The Othermill is a small, low-cost, enclosed, precise CNC machine geared primarily towards PCB milling. Othermill was renamed Bantam Tools, discontinued the Othermill, and now makes a higher end desktop CNC Machine that is primarily focused on aluminum, but can also mill PCBs - though the PCB feature is tied to a subscription model.
Both Othermills are owned by the space. Joe FitzPatrick (@Securelyfitz in Slack) is the most familiar with using them
The primary use of the Othermill is PCBs, so we will not cover non-pcb tools here.
This focuses on tools used to design a PCB, and export it to the CAM software.
The Bantam Tools software natively takes EagleCAD .brd files and can import them into a PCB. Since the Othermill software is essentially abandonded, it may be that EagleCad import could break in the future.
The software also takes Gerber files that can be output from any PCB Design tool worth using.
The software also takes SVG files, and uses them as a set of paths to trace.
The Legacy Bantam Tools Milling Machine software is the tool of choice. It can open .brd or gerber files, and figure out how to mill the PCB in the right method, and send the gcode to the CNC Machine. It runs on both windows and osx.
The Bantam Tools software is the CAM tool since it will generate toolpaths for brd/gerber files
The Bantam Tools software is also the CNC tool since it dispatches the CNC commands to the controller.
The Controller is a Smoothieboard - an open-source, off-the shelf CNC Controller.
There is very little use of 3rd party tools for CAM or CNC with the Othermill.
These instructions are pulled from joe's class where we stick to a single bit - 1/32" - to minimize tool changing while learning how to use the mill.
The Bantam Tools PCB Milling software only runs on Windows and OSX. Each of the mills is connected to a laptop running windows with the software installed. We'll need to copy our files over, and use the software to mill our PCB.
Bantam Tools [rooster] icon on the desktopTool refers to the bit we'll use for milling. We'll use a 1/32" mill to cut traces, drill holes, and cut out our board. This means our boards will not be as detailed as they could, but we'll avoid tool changes.Fixturing refers to how we will align the blank PCBs to the base of the mill. We'll attach a single-sided sheet with double-sided tape, and align it to the corner of the fixtureMaterial is what we're going to mill, Single-sided FR-1. Most PCBs are FR-4 which produces toxic dust, while FR-1 is cellulose-basedSize and Placement tell us details about the PCB blank.Plans are where we put our PCBs to mill!Open Files... and choose your yourfile-F_Cu.gbr gerber file from kicad.yourfile-Edge_Cuts.gbr and yourfile-PTH.drl drilling file.Placement indicates where your design will be milled within the PCB. Look at the PCB blank in the mill and measure the ideal location so your design doesn't overlap any completed PCBs.Parts to Mill should be set to top for our single-sided boardMilling tools should list just he 1/32" end mill.top is selected, or you may have forgotten to include your F_Cu file... ask for some help if you need it.Mill all visible and watch your PCB being manufactured in a matter of minutes.