Homebrew PCBs

Hi Jan,

    For the last 30 years I have used a regular paper cutter to cut the glass board. I would recommend one with at least a 18" handle i.e.. a 12"x12" cutter. Contrary to what you would expect, it doesn't seem to bother the blade. The board will want to be pushed out a small amount by the blade as it comes down. Most of the time I just press down very firmly on the board and hold it tight to the guide and press the handle uniformly and quickly down and the board just jumps apart. It works fine. If I wanted to be sure that it cut perfectly square I would clamp a thin piece of wood or metal to the surface of the cutter and use it to hold the PVC back against the guide so it couldn't be pushed out. Of course, you would still want to hold it down by hand as it was cut.

     You can find used paper cutters on eBay - search "paper cutter" - for $20 or so - not much more than one good bandsaw blade.

    Hope that this is of help. 

Jack Greene
----- Original Message ----- 
  From: JanRwl@... 
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 3:56 PM
  Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] plated through holes


  In a message dated 12/9/2002 1:56:21 PM Central Standard Time, 
  adam_seychell@... writes:


  > I was just wondering how many people here would like to make their own 
  > plated through hole double sided boards. How far are hobbyists willing to 
  > go ?

  Adam:  I do one-off double-sided boards all the time, but without PTH, this 
  is relatively easy.  I have a professional PCB-house do jobs requiring ten or 
  more PTH "same board", or, where a relatively complex "one-off" job requires 
  relatively many PTH holes "under IC's", etc.   Using tiny rivets to "make 
  your own" PTH's is cumbersome from several aspects, of course, and I do that 
  only when there are relatively few, on ONE board, and "just soldering 
  jumpers" won't do.  

  So, yes, were it relatively easy to set-up---even if it WOULD require a 
  ten-amp DC supply???---I'd be very interested!  

  I asked that "local PCB house" if they'd plate-through "blanks" I had already 
  drilled, and as this was such a difficult thing for them to COMPREHEND (Why 
  would anyone WANT drilled blanks plated-through, and no further 
  processing???), they quoted me a price-per that made it more attractive to 
  just let them do the "whole thing".  But no "solder-mask" nor silk-screening, 
  of course!

  I will be VERY interested to follow this question!  GO for it!              

  I have another question for this group, while I'm "here":  I "rough-cut" FR-4 
  on a bandsaw, using 14-TPI "woodworking" blades.  If fresh, a cut of just 1" 
  through that will "total" a blade for woodworking.  I do this actually too 
  infrequently to warrant looking at carbide- or "bimetal" blade-stock. 
  HOWEVER, it is a royal pain in the gluteæ to hafta change blades!  Does 
  anyone have a suggestion for BETTER rough-cutting FR-4 ("glass") stock?  I do 
  not mean "shearing", as that requires expensive equipment and space.  I 
  "edge-sand" to bring the band-sawn blanks to final size, on a disc-sander.  
  For "fancy shapes", I use solid-carbide "rotary files" or mill-bits in a 
  vertical mill, with PC-stock fastened to HARDWOOD scrap with "double-stick 
  tape". (for drilling, I use a home-brew CNC X-Y drill.  If anyone must see a 
  pic of that, I have that digitized, "on-computer", and can upload, if 
  wanted).

  Jan Rowland


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