Software to create and make gcode for circuit boards

[dirktheeng]

All,

I need to make a couple circuit boards for a project I am working on. I have seen people use a router to make isolated runs. I have a good buddy with a small cnc setup which is ideal for doing this. He runs EMC2. Is there any free or open soucre programs with which I can create the layout and generate gcode to mill the circuite paths in a blank? I don't have much experience doing this so any help you could give would be very appreciated.

[r691175002]

There are a couple programs people use, if you google pcb milling or diy pcb milling they come up.

Most of them are eagle plugins:
http://www.embeddedtronics.com/pcb.html

There are also a lot of tips on keeping the board flat and what cutters to use. If you are only taking one or two thou off the top of the board it can be challenging to hold it down so that the surface is perfectly level.

[bdring]

Eagle PCB software has add ons to generate isolation routing. There are free and cheap versions of the program.

[autocrib]

Generators are programs that take some sort of input file (STL, DXF, BMP, etc.) and transform it into machine specific code.
SkeinForge is an awesome little script that will generate very nice GCode. It's free, it's Python, and it's awesome.

[bdring]

I used to export to DXF then just create isolation profiles in AutoCAD (or equiv) for simple boards. Sometimes it is easier than learning a whole new tool chain. It works if you only have the Gerbers too.