Roland-Modela MDX-20

Last modified 01/25/2015 Overview The MDX-20 is micro-milling machine, which uses very small bits to cut away material. It is used at ITP to mill printed circuit boards (PCBs) into copper-clad plates. Download the software for PCB milling interface from GitHub here. It use node or node-webkit to parse an Eagle .brd file and send to the mill. The mill at ITP uses a StartTech serial adapter cable, and the appropriate drivers must be installed on the computer. Drivers available for most operating systems can be found here. Signup for time slots here Features Bed dimensions: 8.63 inch X 6.25 inch (22 cm x 16 cm) Things to watch out for: With the current software, all holes are drilled as a single point (not as a pocket like the Othermill does) This means the machine will drill at one point, and the width of your bit will set the size of your hole. Drilling too far down and going into the MDX-20's bed-plate, because: You entered the wrong value for your board's thickness, and it cut through during a job You held the DOWN button for too long, and cut through your material Interface Steps reference from the Homemade Hardware styllabus. Video walkthrough on Vimeo (uses an older bed and interface version). Materials Drill bits and copper plates can be easily bought from Other Machine, or found on Ebay. Drivers available for the StarTech serial cable can be found here. 1/32" and 1/64" end mills (flat tip) are used for milling traces into a PCB. 1/16" end mills are for cutting the dimension. Drill bits (longer and round tip) are used for holes. Resources Drivers available for the StarTech serial cable can be found here. The official manuals for the MDX-20 machine and for the RML-1 language. Video tutorials on using the MDX-20, and assembling a PCB board. The Spring 2014 class's resource page