Design and Implementation of Printed Circuit Board Computer Numerical Control Machine with Path Planning Algorithm

ABSTRACT

A Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Mill is a device that etches out a pattern

on a copper clad board such that it makes a PCB. PCBs are used everywhere

in the field of electrical engineering to connect electrical components to one

another. This research presents the design and implementation of low-cost

mini PCB commuter numerical control machine based on microcontroller. A

stepper motors were used to compile the movement of the three axes

coordinates. Moreover, the generated Gerber file was analyzed using

MATLAB platform where the analyzed file is converted to C-code and

transmitted to the milling and drilling machine through the serial

communication port using RS232 protocol. In addition, a path planning

technique based on sorting drilling algorithm was also proposed. The simulated and implemented results were coincided.