LPKF Standard Operating Procedure

Standard Operating Procedure

Overview

The LPKF ProtoMat PCB milling tool is intended for milling structures onto copper-coated circuit board materials for in-house production of single or double-sided PCBs.

Tool Parts

Setup

1. Lift the hood and turn on the machine through the power switch located on the side of the stage. Keep the hood closed afterwards for the machine to initialize when starting the software.

   

2. Login to the computer with the provided username and password.
3. Double click the LPKF CircuitPro software.

   

4. After initialization, the software will ask for either an existing CircuitPro project (.cbf) or to load from one of the existing templates.

   

5. If creating a project for the first time, click Load default template or load from the existing template list. If a project file exists, click Open project... load the appropriate file and proceed to step 7.
6. If a design already exists, the Gerber files are ready to be imported, and the template layers are unneeded, delete all template layers by selecting all layers and clicking delete layer.
7. To import and add existing Gerber files and Drill files to the project, click File > Import or press Ctrl + I. An Import window will appear. Press OK to import the files. A warning stating new layers were created will appear. Press OK.
8. For each layer, select the appropriate Phase (to determine when the layer is going to be cut) and Tech (what the layer corresponds to).
9. Unselect or delete Silk Screen or Solder layers.

Create Fiducials

1. Click Insert > Fiducial >  <Create new layer>
2. Place fiducials by the four corners of the profile by entering specific coordinates in the Create fiducial window before clicking Apply or by clicking where the fiducial will be placed under CAM view. Ensure you select “Relative to anchor point.” 
3. If you do not like where a fiducial was placed, you can right click it and press Delete.
4. Press Close when you are done placing fiducials.
5. Set the Phase of each fiducial to DrillFiducial.

Generate Toolpaths

1. Click Machining > Connect. Check that the software is connected to S103.
2. Click Generate isolation and contour routing toolpath.
3. Set the material type and the copper layer thickness depending on the copper layer you are using. For a deeper cut, it is recommended to input a value 1 to 2 ums thicker than the copper layer used. Also set the Isolate and Contour Routing depending on the specifications of the design.
4. Click Start.
5. Resolve any Warnings. For processes with no available tools, assign the toolpath to an appropriate alternate before clicking Calculate.

Cutting

1. Click Machining > Placement to adjust the placement of the cut on the copper board. You can click and drag the design around the board on Machining View. Ensure the design does not overlap with any existing cuts on the board.
2. Click “Open the dialog to edit the contents of the tool magazine.” Check that all the required tools are slotted in the LPKF.
3. Ensure that the stage is clean and the board is bent flat. Use the vacuum to clean any dust or particles left inside the LPKF.
4. Mount the board onto the stage using tape, taking care to ensure that the area to be cut and drilled flat and secure against the stage.
5. Make sure the hood of the LPKF is closed before clicking Start the Board Production Wizard.
6. On the Material Settings window, click “Select the camera head as active head” and then click “Autofocus.” Click around towards the left corner of the display on Machining View to move the camera. Once a clear view of the bottom left corner is visible on the display, click the bottom left corner icon at the Location panel to teach the machine where the corner is. You can also use the arrow keys under X/Y positioning to move the camera. If the bottom left corner is at an inaccessible location on the Machining View, close the Wizard and reposition the board.
7. Click Continue at the Placement window.
8. At the ReadFiducial steps, the camera will first autofocus before confirming if the image is sharp. Reposition the camera using the arrow keys under X/Y positioning while changing the step size accordingly until the bottom left fiducial is centered on the camera. Click Accept Current Position once the bottom left fiducial is visible and sharp. The software will attempt to automatically look for the other fiducials. If a fiducial cannot be found, an Alignment window will appear. Manually locate each missing fiducial and manually center the fiducial within the yellow circle before clicking Accept Current Position.
9. On the FlipMaterial step, open the hood and flip the board towards you or away from you before mounting it with tape. Do not flip the board sideways.
10. When the process finishes, unload the copper board and use the vacuum to clean the dust.
11. Turn off the LPKF and close the hood.

To Do

• Solve problems:
  • Bad drill bits / end mills
    • Figure out how to check if drill bits and end mills are sharp/ not broken BEFORE running the process wizard and actually cutting the PCB.
      • I think this is under Machining > Measure Milling Width.
      • After generating toolpaths, need to measure milling width for all end mills implicated.
      • Replace any bits with out of spec milling widths.
  • Copper milling is not cutting completely through
    • Try lying about the copper thickness, 18um -> 20um or 22um
    • Try understanding and fixing the other thickness parameter, it could be at fault (measure total thickness with calipers?)
• Write SOP
• Take screenshots, photos, label the photos

Jae's notes from 2025-04-11 Friday

   As soon as you open the LPKF software, it opens the New Document dialog.

       The projects tab is currently empty

       The Templates tab has a lot of options, can also load custom templates

       There is no option to explore the software without first selecting a template.

       Selected "DoubleSided_ProConduct.cbf - PCB with predefined Top and Bottom layers, prepared for ProConduct process" since Munia's is a single double-sided PCB.

           This opens up 18 layers! All empty

       Munia's zip has 3 directories:

           Assembly

                   two text files with no file extensions, but one has "front" in the name which implies the other is for the bottom

                   This has no 2D view, but both have items under

           DrillFiles

               one ".xln" file

           GerberFiles

               One "gerber_job.gbrjob"

                   Contains JSON with author, project XY size, board thickness, number of layers, Autodesk version

                   This file is not available to import (can't check the import box after the file has been selected), so it probably doesn't affect the design

               One "profile.gbr"

               Two of each "gbr", for top and bottom:

                   copper

                   silkscreen

                   soldermask

                   solderpaste

       Import the files:

           Click Top menu > File > Import

           Go through Munia's zip and add files from each subdirectory.

           The import dialog upper pane lists the files you have loaded to be imported, with tabs:

               "Import"

                   Checkbox, enable to include file

               "Filename"

               "Format"

                   Automatically selected.

                   All the ".gbr" files from the GerberFiles directory are "GerberX"

                   The ".txt" files from the Assembly directory are "ApertureList"

                   The ".xln" file from the DrillFiles directory is "Excellon"

               "Aperture/Tool List"

                   Just mirrors the filename

               "Layer/Template"

                   Just mirrors the filename

               "Size/Format"

                   For the ".gbr"s and the "xln", this shows NN.NNmm x NN.NNmm

                   The "txt" files from Assembly directory show "Excellon, inch, 2.4, Absolute, Trailing" for one and "Excellon, mm, 3.2, Absolute, Trailing" on the other

           The import dialog lower pane has several tabs:

               2D View

                   Shows the shapes on the layers

               Apertures/Tools

                   Shows rows of items with columns named:

                       "Image"

                           Shows yellow shapes, so far just rectangles and circles

                       "Name"

                           These are named with letters and numbers like T1 or D1 and the numbering appears to be random

                       "Mode"

                           Shows one of several possible icons with hovertext:

                               2 Ls framing a square, hovertext "Draw"

                               Two asterisks in a row, hovertext "Flash"

                       "Rotation"

                           For all Munia's files, these are all 0 degrees

                       "a", "b", "c", "d"

                           ".gbr" and ".xln" circles have one value in "a," ranging from 0.152 to 1.727

                           ".gbr" rectangles have both "a" and "b" values, similar range.

                           No files appear to use "c" or "d"

           Click OK on the import dialog to close it.

           All the files will be added to the Layers list

           A popup reads "Warning - During import, these new layers were created: [list of filenames] Please assign to them the correct phase and tech descriptor"

               Click OK to acknowledge

       Sort through the newly imported layers:

           Widen the Layers sidebar to show more information by clicking and dragging the right edge.

           The Layers sidebar has several columns for each layer:

               Name

                   These show the filenames and also (N) where N is presumably the number of objects on the layer.

               Vis

                   Shows/hides the layer. Hiding the layer also unchecks "Sel"

               Sel

                   Selects or unselects all objects in the layer.

               Colors

                   Sets the color used to display the 2d objects in the CAM view pane.

               Mode

                   Dropdown with:

                       Unknown

                       Thin Line

                       Outline

                       True Width

               Tech

                   Dropdown with:

                       Unknown

                       Wiring

                       Drilling

                       Rubout

                       RuboutAll

                       Isolation

                       Cutting

                       Solder Mask

                       Solder Paste

                       Silk Screen

                       Fiducials

                       Topography

                       Mechanical

                       2.5D milling top

                       2.5D milling bottom

                       2.5D drilling top

                       2.5D drilling bottom

               Inv

                   Presumably inverts all objects on the layer

               Phase

                   Undefined

                   DrillFiducial

                   MillingTextBottom

                   MillingBottom

                   MillingPocketBottom

                   ReadFiducialsTop

                   MarkingDrills

                   MillingTextTop

                   MillingTop

                   MillingPocketTop

                   DrillingUnplated

                   ContourRouting

                   ReadFiducialsTop_1

                   DrillingPlated

                   ReadTopography

                   Dispense

               [Z]

                   Presumabily indicates physical ordering of layers.

                   They start at 1 at the top and increase for rows below.

                   Changing a layer's number to the number of another will swap those two layers

       Try out the Process Planning Wizard

           Select double sides PCB

           Select FR4 copperboard as substrate

           Select "other" through hole plating process

           Apparently this wipes out all existing layers and injects blank ones with no objects.

Jae's notes from 2025-04-11 Monday

   Board Production Wizard steps through production phases

       It looks like this is how one actually operates the tool to execute designs.

   Fiducials

       The docs state that before using this function, you need to generate toolpaths from the design such that the layout can be displayed in the machining view.

Jae's notes from 2025-04-17 Thursday

   Create layer called "four-hole-fiducial." Select this layer.

   Click on the top menu > Insert > Fiducial > "four-hole-fiducial" OR just click on the crosshair symbol in the top menu bar.

       This opens a window "create fiducial" with fixed diameter 1.5mm and fields for X and Y.

       Ignore the window, click outside of the PCB design in the CAM view, one fiducial outside each corner. Then click Close.

           If you don't like where you placed a circle, you can select it and press the delete key.

   The "processing" pane, accessed via Machining view, is entirely greyed out.

   Click icon with two Q-tips in top menu hovertext "Generate isolation and contour routing toolpath"

       Specify material type (FR4) and copper thickness (18um) in the window that pops up.

           P/N US-106394, FR4 9"x12" 1/2 oz copperboard has 0.059" thickness. Copper 18um

           P/N US-106397, FR4 9"x12" 1oz copperboard has 0.059" thickness. Copper 35um

       The checkboxes should already be checked, both "Convert to toolpath: Drills" and "Convert to toolpath: Fiducials".

       Click start, a window will pop up to compute the toolpaths.

       The result is

           "Warnings > Fiducials > Drilling parameters check: no source objects found"

           And it lists the required tools.

           Click "Show more," and the detail is shown:

               Isolate

                   Succeeded for copper_bottom and copper_top

               Contour routing

                   Succeeded for profile.gbr

               Drilling

                   Succeeded for drill_1_16.xln

               Pockets

                   "Disabled, not processed"

               Required tools:

                   Lists 2 cutters, 3 drills, 1 contour router

   Click top menu Machining > Connect

       Connected to the S103 successfully.

       Step asks "Check working-depth limiter" with a photo comparison of new vs. old. Our hardware doesn't match the photo in software (which shows a plastic insert), but it does match the user manual (no insert, just a 1cm tall metal standoff with tubing coming in from the side).

       Step asks "Teaching the tool holders recommended: During transportation, the tool holders may have been misaligned. It is recommended to teach the tool holders.

           Click OK. Popup reads "Tool drop required: The necessary height information to release the tool was not found. Click "OK" to open the tool clamp to release the tool manually or click "Cancel" to abort the tool release".

               There doesn't appear to be a tool in the chuck. Click OK. Got "Manual tool removal required: An error occurred during a movement operation"

           Dialog reads "Moved to first position. Make sure the holder hole is centered. Click Set position to take the current position as first position"

               However, the spindle is way back-right (home?). Not on top of a tool.

           Reattempted with the cover closed. The spindle moved all the way on top of tool 1 as expected.

               Still get "Tool drop required" though. Click OK

                   The table moves all the way back

                   Popup "Manual tool removal required: Please catch the tool with a safety glove and make sure that the tool left the clamp after the machine has opened the clamp. Click "OK" to open the clamp. Click "Cancel" to continue without removing the tool."

                   Click OK (not that it matters, the chuck is empty)

                   Get popup "Manual tool removal required: Please remove the tool from the machine and close the cover afterwards."

                   Get popup "Manual tool removal required: Please put the tool back into the tool magazine at its designated tool-holder"

                       All the slots are occupied already. Click OK.

                   Popup "Auto-focusing in progress: Please wait while the camera finds the focus height"

                   "Moved to first position. Make sure the holder hole is centered. Click Set position to take the current position as first position"

                       The camera view has a crosshair on top of the current image.

                       In the Processing pane, change the step size from 10mm (default when software was opened) to 0.05mm.

                       Used the D-pad to move the table. However, this put the image out of focus, and it did not return to focus.

                           Canceled the process and restarted via top menu Machining > Teach tool-holder positions

                           Did not have focus issues the second time.

                       Clicked Set position.

                       Then it will go to tool 15 and ask you to align it.

                       It then checks every other tool holder, pauses briefly above each one, and for each the yellow crosshair moves slightly to match the image.

                       At the end it dumps some text "Teach result for all holders" with X-Y positions and a linear fit.

                       Click "Save and close"

                       Popup "Teach Tool Holder Positions: Do you want to write the settings to the machine? Otherwise, positions will only be available locally."

                           Click Yes. Popup "Synchronizing the machine: Please wait while the settings are written to the machine. Do not abort this operation ... etc"

   After the "Teach tool holders," the Machining view now has several rectangles representing the table and the A4 substrate and the 15 tools at the back of the table, with the PCB design sitting in the forward-middle position.

       I want the design at the edge of the substrate, not the middle.

   According to the Help manual, you need to A) already have generated toolpaths B) be in the Machining view before generating fiducials. The fiducials should not be visible in the CAM view (mine are, probably because I was in that view when I created them)

       Deleted the 4 holes in the CAM view.

       Switch to Machining view

       Click icon with two Q-tips in top menu hovertext "Generate isolation and contour routing toolpath"

           Got the same result as before including "Warnings > Fiducials > Drilling parameters check: no source objects found"

       Click Machining > Fiducials

           Click 4 times on the machining view. Each point clicked increases the area of a drawn rectangle.

               However, the design is still in the wrong spot. So I need to move it before I can place fiducials around it.

       Zooming out in the CAM view, there is a purple asterisk in the upper left. I think this is the lower-left in the Machining view - they are flipped?

       Go to Cam View > Layers, select all layers OR with the selection tool enabled (mouse icon top of CAM View pane), click and drag a square capturing all objects

       Click on??? Can't figure out how to move the objects.

Jae's notes from 2025-04-18 Friday

   Found a helpful table at https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/industry-articles/getting-to-know-the-gerber-file-format-and-file-names/

Do not publish to web, for reference during SOP writing only.

       Yasser's WearM-v2-filter has some other extensions:

           WearM-v2-filter.GTS - top solder

           WearM-v2-filter.GTP - top paste

           WearM-v2-filter.GTO - top outline?? (it's a silkscreen with component labels and outlines)

           WearM-v2-filter.GTL - top layer (copper traces / isolation)

           WearM-v2-filter.GML - ?? (it's an outline with two circles (vias?)?? both GTS and GBS put solder on the circles)

           WearM-v2-filter.GL3 - layer 3 (copper traces / isolation) ??

           WearM-v2-filter.GL2 - layer 2 (copper traces / isolation) ??

           WearM-v2-filter.GBS - bottom solder

           WearM-v2-filter.GBP - bottom paste

           WearM-v2-filter.GBO - bottom outline??  (it's a silkscreen with component labels and outlines)

           WearM-v2-filter.GBL - bottom layer (copper traces / isolation)

   Need to move the design to one corner of the A4 copperboard, and attempt to mill out the top and bottom traces.

   Software lost connection due to switching off the tool. It recommended closing software, turning tool on, restarting the software

       Software runs a reference on the table, following the edge with the camera, then mill goes to back right and table goes forward.

       Delete old layers and import Munia's latest version.

           Assign layers and tech types

           Select only copper_top (wiring), profile (mechanical), copper_bottom (wiring), and drill_1_16.xln (drilling)

   Move the design to the lower left of the copperboard:

       Top menu Machining > Placement

           Opens a dialog which has fields for X and Y translation, rotation, and step-and-repeat functionality.

           Specifying x=0 and y=0 moved it below the A4. x=10mm, y=40mm put it in the lwoer left with some edge margin.

   Walked away for a few minutes, came back, got popup "Camera error: Camera lost the connection. Check USB-cable. Check camera", with a Retry and Cancel button.

       After clicking retry, got "CLPKFGrabberBase: InitGrabber UEyeGrabberNew failed!" then the original dialog opens again.

       Tried reseating the camera USB on the camera side. Got a different error after retrying.

       Close and re-open software.

   Generate toolpaths (opens Technology Dialog):

       For phases "Isolate", "Drilling", and "Fiducials", got errors "no source geometrical objects found" for first one and "no source objects found" for the latter two

       Go to Toolpath tab in left pane, delete all Toolpaths

       Try to generate again, got same error

   In the Technology dialog, click Show Details under "Isolate." Only two end mills are selected. Selected all available. Did not change the errors.

       OK, turns out I did not define the phases for each layer. Errors went away, except for fiducial, which is expected because I have not created any. Why does it give an error when the docs say Fiducial creation requires toolpaths to already exist?

       Had to go to CAM view to click-to-place fiducials. Then assign phase DrillFiducial to the fiducial layer.

       Ran toolpath generator, succeeded with no errors

   Make sure the machine knows what end mills it has in stock.

       Click icon with two bits facing down and arrows pointing left and right, hovertext "Open the dialog to edit the contents of the tool magazine"

       The dialog "Tool magazine" opens and a tool can be selected for each of the 15 magazine slots.

           Currently, there are none specified.

       The left pane shows the list of tools required for the generated toolpaths, they all have Xs to the left of them, indicating that they are not installed.

       Open the cover, check each bit, assign it in software, click OK

           Red = MicroCutter

           Orange = Universal Cutter / Universal Milling Tool

           Purple = End Mill

           Blue = RF End Mill

           Green = Drill Bit / Spiral Drill

           Yellow = Contour Router (the length of these cutters look like knurling)

           Yellow-Green = Long End Mill

       Delete toolpaths

       Click on the button with a bit next to a holder, hovertext "Open Tool Library dialog"

       Deleted a bit which I don't have (a Microcutter), but which insists on being used for the toolpaths.

       Then go to the Tool Magazine dialog

       Swap in two bits that are needed, remove 2 bits

       There is an X to the right of the 0.15 RF end mill when it is selected for slot 2? Why?

           After I got all bits installed, deleted and regenerated toolpaths, this X changed to a green check

       Save the project

   Attempt to cut the design:

       In the Processing pane, "X/Y - positioning" section, click the button with two axes and a P, hovertext "Move the head to the pause position"

       Open the cover, clean off the surface, place the A4 substrate.

       Wizards > Board Production Wizard

           Mount Material step

               Place substrate

               Material settings

                   FR4 material type

                   18um copper thickness

                   1.50mm material thickness (default is 1.55mm, substrate says 0.59" (which is 1.5mm)

                   Location pane "click into the machine area to move the active head to the associated position"

                       Click in the Machining view on the lower left

                       The camera is not working and I'm not sure if it should be at the moment, I'm not sure how to accurately define the substrate edges

                       Click on the icon with a circle around the lower left to register the current head position as the lower left.

                       Repeat for the upper right.

                       Click continue

                           The mill then goes to the pause position.

           Placement dialog opens (again? I did this earlier)

               It moved my pattern to x=7.36, y=39.52

           Prompted to Save document, click yes, immediately starts production.

           It picks up drill bit, does tool adjustment.

           Dialog "Warm up of spindle motor: The spindle motor is starting for the very first time or it has been standing still for a long time. Thus, the warm-up phase of the machine is longer than usual." with a 17 minute timer counting down as the tool spins with the bit.

           Towards the end of the timer, it speeds up, after the timer, it slows down

           It drilled the fiducials

           It changes bits, does a tool adjustment

               It starts "marking drills"

           It changes bits, does a tool adjustment

               Starts drilling holes

           It changes bits, does a tool adjustment

               Starts drilling holes again, bigger

           Prompts "Dismount the material from the machine"

               I think this is where you would plate the vias. Munia will do this with paste.

               Press next without removing the substrate

           Prompts "Through-hole plating: carry out the galvanic through-hole plating process"

           Prompts "Mount material bottom: Mount the base material with the Bottom side facing upwards onto the processing area and affix it with adhesive tape.

               ... I'm not sure which way we are currently facing? The next step is to check the fiducials, so it shouldn't allow it to be flipped the wrong way.

               Click next without moving the substrate

           Head moves to the top left fiducial, "Auto-focusing in progress: Please wait while the camera searches for the focus height"

               The camera is not currently displaying anything, and the cursor is spinning for a long time. Hmm.

               After several minutes, click "Abort"

               The CircuitPro software froze up, crashed

   Attempt to cut the design again:

       Open software, it does its startup thing.

       Get error "Error: CLPKFGrabberBase: InitGrabber UEyeGrabberNew failed!", click OK

           This could be because the camera doesn't want to talk.

       Get popup "Camera error: Camera lost the connection. Check USB-cable. Check camera", with a Retry and Cancel button.

           Didn't work

       Found camera cable, reseated on PC side. Restarted software, it found it fine.

       Reopen the project.

       Go to Tool Magazine. Place the bit back where it goes by clicking on the crosshair on slot 14.

       Start Board Production Wizard.

       Click on the Read Fiducials on Bottom step.

       Get Material Settings prompt - unfortunately I have to re-enter information, including the substrate location!!

           With the camera working, can accurately place the corners.

           Uhh the camera is black again. Abort run and restart software.

               It decided to pick up bit 15 before shutting off?

               Restart software, camera not connected.

               Move camera to another slot, restart software, didn't work

               Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and printers

                   Found an "Unknown device" constantly connecting and disconnecting

                   Moved camera to a USB port on the front

                   The device connected and is named "XS"

                   Camera connected OK on next startup

           Proceed to the prior step again

           Camera works, but you can't actually locate the corners with it due to focus. So just click on the corners in the Machining view like last time with no camera help, eyeballing it.

           Click continue

       Get Placement prompt. Click Continue without touching anything.

       It starts the DrillFiducial process - nope we already did that! Abort.

       In the Processing pane, in the Operate section, select ReadFiducialBottom and click the green play button.

       It prompts that it will search for fiducials, then autofocuses

           It asks if the focus is good. I positioned the the first fiducial and asked it to try again, even though it seemed OK

           Click Yes to confirm focus height

       It searches for the fiducial

       Get prompt "Alignment: Check alignment result. Click "Accept Current Position" if the result is OK. Click 'Find and Center' to find and then move to the center of the fiducial"

           The mill is centered over the bottom left fiducial (not the camera though?), and the Machining view shows that fiducial as selected.

           Change step size to 0.005mm, then step to the fiducial. Then click Accept Current Position.

           Do this for the other ones as well - they do not have good contrast at all.

               The brightness button under Processing pane, section "Head Actions," makes a huge difference.

               Clicked Retry and it just gave up? I think it only performed the ReadFiducialBottom step and did not proceed.

       In the Processing pane, in the Operate section, select ReadFiducialBottom and click the icon with a list with downward arrow and green play button.

           Prompts to ReadFiducialsBottom.

           With the increased brightness, it automatically picked up all the fiducials with no intervention, moved onto next step

       It picked up another tool, 2 minute spindle motor warmup timer.

       Proceeds to MillingBottom step.

       Proceeds to ReadFiducialsBottom step again.

           Focuses camera and asks to accept focus position first

       Does a tool change

       Mills some more

       Asks to flip across "machine's symmetry axis"

       Camera focus & accept

       ReadFiducialsTop

           It is looking in the wrong corner. Pry up the sheet and rotate 180

           It was having a difficult time, so turned up brightness even more and it is OK

       Tool change

       MillingTop

           This part is taking a long time... took lunch

       Came back after lunch:

           The milling step was done

           The contouring was done

           The mill head is at the pause position

           There's a popup "Camera error: Camera lost the connection. Check USB-cable. Check camera"

               The device manager does not shows an unknown device and not "XS"

               Reseat camera cable, nothing. Move to the OTHER front port. Device appears.

               Click retry on the CircuitPro dialog. No errors.

           Got popup: "Process finished: Your process has been finished! Duration: 1:15:35", click OK

           Remove circuit from cutout by twisting

           Close lid, close software, say yes to "Move head to safe position?"

           It moved, then the software closed

           Shut off the tool

           The tool head dropped, right where the tool should go but I don't think it put it away properly?

           Turned on the tool and started software

           Opened Tool Magazine and put the tool away

           Exited the software

           It decided to pick up tool 15, hovered above tool 15 position, then software closed itself

           Tool head dropped again. Probably planned behavior.

Jae's notes from 2025-07-02 Wednesday

• Got the camera to connect somehow.
• Ensure the workspace suction is on by pressing the power button on the "Air Management System" underneath the table, the light "System ON" should be lit and the suction at the table can be heard and felt.
• Restarted the production wizard
• On the "Material Settings" step, we can use the camera for the "Location" section of the configuration:
  • First, configure the camera:
    • With the "Material Settings" popup still open, move it out of the way of the "Processing" tab of the main GUI.
    • Under "Select Head," click on the camera icon. This will allow the "Head Actions" section to the right of the button to populate, including autofocus as well as brightness.
    • Under "Head Actions," click "Autofocus" and make sure it gets a good focus. If not, try moving the camera around to a different focusing location.
    • You can move the camera:
      • by clicking once anywhere in the Machining View pane
      • or by clicking around the D-pad in the "Processing" tab
        • You can change the movement step size using the nameless field to the right of the D-pad - helpfully, this field auto-selects after clicking any D-pad arrow so you can quickly adjust the step size.
  • Move the camera to the lower left corner of the copperboard, centering the corner as precisely as possible in the camera view. Click on the icon indicating lower left in the "Material Settings" popup.
  • Move the camera to the upper right corner of the copperboard, centering the corner as precisely as possible in the camera view. Click on the icon indicating upper right in the "Material Settings" popup.
    • You may need to refocus the camera after moving from one corner of the work surface to the other.
• Click Continue on the Placement step without specifying additional design placements. We are only cutting out one PCB.
• It's doing "warmup of spindle motor" for 2 minutes.
• I already took notes on the steps that follow on 4/18, so I won't put all that detail
• Fiducials trouble
  • When locating fiducials on the backside (the first side that gets milled, that is), the Kapton tape interfered with the camera's view, so peeled and cut some back
  • When locating fiduicials on the frontside (after flipping), the holes were not all very pretty on the backside so used the D-pad and 0.005mm step size to center them manually before clicking "Accept current position" for each troublesome fiducial hole.
  • Probably need to replace that bit.
• Milling result
  • There are some pads again that did not get properly milled (too shallow of a cut).
  • Some of the drill holes were done poorly an appear burned - probably a bad bit again.
• Fussing with bits
  • To make it so generating toolpaths does not include any bits we don't own, remove the bit from the Tool library
    •  Click on the button with a bit next to a holder, hovertext "Open Tool Library dialog", find the tool and delete it.
    • Then regenerate toolpaths
  • Tried replacing 0.3mm drill bit with 0.4mm drill bit and then regenerated toolpath, but it really demands the 0.3mm bit for the toolpath.
    • Deleted the 0.3mm bit from the library. On toolpath regeneration, this caused "Attention, no appropriate tools available to process holes with diameter 0.35mm (22 objects have been ignored) Assign these toolpaths to..."
      • Then select the 0.4mm drill bit instead, then click "Calculate"
  • Selected complete rubout, just to see how it goes
    • This added a 3mm end mill to the toolpath, which we do not have. Removed it from the tool library.
• Toolpath generated OK, rerun another PCB.
• While selecting the substrate corner locations in the "Material Settings" dialog, got an error "The requested material area exceeds the machining area."
  • Just lied and told it the substrate corner was located further in by about 1mm. It was able to proceed.
• The software appears to be stuck on the "Marking drills" step, the progress bars show no color and the physical Status LED on the tool is blinking blue.
  • Aborted the run and restarted the wizard after reconnecting the tool via Machining > Connect.
    • It had already drilled fiducials, so started the process again like this:
      • In Processing pane, Operate section, select "MarkingDrills" and click the button with hovertext "Start processing the shown phase and all following phases"
      • It still errored out, complaining it couldn't find the fiducials (it didn't even try). Closed and restarted software, then repeated the above.
      • Looking at the bit installed, I think it is bad (universal cutter 0.2mm)
      • Replaced the bit. Need to:
        • Go to the Tool Magazine GUI via the tool magazine button in the toolbar
        • Select the bit using the checkbox, click "discard tool"
        • Then add a new tool. This resets the "tool life spent" counter
• Further struggles
  • While restarting the run, the stalling with blue blinking happened again. The actual error is "End-switch actuated in - Z0-direction"
  • Restarted software again
  • It had broken the just-installed universal cutter!!! Swapped it. -_-
  • Have to reach into the machine and bend up the retainers on the tool holders since they are prone to get bent and not properly hold the bits.
  • It dropped bit 9 while trying to pick it up during MarkingDrills step, then proceeded to continue!
    • The bit 9 slot got bent real bad again, don't know how to prevent this. It even bent the top part of the holder??
    • Bent it all straight with bent tip needlenose pliers. I think the bit is not sitting vertical so the tool head is crashing into it. So, make sure all the bits are tight and vertical, holders not bent.
  • Full rubout did not actually mill all the way through the surface. May need to lie at the start of the process and tell the software that the copper is thicker.