Suggested Tutorials

1. I suggest that you use Eagle for your board design (CADSoft Eagle PCB Design Software). The latest version is v7.5.
   After installation, go through the following tutorials to gain expertise:
1. Sparkfun Tutorial: How to Install and Setup Eagle
2. Sparkfun Tutorial: Using EAGLE: Schematic
3. Sparkfun Tutorial: Using EAGLE: Board Layout
4. Sparkfun Tutorial: Designing PCBs: Advanced SMD
   Note too, the Sparkfun's Design rule checks (DRC) files
2. When you have completed the above and about to create your own schematic and board, you may find that using the keyboard for commands may be faster than mouse clicks - EAGLE commands
3. Sometimes, you may get certain components that are not to scale or not available in the FabLab's inventory list, then the following tutorials will teach you how to create parts for them.
• Sparkfun Tutorial: How to Create SMD PCBs
• Sparkfun Tutorial: How to Create SMD Footprints
• Sparkfun Tutorial: Making Custom Footprints in Eagle

Making your PCBs using the CNC-2020 Mill

First some essential reading:

• Instructable - Make your own PCBs on an inexpensive desktop CNC Mill
  We shall make our PCBs on a similar mill but by using an Engraving tool
• What is G-code?
  G-code is sometimes called G programming language in which people tell computerized machine tools how to make something. The "how" is defined by instructions on where to move, how fast to move, and what path to move.
  Ref: Wikipedia G-code
• How do you make EagleCAD generate G-code?
  Use pcbgcode. Here are some useful links to PCBGcode:
  • PCBGcode Homepage and Downloads
  • PCBGcode is a CADSoft ULP (User Language Program). This document explains how to use ULP.
  • The PCB-Gcode Phorum for unanswered questions
  • The PCB-GCODE User's Manual - John T. Johnson
• How to use Eagle CADSoft with PCBGCode - Richard Albritton

Instructions:

1. Create your schematic and board using Eagle CAD. Remember to use the ERC and DRC rules to check your schematic and board. A quick check would be to turn off all layers except Top and Unrouted. This will show any unrouted paths.
2. Keep all pads and tracks to the Top (Component) Layer. You will need to draw a border (board outline) on the Top layer as well. Use the board outline from Layer 20 (Dimension) to help you.
3. Use File > Run ULP and choose pcb-gcode-setup.ulp
4. From the first page, select the Machine tabl from the top tabs and select Millimeters as the unit of measure.
5. Next, return to the first page using the tab Generation Options. On this page you should only have the following selected (Deselect the rest):
   • Top Side - Generate top outlines
   • Bottom Side - (Nothing, deselect all)
   • Board - Show Preview 800x600
     Board - Generate milling Depth -0.18
     Board - Prefer Climb
     Isolation - Single Pass, Minimum 0.12
6. Select the Machine tab, leave the other settings unchanged but put in the Tool Dia. as 0.1778

When you have completed, you will see the path being created. Check the path before you continue. You should be able to see clean cuts and pathways. (You may need to close 3 windows here, because of an error in the software)
The output of this ULP is a file with the extension .etch.top. This is the G-code that must be loaded into the CNC-2020 machine for engraving.

Setting up the CNC-2020 and Mach-2