At best, I get around this by manually editing the gcode.Īnyway, this brings the newbie question. One example is a simple way of cutting the PCB since I can't edit the gcode ( and haven't worked out if FlatCAM can edit it ) and flatcam treats the outline as a path and tries to mill both sides which is a problem. I'm using 0.1mm 10degree engraving bits, which make a mess, but it's easily cleaned up with a quick polish after engraving, and I'm getting sub 10-thou cuts with a new bit and even worn bits seem OK.Ĭurrently, I'm missing some easy options. This also works remarkably well, and puts out Mach3 format gcode.

This is surprisingly good, is free to use.

It's the only free PCB software I've been able to find that outputs Gerber. So after looking around and trying different things, I put together a basic setup involving But it's been challenging even finding free software to cover every part of the process. I had a 6040 mill gathering dust in the shed ( had problems with the parallel port and shelved it for a decade ) so I pulled it out, fixed it up and added a USB breakout to work with Windows 10. I used to make PCBs with photoresist and a double sided UV case, but for the times I make PCBs, it's a pain to mix chemicals up in the required quantities for a single PCB and then dispose of it all. This means avoiding commercial software where possible, or anything that's tied to a specific PCB manufacturer. So I'm trying to do things as cheaply as possible until I get the hang of it. And by new, I mean I had never even powered up a mill or milled anythingbefore three weeks ago and I'm still only self-taught. My first post here, and I'm new to both CNC and milling PCBs.

Diptrace vs eagle eevblog