Homebrew PCBs

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 23:45:11 +0100, patt896 <d.patten@...> wrote:

> Large metal hand shear
>
> Paper cutter
>
> Metal brake shear
>
> Band Saw, fine blade
>
> Lapidary Band Saw, wet diamond blade
>
> Lapidary Table Saw, 6in wet/thin diamond blade
>
> Table Saw, carbide blade
>
> Tile cutter, wet carbide blade
>
> Tile cutter, wet diamond blade
>
>



> Is there any tool that works well?

I thought you had already identified one or two just above? ;-)

They'll all work OK.
It is mainly a question of what you need in terms of cut quality and what  
you can endure in terms of cost, noise, mess, dust, ...

I personally use a lever shear similar to this one:
<http://www.westwaymachinery.com/wnewimages/Sampson/LE-5SSlittingShear.JPG>

It is cheaper than a brake shear, and better than a handheld shear, and i  
had one already that only needed some attention to restore. The blade is  
even long enough to cut most of my PCBs in one go. The cut is the same as  
with any type shear, not totally smooth, but not too bad. I usually use a  
very coarse file, almost a rasp, to remove ends of glass fiber that might  
stick out. If you use such a shear you want to align the blades with shims  
so they pass without a gap between them for the cleanest cut.

I also tried a small table saw with a carbide blade (80 or 100mm diameter,  
many teeth, full carbide not only carbide tipped and much finer teeth than  
those wood blades typically are). It made a VERY good smooth cut, almost  
polished. But i would need to make a new shaft for this saw, and it is  
noisy and dusty compared to the shear.

I would not even consider any saw that does not have carbide or diamond  
blades, it will just dull too quickly. Shears do not seem to be badly  
affected. If you don't need perfect edges they appear to be the best  
choice.

ST