Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

----- Original Message -----
From: "lcdpublishing" <lcdpublishing@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005 11:41 PM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Different PCB materials - open for discussion...


> Hi all,
>
> I have been making some PCBs of late (just getting rolling with some
> projects as I learn about electronics). The first few boards I
> etched were on the brown fiberglass type material - worked good but
> can dull a band saw blade in a heart beat.
>
> I purchased some large boards from Kelvin and have been etching /
> drilling these for my most recent series of boards. This material
> is whitish in color, crumbles when you try to cut it with a sheet
> metal shear (hand snips), however, cuts great on the band saw and
> doesn't seem to dull the blade.
>
> Having made a slight error on a couple of them, I needed to trim
> down the edge. As this wasn't discovered until the components were
> on, I couldn't just run it through the table saw again. So I trried
> the snips - didn't work. Ready to give up, I thought I would run it
> against my belt sander and bingo - this stuff sands just wonderful!
> Much easier to sand than the fiberglass products and stinks much
> less too.

That sounds like FCB 16:

"A fibre glass and paper composite laminate manufactured to the same high
quality standards as Fotoboard but giving certain price and weight
advantages. FPC-16 consists of two fibre glass outer layers with a paper
composite in between. The 1 oz copper thickness and high quality Photoresist
are the same as Fotoboard. The construction of FPC-16 makes it light, easy
to cut and drill. It also costs less to manufacture making it cheaper than
Fotoboard. Various single and double sided options are available all
supplied as single sheets."

I prefer it to FR4 as it is much easier to cut and drill. It's also cheaper.
A disadvantage is that one can't see through it like FR4.

Leon


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