- the development and assembly of a machine controller for the same,
- documentation for students: how to assemble the kit, how to run the controller
## What We Did
Given our small class size, this turned out to be a feasible exercise and in the end things 'worked' - students were all able to assemble their kits and used them to complete PCB fabrication assignments.
However, it is hard to say if this approach (designing our own machine, our own controller) was indeed any better than simply purchasing off the shelf machines and controllers. Our final machine BOM totalled around $400 for hardware and an additional $160 for controllers. In some regards, we were using this as an experiment to test our internally developed machine systems - so the value makes sense on our end, but doesn't necessarily make it a repeatable exercise.
