Homebrew PCBs

http://www.modellights.com/images/cnc/inthebag.jpg

  The whitish green pile near the tool tip represents about 50" x .04" 
worth of ultrafine PCB dust.  Much nicer when it's all inside of 
something than when not, and beats the heck out of bothering with a 
vacuum.  Just punched a hole and screwed the flex shaft collar back onto 
the tool with the bag..  So clean I did this within a few feet of the 
computer, something I'd never do in the open.

  Does add some additional risks.  Your hand is trapped inside to hold 
the board.  Tool can grab bag, and wind it in.  Etc etc.  Must be very 
slow and deliberate while moving around with tool on, once in the work 
it's not much more danger than any use of a dremel.  Much better would 
be to build a cardboard or wood board holder, to get your hand away and 
outside the bag..  I only needed a few so just took it slow and 
careful.  Real point is even with CNC or other automated cutting, you 
can still bag the mess, and it's very simple and easy to do.  Tool, pcb, 
and mess on the inside, motor, heat, and easy breathing on the outside..


  Was going to take the B&D $25 walmart tool back, but had it in the car 
and the other tools were mounted so used it with a .04" diamond cut 
router from tools and tunes.  Easily cut my cut outs freehand with 
around .1" spacing.  Could probably do within .07" or less with a little 
care and practice.  Extremely smooth tool and far more comfortable to 
use than the dremel, so much so I cut out 5 by hand instead of the 2 I'd 
planned for immediate use.  The little thing on top that rotates to lock 
the tool also has a rubber pad to put  your index finger on for a better 
3 point grip of the tool.  I didn't like the new shape at first since 
the original handi tool shape was comfortable, but now I'd say it's much 
better than any other rotary tool I've ever used.

  Dremel and flex shaft are attached to the board and inside the bag.  
3600 step per rev geared stepper inside too, to round my boards in a 
later step..  This will give you the general idea..

http://www.modellights.com/images/temp/assembly4.jpg

  Haven't done any video of the end result yet, but the pics in here are 
representative, especially the lights.jpg.  Note the nice gaping hole in 
the middle of the board..

http://www.modellights.com/images/Jupiter2Lights/j2new/

  Now to get back on to the CNC..

Alan