How hard is it to make diy PCBs if you’re a Noob ?

[HankMcSpank]

I mill my own pcbs all the time....the win for me is turnaround time (from completing the circuit to having the board in my hand is about 1hr ...on par with chemical etching but the results are more predictable & also the holes are done at the end of the process - and the pcb outline/mount holes sorted). I've tried most CNC pcb milling methods & associated apps,here's what I settled on...

1. Design cct in Eagle
2. Export track layer (from the Eagle board) to a gerber file
3. Import gerber file to cambam - cam it up.
4. Save g-code
5. Open g-code in CNC-USB
6. Probe actual FR4 copper surface with CNC-USB (then use probed data to update the Z height data sourced from your g-code file)
7. Mill board.

The problem with milling pcb is one of height irregularities - it doesn't take much error with a V cutter to end up with a track that is not isolated etc....especially with SMD components (which is what I typically use) That's why I went with CNC-USB ...it has an integrated feature called warp (step 6 above).

It's apprently possible to do a similar thing to 'warp' with an Eagle plugin called pcb-gcode...I tried with mixed/frustrating results.