The goal of this project was to design an entry level professional quality PCB milling machine that could be used for small scale operations. It would be used mainly for rapid, inexpensive and accurate prototyping of potential PCB designs that the company could take to trade shows and display to potential customers and investors. Some other goals for this project were for the machine to have a small footprint, to be able to operate in a small area, to have it be safe, efficient and accurate, and for it to be simple to operate and maintain. The maximum budget for the new design was $8,400 CAD.

Various designs were researched online and information about these designs was used to generate engineering specifications for the new design. Conceptual designs were generated from these engineering specifications. Conceptual designs included a robotic arm, a design that had a base moving in all X, Y, and Z-axes with a stationary housing, and a design that had the housing moving in all X, Y, and Z-axes with a stationary base. The specifications were then ranked based on individual importance and assigned weights based on their ranking. 

Once the conceptual designs were created, they were compared to the engineering specifications. After amalgamating all of the rankings, it was determined that a design with a housing moving in all axes with a stationary base similar to what is currently popular in the market was the design that best met the engineering specifications. The reasoning for choosing this design was that it scored the highest weighted value. 

Accuracy and repeatability were determined to be the two most important specifications for the proposed milling machine, with weight being the least significant. This is because it is important for mills to produce accurate and precise prototypes that can demonstrate what a company intends to produce. Weight was not prioritized because the mill is not designed to be moved around frequently.