PCB Manufacturing at Vanderbilt

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – Why Make Your Own PCB?

Chapter 2 – Manufacturing Capabilities

• Overview
• Materials
• Milling
• Drilling and Through Holes
• Contour Routing
• Solder Mask
• Time and Quantity Considerations
• Specification Table

Chapter 3 – Formatting Designs

• Understanding Gerber and Excellon Files
• Producing Gerber and Excellon Files in Eagle

Chapter 4 – Preparing LPKF CircuitPro

• Connecting the ProtoMat to the Computer
• Creating a New .cbf File
• Importing Gerber and Excellon Files
• Selecting Available Equipment
• Placing Fiducials
• Generating Toolpaths

Chapter 5 – Production Phases

• Safety Precautions
• Production Phase – Mount Material
• Production Phase – Material Settings
• Production Phase – Placement
• Changing Tools
• Production Phase – Drill Fiducial
• Production Phase – Marking Drills
• Production Phase – Drill Unplated
• Production Phase – Milling Bottom
• Production Phase – Flip Material
• Production Phase – Read Fiducials Top
• Production Phase – Milling Top
• Production Phase – Contour Routing
• Disconnection the ProtoMat

Chapter 6 – Custom Techniques

• Reprocessing

• Reprocessing a Toolpath
• Reprocessing an Element

• Extra Geometries

• Rivets

• Solder Mask

• Safety Precautions
• Application Overview and Compatibility
• Materials
• Designing Negative Mask
• Preparing the Copper
• Spreading the Solder Mask
• Aligning Negative Mask
• Curing the Solder Mask
• Inspecting the PCB
• Remounting the Base Material

For questions and assistance, email the author of this guide, Daniel Vibbert at daniel.s.vibbert@vanderbilt.edu
This guide was last updated on October 7th, 2016. Version 1.1.2