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Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "James" <jamesrsweet@...> wrote:
>
> So what do you guys use for drilling boards? I have a cheap drill press which is barely adequate for occasional drilling, but there's enough slop in the quill that it's extremely difficult not to snap off <1mm bits. I've had the best results using the manual mill at a friend's machine shop but it seems silly to use a 3HP spindle to turn a .85mm bit. I almost bought one of those little Dremel stands since I have a couple of the rotary tools but I've heard they are flimsy and don't work well. Is there a good low cost option or am I best off just building something myself?
>
I have one of these small drill presses and they work good. Spindle run out is minimal and they don't cost much. There are always a few on ebay ranging from $70.00 USD to $129.00 USD.
Check out Ebay items 250571657354 and 290394317121
I also have a Cameron MD-70 micro drill press. Made in USA and VERY nice but expensive. They occasionally show up on ebay and sell fast.
http://www.cameronmicrodrillpress.com/presses.htmlAn Aetna AcroDrill is what I use most of the time. I have two of them. One with the optical scope and one with a locating stylus. I replaced the optical scope on my machine with a small TV camera and it works much better. The drill location is magnified up to 20X with the TV camera. You can actually watch the drill bit come through the board and then retract.
I use the machine with optics to drill small runs. On larger jobs I drill a template on the machine with optics. This template is stacked with three boards and drilled on the stylus equipped machine. It drills about 60 to 100 holes per minute and almost never breaks a bit. The spindle speed is adjustable from 5000 to 45,000 rpm.
The company that made these machines closed the doors a couple of months ago so parts are no longer available but they are easy to maintain. Here are two ebay listings for this type of drilling machine:
310134897215 and 360211069073
Unless you go with CNC the machines listed above are very effective for use in a small shop.
Tom