PCB Milling

Subtractive PCB prototyping — isolating copper traces, drilling vias, routing the outline — on a small CNC. The realistic FOSS pipeline is KiCad → FlatCAM → bCNC (with autoleveling) → GRBL, with Bantam Tools the dominant turn-key alternative. See PCB / EDA Suites for the schematic / layout side, Touch Probes for autoleveling, and Tooling for the tiny carbide bits this needs.

PCB-mill machines

• ★ Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine (formerly Othermill) — paid (~$3500+); the turnkey hobby PCB mill. Vacuum nest, integrated camera, custom Bantam Tools software. The "I want PCBs at my desk and don't want a hobby project to get there" pick.
• ★ Carbide 3D Nomad 3 / Nomad Pro — paid (~$3000); enclosed tabletop CNC; smaller than a Shapeoko, well-suited to PCBs and small parts. Pairs with Carbide Motion + autolevel macros.
• Shapeoko / Sienci / OneFinity / X-Carve — these all do PCB milling with extra effort: vacuum hold-down + autolevel + small bits. Spindle runout matters more than rigidity here.
• Genmitsu 3018 / SainSmart 3018-PROVer — paid, cheap (<$300); literally the cheapest PCB-milling-capable machine. Limited Z, modest spindle, but fine for one-up boards.

CAM software (Gerber → G-code)

• ★ FlatCAM — open source (MIT); the FOSS PCB-CAM standard. Reads Gerbers and Excellons, generates isolation, drilling, edge-cut, and copper-pour G-code. Built-in autoleveling, double-sided alignment fiducials, multiple isolation passes. Active 9.x branch in 2026. Steep UX, but the realistic free path.
• PCB-GCODE plugin (Eagle) — open source; legacy plugin for old Eagle. Mostly historical; Eagle is being sunset.
• KiCad's built-in plot + manual gerber-to-gcode — works but tedious; FlatCAM is better.
• Carbide Copper (Carbide 3D) — closed source, free; browser tool for the Nomad / Shapeoko PCB pipeline. Imports Eagle / KiCad gerbers, generates G-code. Limited but free.
• pcb2gcode — open source (GPL); command-line Gerber-to-G-code converter. Niche, scriptable.
• Bantam Tools software — closed source, free; vendor tool for the Bantam mill; reads Eagle / KiCad / Gerber natively. Best UX on this list, locked to Bantam hardware.

Surface autoleveling (essential for PCBs)

• ★ bCNC autoleveling — open source; probes a grid (typical 4×4 or 5×5), warps the G-code at runtime to follow the copper surface. The reason FOSS PCB milling works on warped FR-4. See Touch Probes.
• FlatCAM built-in autolevel export — generates the probe + adjusted G-code in one step.
• CNCjs autolevel widget — same idea; lighter UI.
• Candle autolevel (Windows GRBL sender) — built in; common on cheap 3018 routers.

Bits / tooling for PCB mills

• V-bit isolation cutters (30° / 60° / 90°) — classic isolation routing; tip diameters 0.1mm–0.3mm. Drillman1 packs are the cheap-and-cheerful answer.
• Square-end engravers (0.005" – 0.020") — flat-tip engraving cutters; produce uniform-width isolation.
• PCB drills (0.4mm – 1.5mm) — straight carbide; cheap in 10-packs from Drillman1, AliExpress.
• End mills for outline routing (1.0mm – 3.175mm) — fishtail or downcut.
• Bantam Tools bit packs — paid; vendor-curated, well-matched to their library.

Hold-down for PCBs

• Double-sided carpet tape — universal; rip the board off when done.
• Vacuum nest — Bantam standard; works great on FR-4.
• Sacrificial spoilboard with screw-down corners — cheap.
• See Workholding for general fixture options.

SMT / paste / pick-and-place adjacent

• PCB stencil cutting on a laser — see Laser Design Software for stencil pipelines (Mylar / Kapton).
• OpenPnP, LumenPnP — open source; community-built pick-and-place machines; out of scope here but mentioned because hobbyists who mill PCBs often graduate to them.

When to mill vs. order

• Mill at home if: you need same-day iteration, the board is single-sided / simple double-sided with tented vias, you're prototyping ICs that will move to a fab. Order if: tight tolerances, fine-pitch QFN/BGA, plated-through holes, soldermask, or production quantities. JLCPCB / OSH Park five-day turn often beats milling for anything beyond the first two iterations.

Pick this if…

• You'll mill PCBs every week, want it to "just work": Bantam Tools, expensive but worth it.
• You have a Shapeoko / Nomad and want to dabble: FlatCAM + bCNC + low-runout spindle (matters more than you'd think).
• Cheapest possible: Genmitsu 3018 + FlatCAM + bCNC autolevel + Drillman1 bits.
• You only mill PCBs occasionally: order from JLCPCB instead and save yourself the FlatCAM learning curve.