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Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: PCB drill viewing mechanism... reviewed

From: "Stefan Trethan" <stefan_trethan@...>
Date: 2005-01-10

>
> Maybe but its a matter of pure luck that any given person comes across
> one of these small drill machines your talking about. And spending
> $1000's on a brand new drill machine is just not an option. Building a
> CNC machine from scratch is a mammoth task compared, to building a
> manual drill press. I knew of a small PCB fabrication shop that
> primarily produces prototype quantities and they manual drill ALL their
> boards, while the CNC machine sits in the corner gathering dust. When I
> asked why don't they use this machine, the owner said its too slow.
>
>
> From what I understand the only attractiveness towards CNC for hobby
> use is drill accuracy. With some clever thinking, a manual drill press
> should be able to be improved and reduce mental fatigue of trying to get
> each hole close as possible on target.
>
> Stefan sounds like he is on a good idea using projection.
>

What i fear is that in many cases setting up a CNC drill would be more
effort than drilling the entire board by hand (i have many boards with
well under 50 holes).
Also if i damage 1 board by faulty setup i can drill two or more by hand
in the time it takes to etch a replacement.

The only advantage of a CNC i can see right now, for me, is when i need to
make 10 boards or so to sell it could potentially be less work.
I do not believe it is possible to work with only a CNC and no manual
drilling at all.

Also, i still doubt CNC goes well with toner transfer.


ST