[Coco] PCB Printer

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday, February 13, 2015 12:31:37 PM Joe Grubbs wrote:
> This was posted over on the Model 100 list. I didn't even know this was
> a thing. They've reached their goal already, but I tossed in $35
> anyway, mainly for the TShirt
> 
>  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/voltera/voltera-your-circuit-boar
> d-prototyping-machine

Hot damn!  I wish I'd have had one of these 20 years ago. I can think of 
all sorts of do-dads I could have made 2 or 3 off copies of over the 
years.

I suspect that the cost of the expendables would preclude its use by us 
for something that we can only sell 50 of tops.  Certainly not within the 
cost of using an offshore maker. $1499 to play "what if's" with though is 
awful tempting.

We already drive similar machines with linuxcnc, and I have made usable 
boards on my "toy" mill several times already, so I don't see too big a 
problem with their claiming linux support by the time they ship as all 
they would have to do can be done in java, write the gcode file to disk 
and run it with linuxcnc in 2% of the time it takes me to mechanically 
etch it on my mill since the mills tool only cuts a trench in the copper 
about .002" wide per repeat pass.  I am speed limited in horizontal motion 
by the available rpms for the etching tool, limited to 2500 rev's & need 
another 100k revs to do it right. I have considered mounting an air driven 
tool like a dentist uses, but haven't found my rond tuit. With that, I 
could carve at 30 ipm as opposed to the 2 or 3 I use now.

This is your basic but smallish gantry style machine we've been using to 
guide a small or even a 4 or 5 horse woodworkers router to do full 3d 
carving on beds as large as 8x16 feet. This is only 2.5D by how it works 
as it apparently has head up/off, and head down/dispense so it doesn't 
have a full z drive.  This thing has more then enough room to do what Mark 
was doing for the superboard, although the I/O might need to put on a 
stacked board for connector real estate reasons.

Its multilayer capabilities alone make it worth the price of admission for 
someone doing serious design work.

Gantry machines are handy in sign making shops and furniture making.  Less 
Watts, down in Georgia uses a 4'x8' machine to carve things like the fancy 
headboards for his beds.  Send him a picture and money and he will do that 
picture in 3d on your headboard.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
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