I have just acquired (secondhand eBay purchase) a CNC3020T CNC router engraving machine. After struggling with the Chinglish User Manual (followed by lots of Googling) I've eventually figured out the tuning parameters for the stepper motors, and the Mach3 software is now successfully controlling the machine. However, I still have a number of questions that I hope some of you can answer:
The best software I've found for converting Gerber files to G-code is FlatCAM (version 7), but the same questions will apply to any program used to create the isolation paths. I found that LazyCAM makes a lot of mistakes, and often gets the pad sizes wrong.
1) What size (diameter) and shape engraving bit do you use to mill out the PCB?
2) How deep should the cut be? (i.e. cut Z.)
3) What feed rate is best?
Also, as a side issue - have any of you tried to engrave a key fob? The machine came with several plastic, and a few metal, key fobs. But so far, every attempt has ended in a mess. Presumably there's some simple free software available to do this?
The best software I've found for converting Gerber files to G-code is FlatCAM (version 7), but the same questions will apply to any program used to create the isolation paths. I found that LazyCAM makes a lot of mistakes, and often gets the pad sizes wrong.
1) What size (diameter) and shape engraving bit do you use to mill out the PCB?
2) How deep should the cut be? (i.e. cut Z.)
3) What feed rate is best?
Also, as a side issue - have any of you tried to engrave a key fob? The machine came with several plastic, and a few metal, key fobs. But so far, every attempt has ended in a mess. Presumably there's some simple free software available to do this?
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