Some notes on the use of the LPKF S63 PCB mill

To make a PCB will you need to have four files:

A few caveats for producing a layout for the LPKF S63 machine:

  1. Although the board can be double sided, we don't have a means of plating through holes (vias). To make a via you'll need to solder a short wire link through the board. It can be done but it's fiddly. We do have a plated through hole rivet kit but it takes almost as long and soldering wires though.
  2. If using a through-hole component connected to top and bottom copper, be sure you will be able to solder both sides. Sometimes this is tricky e.g., 0.1” pitch headers or through-hole electrolytic capacitors. Usually you work around this with careful routing of tracks.
  3. The smallest gap we can make between tracks is 0.2mm. This is the absolute minimum, larger is better if your design can cope with it
  4. Make your tracks quite wide 0.2mm (8 thou) is an absolute minimum. Again larger is better e.g., 10, 16, 32 thou (of an inch).
  5. Don't use really small drills unless you have to - we can do 0.5mm but the smallest drill I would suggest is 0.7mm. For most through-hole stuff 1.0mm is probably OK. If in doubt measure the component leg with a vernier calliper before you mill the board
  6. We only have metric drill sizes in 0.1mm increments below 1.0mm. However, if you want a hole/slot bigger than 1mm the machine will mill it
  7. The PCB substrate is 1.55mm thick FR4. The copper on the boards is 1/2oz copper (approx. 18um thick). This can be important for some applications e.g., RF or high current work say >1A.

Final tips:

RJW 14/3/2013