CNC PCB maker

Project Title

CNC PCB maker

Project Area of Specialization 3D/4D PrintingProject Summary

Many machines for the development and prototyping of printed circuit board using computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools have been proposed in order make industrial development fast and accurate. Although these machines are very efficient in their tasks, the major problem is the astronomical costing and heavy custom duties being implemented. Moreover their is neither any autonomous integrated circuit development machinery being used and nor being developed in the local industry. Further the techniques already dominating the market are quite antiquated, requiring manual integration, hence being inefficient and laborious. Also, these machines are not easy to operate at student level and specialized knowledge and CAD/CAM skills are required to operate and manage such machines which requires knowledge that is only available to students related to mechanical engineering. This projects aims to develop a machine having Computer Numeric Control (CNC) which aims to generate, parse and execute sequential actions that describes the behaviour of the end effector It is a way more economical and user-friendly machine which requires no prior knowledge and skills about CAD/CAM, enabling a layman hobbyist to utilize the machine at its full capacity. A software has been developed in LabVIEW to establish the communication between the machine and the on-board computer. It has its own Intel Quad-Core processor which removes the dependency on another computer. It is based on a modular system with the capability of communication through USB or local network so that a user can easily transfer his/her design based on Proteus, Eagle, Altium or even software simpler as the Microsoft Paint, making it simpler to use just as a desktop printer. Alongwith, this machine can also pick and place SMD components, do 3d printing, laser cutting and laser soldering.

Project Objectives

This projects aims to develop a machine having Computer Numeric Control (CNC) which aims to generate, parse and execute sequential actions that describes the behaviour of the end effector It is a way more economical and user-friendly machine which requires no prior knowledge and skills about CAD/CAM, enabling a layman hobbyist to utilize the machine at its full capacity. A software has been developed in LabVIEW to establish the communication between the machine and the on-board computer. It has its own Intel Quad-Core processor which removes the dependency on another computer. It is based on a modular system with the capability of communication through USB or local network so that a user can easily transfer his/her design based on Proteus, Eagle, Altium or even software simpler as the Microsoft Paint, making it simpler to use just as a desktop printer. Alongwith, this machine can also pick and place SMD components, do 3d printing, laser cutting and laser soldering.

This machine can perform the following tasks:

• PCB Milling and Drilling
• SMD and through-hole component placing
• Solder Paste Dispensing
• Soldering through Hot air / Laser
• Laser Cutting
• 3D printing
• Top Silk Printing

Project Implementation Method

This core software of this project has been implemented on LabVIEW designed software along with C# and .NET libraries. It runs on Lattepanda Intel Atom Board and STM32F407 Discovery and Arduino Mega. TB6600 and TB6560 Stepper motor drivers and used to acquire precise stepper movements of five NEMA 23 3.5A Hybrid Stepper Motors. The whole system runs on DC 24V, which can easily be ported to batteries whenever required.

Spindle: The spindle motor consists of an air cooled PWM controlled 500KW Brushless DC Motor with a maximum speed of 10,000RPM. 

Pick and Place Head: The Pick and Place head for SMD components includes a stepper motor assemply for rotation of components, a microscopic camera, solenoid valve and air vaccum pumps to create suction as to pick up microscopic components.

Laser: The laser assemply is a 12V 20W 450nm Laser Module which can cut arcylic, paper and engrave wood upto 3-4mm in thickness.

3D printing: The 3D printing part consists of a standard 3D printing head along with an asemply to hold and provide the plastic feed to the extrusuon assembly.

Benefits of the Project

This product would primarily target small and large scale electronic development industries, the universities, research and development sectors as well as the semiconductor industry. As this machine can rapidly prototype their idea into reality,  the electronic industry would benefit from fast prototyping and development of circuitry as well as much accurate and cheaper than conventional methods being used in local market. Further students and hobbyist would benefit due to user-friendly easy to operate controls and software. The machines already in the market competent to this project are very costly and usually include only one to two features

This project can benefit the industry in the following ways:

Cheaper hardware, thus the machine is atleast 5 times cheaper than the alternatives available in the market

Swift Production of the machine as almost all the parts are locally available in the market and their is no need for importing machine parts, which may require extra time and custom duties.

No prior knowledge of CAM/CAD is required thus enabling a layman hobbyist to utilize the machine at its full capacity. You can provide a Proteus, Eagle or Altium Gerber file for PCB Development. For 3D printing a custom 3d designer has been designed so that you dont need to understand professional 3d modelling softwares. 

Much more energy efficient. This machine runs at 24V DC thus can also be battery or solar powered.

Multiple ways of uploading design are available. This machines embeds a full Intel Quad Core Conmputer which removes the dependency on any other user PC, thus the design can be drawn on the machine itself at the moment or can be provided through USB and Bluetooth transfer. The machine also sets up its own local server on local area network, so that it can be controlled and monitored remotely.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The final deliverable is a 3 axis CNC machine having a brushless DC spindle motor, a SMD pick and place head, a 20W laser module, 3D printing assembly along with the controller unit. The controller unit consists of Lattepanda Intel Atom Quadcore PC with an LCD and touch screen interface, a STM32F407 Discovery controller, Arduino Mega, 5 stepper motor drives along with power supply unit. The software developed for this machine runs on the onboard computer and is also provided separately to use with another PC. Various drillbits, collets, 3D printing reels, SMD Componets are provided for testing purposes. 

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry ManufacturingOther Industries Education Core Technology 3D/4D PrintingOther Technologies RoboticsSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	80000
Lattepanda	Equipment	1	12000	12000
STM32F407 Discovery	Equipment	1	4400	4400
Power Supply 24V 50A	Equipment	1	4000	4000
Arduino Mega	Equipment	1	1100	1100
LCD Display	Equipment	1	3000	3000
Touch Frame	Equipment	1	5000	5000
TB6600 Motor Driver	Equipment	5	1000	5000
Spindle Motor	Equipment	1	3500	3500
3D printing Head	Equipment	1	5000	5000
NEMA23 Stepper Motor 3.5A	Equipment	3	2000	6000
Pick and Place Head	Equipment	1	5000	5000
Laser Module	Equipment	1	15000	15000
AIr Pump and Pipes	Miscellaneous	1	1000	1000
Connector and Wires	Miscellaneous	1	2000	2000
3D Printing Reel and Drill Bits	Miscellaneous	1	1000	1000
Structure Development	Miscellaneous	1	5000	5000
End Stop Limit Switches	Miscellaneous	1	500	500
Controller Box Plastics	Miscellaneous	1	500	500
Air Blower for spindle	Equipment	1	1000	1000