Othermill: A low cost, high quality, desktop mill

The Othermill is like a 3D printer working in reverse; create circuits and shapes by subtracting material rather than spraying it in heaps of layers. It's a portable, computer-controlled, three-axis milling machine designed for precision and accessibility.

Shaped into a 10-inch cube and weighing only 15 pounds, Othermill easily integrates into a home or small work space. Handles are grafted onto the sides of the frame, making the device extremely convenient for carrying. Couple the Othermill with a laptop and you have a portable printed circuit board and rapid-prototyping machine.

PCBs
Cutting printed-circuit boards was the initial objective of the Othermill, and the first thing to be tested on a working prototype. Recall that printed-circuit boards are traced directly onto a copper substrate by literally etching the circuit design. This allows one to cheaply create cleaner and more complicated circuits that can be tested before mass production.

Othermill's cutter is able to move in three directions, permitting the creation of more complex objects. It can cut through metal, wood, wax, and plastic to create jewelry or even plastic molds that can be later filled with silicone.

Quality components
To become a premier cutting tool, the Othermill is built to last. The unique combination of user friendliness, durability, and noise reduction are what set the device apart. High-performance parts were used in every aspect of the design.

The Othermill's exact tech specifications

First of all, Othermill comes fully assembled out of the box – it's not a kit. A brushless DC motor guarantees long spindle lifetime, and the spindle itself is quiet and high-speed to reduce noise as much as possible.
Rather than using the common set screw for the tool holding, a Fairloc collet was selected for its reliability under rapid vibrations. A polyester core is used in the timing belt housed in the spindle assemblage, to drastically reduce vibration and increase accuracy. To emphasize superior quality, a stepper motor that is firmly attached to a Teflon-coated lead screw with an anti-backlash, wear-compensating nut, is incorporated into each linear actuator.

The frame of the Othermill is constructed from high density polyethylene to guard it against moisture and chemicals. It also includes an innovative self-aligning flexure bearing mounts for additional convenience.

How do you use it?
Any CAM computer-aided machining software is compatible with Othermill so long as it supports the TinyG open-source controller board used in the device. Alternatively, a comprehensible software, Othercam, is included with each Othermill to simplify the typical CAM software, rendering open to everyone. Othercam imports both EagleCAD board files and SVG files allowing users to use any vector based editor such as Illustrator or EagleCAD to design the circuits and shapes to be cut. After connecting Othermill to a computer using a USB cable, a direct modeling interface displays the machine’s present actions along what's queued for the future.

Now that Othermill's Kickstarter campaign has successfully been funded, excess funds will help to add extra CAM processors for handling additional file formats.

Visit Othermill's kickstarter page for a complete overview.