LPKF Calibration Procedures

Tool Adjustments:
Universal Milling Tools:

It requires allot of patience to adjust the Universal Milling tool and the Micro Milling Tool on the S-103
so try not to freak out. Open up the tool magazine (Edit > tool magazine) and check the box of the tool
you would like to adjust. You should now be able to select the “adjust milling width” box. Select an area
to the outside of your design and click ok. The machine will make a short line and measure it with the
camera. Ensure that the camera placed a marker on either side of the milled line correctly. If the line
was not measured correctly it is a good idea to hit cancel, adjust the camera brightness level and try
again. Once the camera correctly measures the line it will ask you to make a correction. The machine
will spit out a value it thinks will properly adjust the line but normally I will halve the output as to not
overshoot the desired width. This can take several attempts to adjust properly so don’t worry and take
your time to setup the tools properly to ensure a high quality finish. If it seems imposible to get the
correct tool width you may need to recalibrate your toolrack which is mentioned below. In addition to
your tool rack you may want to relevel your machine which is also explained below.

End Mills:

Adjusting an endmill is not a perfect science and can take some getting used to. Just like adjusting the
milling tools we are going to select the box next to the tool to be calibrated and click the adjust milling
width button. Select an area to do the test and click ok. The machine will mill a line and move out of the
way for you to measure the depth. Typicaly a depth gauge is tough to use in this case and adjustment is
more like an educated guess. If a line was milled without leaving copper behind I typically halve the
expected result and subtract that as my initial adjustment. When you remill the line and it leaves copper
behind add half of the number you just milled. Depending on if there is copper left behind or a line
milled you will add or subtract half of the pervious value to reach the smallest depth while still removing
all copper. In single layer boards it is less important to have a perfect mill depth but when working with
multilayer boards this is an extremely important process.

Machine Adjustments:
Service Mode:

To make adjustments to the machine settings we need to enter service mode. Extras > Options > USER
Level > Service Mode. Password is LPKF. This allows you to make any adjustment to the machine you
want and save them. Make sure to record any changes you make in this mode so you can go in reverse
in case you make the problem worse! Also its good practice to close out Circuit Pro and reopen once you
are done making machine adjustments and ready to start milling again.
Tool rack:

Navigate to, Machining > Service > Machine (fill in later). Now you can load up a Micro Milling Tool into
spot 1, a universal milling tool in spot 2 and a 1mm endmill in spot 3. Load in the correct material for
adjustment and follow the steps to teach the tool rack its upper and lower bounds. I have used copper
panels saved just so don’t use a new one.

Table height:

Occasionally when things get extremely screwed up and your put in charge to figure out what is going
wrong you may find yourself actually reading all of this documentation to try and get back to how things
used to be. If you make it to this step I want you to really think hard that you have tried everything else.
If the answer is yes keep reading, if not go back and read some more documentation. A wrong move
here can severly damage the machine when put back into operation so take your time and only do this
once. So far the only reason I have had for readjusting the table height was because during the tool
measurement process the float head was not touching the tool rack giving inconsistent results. My first
mistake was measuring off of the vacuum table, wrong! You HAVE to remove the vacuum table and
measure directly off of the aluminum table. My next issue was with my depth limiter. I attempted to
recalibrate table height using an old float head which is essentially the worst thing you can do. Every
other measurement is based off of this table height so as soon as I went for a tool change the mill head
slammed into the tool rack when putting back a tool because the slightly worn down float head set the
table to low. The way I got a perfect table height set was with a new float head and a completely leveled
table. Follow the LPKF procedure on screen (add in location) and use a piece of paper to find when the
float head hits the table, then measure the paper thickness and subtract this value to get the real table
height. Again take your time and don’t hesitate to call LPKF or Patrick Helfrich if you are lost.

Leveling:

Leveling is a key step when recalibrating the S-103. Remove the vacuum table and use a machinist’s
level. Using the adjustable feet make it level in all directions starting with the feel screwed all the way in.
Once the aluminum table is leveled it is time to reattach the vacuum table. Have the machine shop mill a
vacuum pad as flat as possible while only removing a minimal amount of material. This will ensure a
consistent result for the next process. Using a dial indicator attached to the mill head jog it around the
outer edges of the vacuum pad and record the height data around the corners. Using shims placed next
the screw heads in-between the aluminum table and vacuum table make the vacuum pad as flat as
possible relative to the head. It does not have to be perfect because the float head can compensate for
this but if it’s too far off you will end up with peaks and valleys.

Z-Hub:

The Z-hub is a board killer. You will go through the entire process only to have your contour router not
pick up high enough and cut a huge gash across your panel. If this happens login to service mode and
(find location) adjust the Z-hub height in machine settings to 3 or up high enough to remedy the
problem.