Little CNC Machine

Permitted applications

Extracted from manual, to be reworked into more definitive list.

• Printed circuit boards and front plates
  • One sided and double sided boards
    • FR3
    • FR4
    • FR5
    • G10
• Flexible substrates
• RF substrates
• Drilling test adapters
• Structuring film patterns
• Solder frames for PCB assembly
• SMD fine line
• Contour milling
• Engraving front panels or labels
• Depth drilling of rigid or flexible boards
• Depanelling and reworking of populated and unpopulated boards
• Machining of housings
• Multilayer PCBs up to 8 layers

Startup procedure

The machine is quite picky about the startup order of operations, if you follow the below you should have success in loading the software with a good connection to the machine.

1. Power the 4 way strip
2. Ensure the compressed air connector is connected and pressurised
3. Power on the PC if off
4. Switch OFF the mill at the switch to the right by the power connector
5. Load the Boardmaster software from the shortcut on the desktop
6. Splashscreen appears - wait for 10-20 seconds for the connection failure dialogue to appear
7. Ensure COM1 is selected and power on the CNC
8. Select connect
9. In the dialogue that appears:
   1. Select "In the main clamp"
   2. Enter "1" in "Enter the free tool position"
10. Click OK on remove tool to toolbox
11. Machine will locate tool 1 then relocate to home and the software loads ready to use

Troubleshooting

• No gas pressure
  • Connect gas hose
  • Ensure compressor is on
  • The gas pressure requirement is quite high, run the air to trigger the compressor to achieve sufficient pressure

Example configuration data