PCB CNC Mill: Clamping makes a difference

Community General Discussions
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1

This might be useful to anyone else here with a DIY CNC who does PCB milling: http://blog.holyscraphotsprings.com/2011/05/good-circuit-boards-require-good.html

I've had a really tough time figuring out how to clamp my PCBs: my boards often look like the "bad PCB" here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11461247@N02/5697373918/

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I'm looking forward to testing out better clamping so my boards don't slide or vibrate so much: http://blog.holyscraphotsprings.com/2011/05/good-circuit-boards-require-good.html

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All rights reserved by mikeysklar

2

Nice work !

Big improvement.

Mixing Fender washers sizes make for good heat sinks too …  
Make good guitars?
The universal good guys ! 

3

Have you tried

dense double sided tape?

4

Following some links,

starting at hackaday.com, I found millpcbs.com. On that site, superglue on a metal plate to hold the pcbs in place is mentioned.

5

Speaking of clamps

Rockler Woodworking has a bunch of T-Track stuff, toggles and the like. All great stuff and well-made and probably much cheaper than a supply house for mills etc.

There was another place, Little Machine shop --they sell parts for all the cheapie mills and lathes. Harbor frieght, Grizzly and Central Mechanic. Might be some stuff there to help you as well.

6

Re: Double-Sided Tape

I have not!  I kludged some clamps using wood scraps, PCB scraps and masking tape, and haven’t upgraded.  I’ve added dense double-sided tape to my shopping list.  Thanks!

7

Clamps and T-Tracks

Wow!  I like the T-slot cutter – it looks like I could use my router to cut slots in the table and then clamp stuff to it.

Great links, thanks!