Making PCB with a hobby CNC machine

One of the main goals I had in mind when getting a CNC "engraving" machine was to make PCB at home. It's sort of full circle to the '70s I guess. Only instead of using nasty chemicals I just have the engraver scratch off an isolation path between traces. Or so the plan goes.

My "hello world" board is the above controller for a 3d printer. This is a follow up to the similar board I made to help use the CNC itself. For a 3d printer I added buttons to set Z=0.1 height and a higher Z height to aid in homing. The breakout headers on the bottom right are for the ESP8266 daughter board. The middle chip is an MCP32017 gpio extender. I've had good experiences using TWI on the ESP8266 and the MCP overcomes the pin limitations quite nicely. It also gives all the buttons a nice central place to go :)

The 3v3 regulator makes the whole show a plug in the AA pack and go type board. The on/off switch is the physical connection to an external battery.

One step closer to the design in the morning, physically create in the afternoon, and use in the evening goal.