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

Hi Folks,

I just came across this group and thought it would be the perfect
place to pose this question.

I need to make a ∗lot∗ of very small circuit boards, like .25"
square. I got a quote on these boards from a board house and the
price was like $.20 each if I bought many thousands of them at once.

If I use their special proto board deal I can make a panelized board
for tons less money, but the thing is these boards have a few SMT
components on them so I need to score the boards prior to populating
them. Having the board house score the boards adds a bunch of money.

Since I have a CNC milling machine I thought I'd try to score the
boards myself with a v-shaped carbide bit. Has anyone here tried
this? Any luck? If not, could anyone point me to a resource that
discusses doing this?

I think it can be done, I would just like to gather what learnings I
can before I destroy an expensive board.

Thanks,

Jeff