RepStrap: open source PCB milling...

Ok, so let me speak for a moment to the power of open source, the power of standing on other people's work! About three hours ago I was coming down from the high of getting my machine to talk G-Code. A few minutes ago I just drew the layout of a printed circuit board. Here is a picture of what I am talking about.



So basically, in three hours I did the following.

• Installed Eagle


• Installed pcb-gcode


• Downloaded Eagle files from the RepRap sourceforge site


• Converted these files to g-code through pcb-gcode


• Ran these files on my RepStrap through g-code for RepRap

Now all that is left for me to do is put a Dremel on the X bracket and I can mill PCBs!!

Compare these three hours to the three weeks it would have taken me to write the bare essentials necessary to do this! This is the power of open source! Open source that broke out of the shackles of software and into the world of tangible things.