Design and fabrication of low-cost micromachining system for prototyping printed circuit boards

Abstract

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) have a portentous position in constructing modern electronic equipment. Currently, chemical etching is the process used to produce PCBs at huge volumes, which is not suitable for preparing prototypes. The working environment is also not an encouraging one. There is no economical way to manufacture PCBs in low volumes, which is the basic requirement for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). Prototyping the desired circuit boards, prior to the mass production, is essential to avoid major losses by producing faulty designs. Developing a low-cost machine for prototyping PCBs may overcome these drawbacks. Hence, in this work, a machine capable of performing PCB mechanical milling operation on wide range of materials like copper/epoxy boards and flexible substrates has been developed. The machine developed is capable of milling lines that are 0.3 mm in width and 0.46 mm in depth. The performance of the machine reveals that it can mill any complex shapes and designs with expected accuracy. Selection of hardware components according to the needs would reduce the cost and programming snag further, which makes it affordable to SMEs.