little OT : drilling pcb's

[Keith Winstanley]

In-Reply-To: <9F60C5FED00FD311948100105A3BE53A5F06 at ntsrv1>
> I etched 12 PCB's the last two days, and now I'm going to drill them.
> The problem is : the drill grows blunt after 20 - 30 holes, and I have to
> take
> a new one. I use expensive 1 mm HSS - drills, which should work, in my
> opinion.
> 
> Anyone any idea, who to do this work economical ? (I.e. not 12 drills for 1
> PCB
> but 1 drill for 12 PCB'S)
> 
> J.S.


We use fine drills at work a lot, mainly for stone setting and they are always 
breaking and get blunt very quickly, especially with platinum. I use them for 
drilling my boards to and notice that they blunt very quickly in fiberglass. If 
you have a good eye they are very quickly and easily sharpened on a fine oil stone -

(or arkansas stone). I can make one drill last ages this way and although it 
sounds impossible you soon get an eye for it.

Sorry this is a late reply I have been away.

regards...

Keith Winstanley
http://home.freeuk.net/lowpass