Member-only story
Creating a Printed Circuit Board with a Glowforge Laser Cutter
Rapid Prototyping helps inventors and makers work through designs quickly, without long waiting periods and expenses of traditional Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacture. There are some services that have amazing turn-around times (and even cheap single board rates), but you might want to test your design a bit more before you commit. I’ve been building a computer from scratch, and I’ve been thinking about the processes involved to make my own boards cheaply and quickly. I have a GlowForge, and I decided to try a traditional etch method combined with laser cutting. I decided, since I’ve never done this, to skip tools like KiCAD and actually create what I needed by hand. It helps me understand things when I build them from scratch. Later, I can learn the tools that make it easier.
The microcomputer I’m building is an 8 bit machine I call SimpleMind that has a very tiny instruction set. I have a register that holds the output of the last command for the next command to use. It’s fairly simple, but WOW — 16 input bits, 16 output bits and two pins on the latch mean a LOT of soldering. It looks like a rat’s nest, and it’s easy to accidentally solder bridge. This is a perfect candidate for creating a simple PCB.
My son plays Warhammer, and I know citadel’s paint is pretty darn good. The black has a matte finish when…
