|
PCB Laser Router Background: Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are manufactured using an additive or subtractive method. The additive method adds copper to a board. The subtractive method removes copper and can be done in three ways: silkscreen printing, photoengraving, and PCB milling. Silkscreen printing uses etch-resistant inks to protect the copper foil and the etching removes the unwanted copper. Photoengraving uses a photomask and chemical etching to remove the copper foil from the substrate. PCB milling uses a two or three-axis mechanical milling system to mill away the copper foil from the substrate. Problem Statement: The majority of the current methods used to prepare printed circuit boards are time consuming and have multiple steps. This tedious process takes money away from the company through labor and machine usage costs. The use of a laser router that uses an AutoCAD drawing to produce printed circuit boards would reduce the number of steps in the process. Reducing the number of steps in the process would reduce costs and improve turn-around time. It would also give employees the ability to work on other projects or produce more printed circuit boards. Creating a smaller and quicker circuit board production unit could help companies produce their own printed circuit boards, instead of farming it out, with a lower overall cost. Team Members: Vance Leeper leepervr@email.uc.edu Faculty Advisor: Altan Ferendeci Goal: The goal of the project is to develop a new type of subtractive method by using a printed circuit board laser router that takes an AutoCAD drawing and converts it to a format easily used by an x-y laser router. Subgoals:
Helpful Skills:
|