Re

[KA4HJH]

John wrote:
>So my question is to you who DIY your own PCBs, How do you drill so many
>holes accurately?

If you don't have a full blown CAD/CAM system (I don't), the next best
thing is a drill press with a vise or table with feedscrews like a metal
lathe. I've seem cheap ones around recently, and they don't have to be high
quality. I have an old Unimat SL which in terms of precision is overkill
for this job. You drill a hole, bump the table .1" (for DIP's), drill the
next hole. Works like a charm. And I haven't broken a single bit! Not using
a drill press is the #1 cause of broken bits, the smaller the worser. I'd
say that if you can't find such a gadget or can't afford one it would be
worth your while to build one. You really only need one axis of movement
for the critical stuff, i.e., DIP holes. It would be easy to rig something
up with a piece of threaded rod...too bad they don't make them with 20
threads per inch--that would be perfect.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH