Drilling PCB's

[R.G. Keen]

Over the weekend I wandered into a local sporting goods store and 
bought a Tasco 4power x 20mm objective rifle scope for $14. I took 
this home and taped my 3 power jeweler's loupe onto the non-eyepiece 
end of the scope and bango! I now have a 12 power drill microscope 
that focuses 2" from the end of the scope and has crosshairs for 
alignment. 

For those of you who missed the original post, you use this by
making a stand with a PCB drill setup like a Dremel tool on its
drill press accessory stand, but rearranged to drill UP through 
the table from the bottom. The drill microscope is arranged to focus 
on the place where the drill bit comes up through the table, with
the crosshairs centered on the center of the drill bit. You can then
manually move the board around, centering the pads in the crosshairs 
and then activating the drill to drill a perfectly aligned hole
from the bottom. 

The optics make alignment very easy, and humans are a very efficient
CNC controlled positioning system...