Using a 'proper' PCB milling machine, I've been easily able to do 13mil tra= cks. I've never tried to go lower as I never really needed to. I was using = a cone shaped miller so the tracks would end up less than 13 mil although I= would design them to be 13mil. Using a 'straight' cutter, I'd say you coul= d easily get narrower traces. The beauty of one of these machines is that you can have a prototype in you= r hands really quickly. The down side is that you can't really do PTH (Forg= et about those PTH bails, they will break your heart). Doing SMD on one of = these is a bit of hardship as well due to lack of solder resist I find. They are certainly good for hole mounted components (you can solder legs to= top & bottom layers in many cases) if you actively try to minimise vias in= the layout. Joe ________________________________________ From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of John C= hung [kravnus@yahoo.com] Sent: 19 November 2014 18:22 To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Subject: Re: [EE] CNC machine for PCB prototyping. Hi Neil, What use do you use your CNC for? It does look convoluted with the PCB proc= ess when I first thought of it. From what I gatherhere most of the guys do = actually farm out to PCB companies. John From: Neil To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2014 12:27 AM Subject: Re: [EE] CNC machine for PCB prototyping. I have a couple CNC machines and have considered this a few times, but the process seems so convoluted and messy for a single PCB that still won't be ideally what I want, as I usually need 6mil trace/space and a lot of 0.015" plated-through holes. If it's just for some quick testing before I make a formal proto or production unit, I use perf board, and if it's complex enough I just order a proto for ~$160 shipped, and toss a bunch of other projects on there also. Cheers, -Neil. On 11/19/2014 5:18 AM, John Chung wrote: > Just wondering if it is worth the hassle to get a CNC china made machine = and fiddle with it to produce a PCB board at the end.Would like to hear you= r thoughts on it. I am looking at the CNC 3020 or 6040 model for this work. > > I do find the CNC beneficial on wood carvings more :) > John -- http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .