projects/pcb-prototyper-(100619).1599728.lynkx

Cheers

Ian

 

[Nico Coesel]

The specifications look impressive but at $4,900.00 how many companies
are there that can justify buying one?

You find these machines mostly at schools and companies that do RF
stuff. Usually they are collecting dust because they are not very easy
to operate and keep operational. A proper etching kit is much easier
and faster.

 

[WhySoSerious?]

The specifications look impressive but at $4,900.00 how many companies
are there that can justify buying one?

Howard

Whereas one of the free PCB CAD authors out there just had a new release
recently.

 

[Rich Webb]

The specifications look impressive but at $4,900.00 how many companies
are there that can justify buying one?

Without solder mask, plated pads (and vias!), and silkscreening to find
one's way around a crowded board, it certainly doesn't seem like an
unrelieved blessing. Post-processing with a chemical deposition of tin
(after a good scrubbing, of course, to remove any oxide layer) and then
something like Press'n'Peel Blue to add legends would help but that also
adds another layer of labor hours.

Still, it's not a heart-stopping price and I'd be surprised if there
weren't application domains where it's a good fit.

 

[Jamie]

You find these machines mostly at schools and companies that do RF
stuff. Usually they are collecting dust because they are not very easy
to operate and keep operational. A proper etching kit is much easier
and faster.

I made from an existing X,Y drafting power driven table a similar set up
how ever, I put a needle jet pump assembly where the PIN normally goes
that sprays blue dye ink, the same used in machine shop work. It has a
current sensor so that I can tell when the ink has hit the surface and
retract the pump. the pump is a worm driven type made from a very small
drill bit (#65 if I remember) The jet port is made with a EDM machine my
friend has for a very small stream. The movements on the table are very
small and accurate.. It's not the fastest thing in the world but it
works very nicely and I can do double sided boards via an alignment
process when I flip the board over.

Software I write to drive the table and Z axis from a PC with a BMP
images scaled to proper size..

When done, drop it in the etching tank with the guides.

The table I got from a HAM swap meet and the rest I hacked out between
me and the use of my friends shop..

These days, I tend to use toner transfer for simple one time things.

Jamie.

 

[[email protected]]

You find these machines mostly at schools and companies that do RF
stuff. Usually they are collecting dust because they are not very easy
to operate and keep operational. A proper etching kit is much easier
and faster.

We have a machine something like this. It's such a PITA to use that it's
cheaper, overall, to order prototype boards. They come with solder mask and
all (well, once the new boss is shown that saving $20 really costs many
hundreds).

 

[[email protected]]

For any U.S. company that can afford to keep full-time engineers around,
$4,900 should not be that big of a deal.

There are a lot of toys in that price range. Pretty soon it adds up to real
money. I just had a demo of a scope. Only $13,500. Such a deal! It's not
my money (and it most likely won't get spent).

Their main advantage is that you can have a board minutes after finishing your
layout, and sometimes not having to wait the week or so that you typically
have to with the inexpensive board houses can make it worthwhile. Another
good use is if you need less common board stock (e.g., low-loss or thin
stock -- both common for RF designs); the inexpensive board houses usually
won't provide those under standard pricing.

Without a solder mask, multiple planes, and plated through holes, you're
limited to some pretty simple boards. Perhaps RF types can make use of them
but I haven't found them very useful. They're too fragile for test fixtures,
as well.

On the other hand, if you can wait a 3-7 days, and if a bog-standard 2- or
4-layer .062" board will work for you, the quality of the commercial board
houses is rather better than what these machines produce and typically cheaper
to boot!

A *lot* cheaper, if you account for all of the time spent.

Even for hobbyists (were your time is "free"), you have to have cut a *lot* of
boards to break even. Granted, for hobbyists it might just be the "coolness"
factor and they're not looking at it as an investment in the first place.
(It's not like those guys spending thousands of dollars on fancy model
railroads typically ever make any money off of them... And guys who restore
old cars... great way to spend a *lot* of money fast! )

Hobbies don't have to be justified. Don't even try. ;-)

 

[[email protected]]

Agreed; "bang for the buck" certainly matters. Those $1600 thermal imagers
strike me as a very good value for the money these days, yet other than
Larkin's place I don't know of any small electronics companies that have them.

We have one, but I'm quite sure it wasn't anywhere near $1600. it was more
likely from Harbor Freight.

We have some shipping products that use a few so-called "cut" boards... mostly
things like small "patch" boards containing, e.g., an RF splitter and perhaps
some termination resistors and connectors, also some LED indicator boards
(LEDs, resistors, and connector), and so on. I'm not convinced this is
preferable nor cheaper than getting commercially made boards, but, well, it
gives the production guys another thing to do, I suppose, and the boss
approves.

So do we. It scared the crap out of me when they told me.

Yeah...

I remember someone noting that the original Macintosh's hardware designer, Jef
Raskin, seemed to have a knack for turning all of his hobbies into
money-making ventures, though... amazing!

It tends to ruin the hobby. It's one reason I don't do electronics at home.