PCB Prototyping Overview

PCB Prototyping Overview #

This website describes how to produce a printed circuit board using the Carbide Nomad desktop CNC milling machine.

The process is broken into several steps:

  1. Creating Gerbers and drill files, demonstrated using Diptrace or Autodesk Eagle
  2. Generating G-code, using FlatCAM
  3. Milling the PCB, using Carbide Motion and the Carbide Nomad

graph LR A[EDA software
Diptrace/Eagle]-->|Gerber & Drill Files|B[FlatCAM] B-->|NC Files|C[Carbide Motion]

Single-sided and PTH
The workflow described here assumes that you are making a single-sided PCB with traces and pads on the bottom layer. In other words, it’s a circuit made up of PTH components. The process will be slightly different (and easier) for an SMD board, without holes.

Much of the information on this site comes from Lars Mattern’s FAB Academy pages.