Advanced Neopixel Christmas Ornament With Pcb Milled On Minimill

Software:

OpenBuilds CAM

Machine Time:

40mins

Bit or Laser Size:

0.1mm 30deg V Bit

Feeds & Speeds:

500mm cut, 100mm plunge

Materials:

FR4 PCB 1.6mm, 35um copper

OpenBuilds wants to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year, so why not say it by making some chips?

I drew up a quick little single-sided PCB in AutoDesk Eagle, then exported to RS247x Gerbers.
Using our cam.openbuilds.com (which support Gerber files if you didn't already know) I converted the TOP COPPER gerber to GCODE, then pushed the GCODE to OpenBuilds CONTROL software (All these are available for free at software.openbuilds.com)

I stuck some single sided FR4 PCB onto the bed of the MiniMill with Nitto Double Sided tape, and then ran the gcode to mill the PCB tracks and outlines.

Once that was done, I soldered up the board, connected the breakout pads to my USBTinyISP and programmed the ATtiny85 (Sorry I couldn't include it as a tutorial, but working with Attiny's in arduino is a widely published topic, you can find lots of tutorials online) with the Neopixel example sketch from adafruit/Adafruit_NeoPixel

Check the sidebar on the right for a ZIP file with the Eagles, Gerbers and even a OpenBuilds CAM Workspace Export (.obc file) if you want to replicate the project

The result speaks for itself: Merry Christmas everyone!