Reviving the faculty's PCB CNC router
The university's PCB milling machine was barely used. A professor taught me to run it, and today students across the program use it for their boards.
Problem
Boards had to be ordered from outside or made by hand, which made every prototype slow.
What I built
A working fabrication process on the faculty's idle CNC router, from design files to drilled boards.
Result
Double-layer prototypes made in-house. I became an authorized operator for later projects.
The manufacturing lab.
How it works
The problem
The machine and its drill bits are very expensive, so it’s delicate to work with: one mistake can break a bit or damage the machine. Access was very restricted, since very few students and professors knew how to use its brand-specific software.
Getting it to work
Professor Cristian taught me and other students how to use the machine for our designs. At first, every job was supervised so we could avoid critical mistakes and get support. Later, we were trusted to use it without strict supervision, and even to mill other students’ designs when needed.
Results
The machine went from barely used to a regular part of the program. Students now make boards that wouldn’t have been possible to get this fast without it.