Homebrew PCBs

_Very_ clever trick, Ballendo!  But I hope I won't have to ever use 
it, because with luck I'll have one of your new machines soon!  Can't 
wait to see what other clever tricks you have imcorporated into your 
products....

- Steve

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "ballendo" <ballendo@y...> 
wrote:
> Hello Nick,
> 
> Welcome. Before I started using CNC to drill pcb holes, I came up 
> with something that improved my results immensely, but took a bit 
> more time, and requires a decent drill press (as one reply 
mentioned, 
> if your drill press goes all over the place as you bring it down, 
> you're fighting a losing battle.)
> 
> Anyways, here's what I useta do. Use a piece of .100 perfbord UNDER 
> the pcb--on the drill table. Then use a dual inline header strip as 
> a "fence" to guide the PCB. By using this fence system to control 
the 
> front to back, your eyes only need to determine left and right 
> placement. As long as you use a .100 layout, this can be pretty 
quick.
> 
> Start with the FRONTMOST holes in your PCB. This means the "fence" 
> will be the farthest away from the bit. Go from left or right and 
> when that "row" is drilled pull the header forward one row and 
repeat.
> 
> As I said, moving the header "fence" takes a bit more time than 
> without, but the straight even holes are worth it, IMO.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Ballendo