CircuitToolchain

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Intro

This will become a page describing the open source toolchain used to go from schematic design to pcb (printed circuit board) layout to the files which can be fed into the CNC Circuit Mill to create a pcb.

For the moment, it's just a collection of my (Daniel Benamy's) notes as I figure out the toolchain. I'll neaten it up once I get a bit further.

The process at a high level is:

  1. Design a schematic.
  2. Create a pcb layout for the schematic.
  3. Create gerber files of the board layout (1 per layer).
  4. Convert the gerber files to gcode.
  5. Feed the gcode into the CNC Circuit Mill which carves a blank board covered in copper into your design.

This page focuses on getting from a board layout to gcode for a CNC machine.

Instructions

These instructions are based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32 bit. An LTS (long term support) release is a good basis for an OSE project since it will allow the instructions to be useful for a few years.

This tutorial is heavily based on the excellent Opendous tutorials at http://code.google.com/p/opendous/wiki/Tutorials.

  • Install KiCad: sudo apt-get install kicad. This tutorial was written using version 2011-05-25-stable which is in the Ubuntu 12.04 repository on May 18, 2012.
  • Download a board design: sudo apt-get install subversion && svn checkout http://micropendous.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/Micropendous/Design/Micropendous1/ ~/Documents/Micropendous/
  • Run KiCad: Alt + F2, kicad <enter>
  • Open Documents/Micropendous/Micropendous1.pro.
  • Open the board in the PCB Editor (pcbnew). TODO picture.
  • TODO Edit mask clearance? Opendous tutorial says to so this.
  • Click File -> Plot.
  • Choose an output directory. I recommend Documents/Micropendous/CNC Files/. If it asks if you want to use a relative path, say yes.
  • Make sure the Front and Back layers are checked off any uncheck any other layers.
  • Leave the rest as defaults. TODO screen shot.
  • Click Plot.
  • Click Close on the plot window.
  • Close the PCB Editor.
  • TODO Check gerber files for correctness. See http://code.google.com/p/opendous/wiki/KiCADTutorialCreatingGerberFiles.
  • Close Kicad.
  • TODO convert to gcode.

Gerber to Gcode:

More Info

Tons of info on all parts of the process at http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Milling

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