[sdiy] cutting PCBs

[tsheets at saturn5.com]

There was so much discussion around this, let me tell you what I finally did.

First, clamping a metal straight-edge on the PCB was key.  After I did that,
I took a  fresh scribe and went back and forth on both sides to get a good
little groove going.  There is no way to scribe all the way through a PCB,
but it really gets the initial groove going nicely.

I tried some dremeling, but it was totally useless.  Adding holes did nothing.
Trying to dremel along the scribe line did not work.

The PCB still did not want to break after the scribe lines alone.

So, i took a hack saw to it.  With the scribe grooves in, hack-sawing was
easy with a new blade.  The metal straight-edge was still key in guiding
the hack saw.

So, scribe + hack saw was what worked for me.

-troy

On Fri, Aug 31, 2007 at 06:20:06PM -0700, bill bigrig wrote:
> Howdy,
> 
>  If cutting with a band saw is unpleasant, you need to
> find the right blade, set-up the saw proper and it
> should be a snap. Find some similar material and buy a
> fresh, new, fine tooth metal blade. It should work
> well. If sawing straight lines, the wider the blade
> the better. But make sure to practice on junk to get
> the "feel for it". Do not cut anything else until you
> have done both. Then put the blade away for future PCB
> use. DO NOT let the teeth of the blade push back into
> the guide blocks, top and bottom. Push the back blade
> roller ahead until the teeth stick out from the guide
> blocks just a bit behind them. Set the guide blocks
> (top and bottom) VERY close to the blade. Let the
> blade float and adjust each side block individually
> VERY close to the blade. Make sure both top and bottom
> blade pulleys have good tires on them. A well set up
> band saw can cut ANYTHING with ease and accuracy.
> Rig
> 
> 
>        
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