I would be interested to hear what Voltera has to say about this. I have read in the past that they didn’t think the machine was strong enough, perhaps they have some data to share.
There is some good isolation path routing software available, including output scripts for Eagle that work quite well and produce G-Code. I have used this with some custom software I wrote to do isolation milling on my Modela, including routing out holes and board outlines. With the rights tools, high RPM, low feed speed and low cut-in rates I think it should be quite do-able on the V-One.
When cutting out complete boards the V-One clamping arrangement may not be suitable, unless you want to leave large borders and small break-out tabs to stop the board shifting and fouling the milling cutter, but using double-sided tape between the PCB and sacrificial layer works quite well for this. A 0.1mm cut-in per pass and low X-Y feed rate should ensure side-load doesn’t cause the steppers to skip.
For copper isolation routing I’ve found a sharp 60 degree v-tip works well, one of the most important things is end-play, so the tip cuts through the copper rather than running along the top and just indenting the surface. The V-One drill and z-feed construction seem ideal for this.
There is a lot more swarf generated when milling than with drilling, and this gets everywhere including inside the machine, hopefully this wouldn’t become a fire-hazard. Pretty easy to open it up for cleaning though, it is a nicely designed and built machine.
