PCB Tech - How to operate the PCB automatic board making machine

When you buy a PCB circuit board rapid production machine, naturally you immediately want to make a circuit board to see its powerful functions, but please don’t worry, and please read the manual and the operation introduction in this column carefully before you do it. You will be very happy. Get familiar with the operation quickly and will be deeply attracted by its charm.

1 Please check whether your accessories are complete: manuals, fastening tools, DK engraving driver CD, cutters, drills, serial port extension cords, power cords, a small amount of copper-clad plates, and spindle motor carbon brushes.

2 Put the machine flat on the work platform, take out the serial port extension cable (DB9 cable), connect the communication interface on the right side of the chassis and the COM1 port of the computer, and connect the power cord.

3 Please make sure that your computer's operating system is win98/2000/XP, the minimum memory configuration is 256M, turn on the computer and insert the DK engraving driver CD, and run the corresponding setup.exe file. Open a PCB file of PROTEL and import DK.

4 Appropriate tools can be selected according to the design of the circuit board, and the tool selection parameters of the DK operation interface are recommended to be slightly smaller than the safety distance in the PROTEL PCB file design (for example, when the tool is 0.38mm, the tool parameter should be 0.36mm). After opening the file, check if there is any adhesion of the circuit board lines caused by the wrong tool selection, until the selection is correct. Set the "board thickness" parameter of the DK operation according to the thickness of the circuit board. This operation provides accurate data for drilling and edge cutting.

5 When the operating system performs edge cutting and drilling, it will work slightly below the bottom of the circuit board. In order to protect the tool, drill and machine working platform, the working platform must be equipped with a circuit board that is equal to or slightly larger than the circuit board to be produced. Use the copper-clad board as a backing board, and then place the copper-clad board you want to make; note that the copper-clad board is ideally placed with a thin double-sided tape. The use of copper plates also requires leveling to ensure the quality of the engraved circuit boards. It is recommended to use the original polished copper-clad plate provided by our company. When installing the copper plate, remember to pay attention to the tool tip installed on the spindle motor. It is necessary to install the copper plate before installing the tool tip for safety.

6. The PCB copper plate and tool are installed properly. When the main power of the machine is not turned on, move the spindle and work platform so that the tip of the tool is near the lower right corner of the copper plate. After confirming that the spindle power is off, turn on the main power. At this time, the online light is Green, press the online key to turn the online light to red, indicating that the machine is offline; adjust the position of the X and Y axes, and then adjust the height of the Z axis to make the tool tip close to the copper-clad board, and use the Z+1mm key to roughly adjust to the visual distance close to Copper plate, put a piece of waste paper (white paper torn off with double-sided tape) on the circuit board, use Z+0.1mm to gradually adjust it, and finally use Z+0.01mm to adjust it until the tip of the knife just presses down Paper.

7 Close the door, press the ONLINE button to make the ONLINE indicator turn green, and turn on the spindle power supply. If the PCB file cutter and board thickness parameters have been set, you can press the test carving button, the cutter head will start to move, according to the design of the largest area of the circuit board to carve a rectangle, observe whether the carving depth meets the requirements, such as too deep or too shallow, first Press the online button to make it offline. Press the Z axis adjustment button to adjust the height, then press the online key to make it online, and then press the trial engraving until the engraving depth meets the requirements, then press the engraving key to engrave. After the engraving is completed, the spindle continues to rotate, but it stops at the lower right corner of the circuit board and does not move. Press the trim key at this time, and the machine starts to cut the shape according to the design. After the cutting process is completed, turn off the spindle power supply. Do not turn off the main power supply at this time. The on-line button turns the on-line light to red, press the Z-axis adjustment button to raise the Z-axis, take out the flat-bottomed sharp knife, replace the drill bit, adjust the Z-axis so that the drill bit is pressed against the white paper, press the on-line button to make the on-line light green, close the door, Turn on the spindle power supply, press the drilling key to start drilling, and turn off the main power supply and spindle power supply after all operations are completed.

8 Use skills and precautions:

8.1 Form a good habit and make sure that the spindle power is off before turning on the main power. When turning off the main power supply, turn off the spindle power supply at the same time.

8.2 Install the tool and drill to tighten the fixing screws.

8.3 The green light indicates the online status of the computer and the machine, and the red indicates the offline status. In the online status, the X, Y, and Z axis movement buttons are out of control, which is not a malfunction.

8.4 When the tool head is found to be too deep or too shallow in the working state, you can press the online button to make the online light red, and the spindle will continue to rotate but not move. At this time, you can adjust the height of the spindle and continue online work.

8.5 When the power is turned on, all the lights on the entire control panel flicker. This means that the machine has not been reset successfully. Please turn off the main power supply and spindle power supply, and then turn it on again after one or two seconds; if the main power supply is suddenly turned off during work, immediately If the main power supply is turned on again, the machine will not be reset completely, which will cause the machine to operate in disorder, so please do not try indiscriminately.

8.6 When opening the file, it prompts "non-PCB file". This machine is compatible with PROTEL ASIC2.8 file format. If the drawing software cannot output this format, please import the file you designed in PROTEL99, and export this format file after conversion.

8.7 When opening the file, it prompts "No KEEPOUT LAYER". This machine uses the forbidden wiring layer as the outer frame of the circuit board. The designed PCB file must draw a frame line on the KEEPOUT LAYER, the line width is equal to the tool diameter (3.15mm).

8.8 It displays "out of engraving range", there are components or lines outside or close to KEEPOUT LAYER, please modify the circuit diagram.