Abstract

The implementation of a printed circuit board (PCB) drilling machine using recyclable materials and computer-aided control is presented. A mechanical system using a DC motor for movement on the X and Y axes, and a transmission mechanism by belts, pulleys, and a worm screw was made. For the Z axis, a mechanism based on a worm screw, nuts, and a stepper motor was implemented. The main board has two microcontrollers communicating in a master-slave configuration via a serial protocol. A real-time operating system (OSA) was implemented to optimize the data flow to the computer using the USB protocol, for communication with the slave microcontroller, positioning the Cartesian axes, and control the motors. The slave is responsible for monitoring the status of the encoders and limit switches, as well as the information delivery to the master. A Matlab-based user interface was developed to determine the coordinates of the holes to be drilled by processing a jpg image. This also allows the user to control the DC motors using PWM signals via configurable parameters of PID controllers. The end result is a drilling machine which able to operate both manually and via a computer, for drilling PCBs of a maximum size of 24 × 40 cm.

Highlights

  • Robotics is one of the areas of electronics that has a great influence on many of the processes with which people interact

  • One of the applications of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) technology is in the field of drilling and the manufacture of printed circuit boards (PCBs) [9], which has been studied by numerous professionals in electronics, industry, and educational centers [10]

  • When performing the integration of mechanical systems for each of the X, Y, and Z axes, the implementation of the designed hardware and the completion of each programming microcontroller implementation of the designed hardware and the completion of each programming microcontroller routine are obtained as the final result of the prototype of the drilling machine

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Summary

Introduction

Robotics is one of the areas of electronics that has a great influence on many of the processes with which people interact. One of the applications of CNC technology is in the field of drilling and the manufacture of printed circuit boards (PCBs) [9], which has been studied by numerous professionals in electronics, industry, and educational centers [10]. Research has focused on developing prototypes of reliable drills with a good cost-benefit ratio These machines have a control unit and a three-axis system (X, Y, Z) that are moved by servomotors or stepper motors. It is important to highlight that the use of CNC technology has allowed the industry to automate the PCB drilling process, thereby avoiding the problems that arise when this task is done manually. In [16], the authors implemented a control system for micro-drilling PCBs. In addition, research has focused on designing prototypes for manufacturing. The main novelty of this paper is the use of recyclable materials to implement a fully functional, low-cost prototype

Materials and Methods
Mechanical System
Belt Drive System
Control Stage
Flowchart
Monitoring Stage
V athas voltages of switch
Graphic User Interface
Results and Discussion
Results for PCBs of
Conclusions

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