Homebrew PCBs

This may seem obvious to many, but it is better to leave the toner on for  
drilling by hand, since the black toner gives a better contrast than the  
copper, at least with my lighting. I thought i mention it just in case  
someone else has never tried it that way.

ST

It is interesting that you mention this because yesterday I tried
drilling before removing the toner. It's all really a personal
preference I believe. I think I can see the drill bit better when
contrasted on the bright copper.
--
Martin K

Stefan Trethan wrote:

> This may seem obvious to many, but it is better to leave the toner on for  
> drilling by hand, since the black toner gives a better contrast than the  
> copper, at least with my lighting. I thought i mention it just in case  
> someone else has never tried it that way.
>
> ST
>
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On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:37:16 +0100, Martin Klingensmith  
<martin@...> wrote:

> It is interesting that you mention this because yesterday I tried
> drilling before removing the toner. It's all really a personal
> preference I believe. I think I can see the drill bit better when
> contrasted on the bright copper.
> --
> Martin K



i think it depends on the light, where it is and what intensity and color.

ST

On Mon, 2007-02-12 at 21:07 +0100, Stefan Trethan wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:37:16 +0100, Martin Klingensmith  
> <martin@...> wrote:
> 
> > It is interesting that you mention this because yesterday I tried
> > drilling before removing the toner. It's all really a personal
> > preference I believe. I think I can see the drill bit better when
> > contrasted on the bright copper.

> i think it depends on the light, where it is and what intensity and color.

Too right!

As for myself, I always drill with a drill press stand, an 18 watt
mini-fluoro bulb close-up, and a 4x head magnifier. Pretty hard to
confuse the drill bit with the copper in *that* environment :P

Can't wait, though, for my mech eng to get back from his motorbike
touring and build the transport for my CNC tool. The CNC controller
won't give a damn what kind of light is present :)

Cheers
David

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:35:19 +0100, David McNab <rebirth@...>  
wrote:

> Too right!
> As for myself, I always drill with a drill press stand, an 18 watt
> mini-fluoro bulb close-up, and a 4x head magnifier. Pretty hard to
> confuse the drill bit with the copper in *that* environment :P


I dunno, i use a 10W car light shining down from the drill, from the side  
and from behind. It makes the copper glare a bit and after a while my eyes  
get tired from it and it looks too much like the epoxy around it. Not so  
that i wouldn't see it but enough to stress my eyes much more than the  
black.
Also, if i don't hit the exact center, the drill nicks the toner exposing  
a bit of copper, so i can correct the position slightly to get it on  
target.

ST

>since the black toner gives a better contrast than the
>copper, at least with my lighting.

That's the least IMO. It was cleaning the bit when necessary and 
clearing the dust sufficiently away from the next nearby pad to be 
drilled that got on my nerves. So much so that I devised an air 
solenoid setup to clean the bit and blow away the dust while holes were 
being drilled.

The same foot switch that operated the drill would operate the solenoid 
and a shop Vac. The dust would be blown into a "cowl" attached to the 
Vac. There was the sound of the drill, compressed air and the sound of 
the Vac for each hole drilled...One unholy racket. But it was an 
efficient setup otherwise.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan" 
<stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:49:08 +0100, derekhawkins <eldata@...> wrote:

> That's the least IMO. It was cleaning the bit when necessary and
> clearing the dust sufficiently away from the next nearby pad to be
> drilled that got on my nerves. So much so that I devised an air
> solenoid setup to clean the bit and blow away the dust while holes were
> being drilled.
> The same foot switch that operated the drill would operate the solenoid
> and a shop Vac. The dust would be blown into a "cowl" attached to the
> Vac. There was the sound of the drill, compressed air and the sound of
> the Vac for each hole drilled...One unholy racket. But it was an
> efficient setup otherwise.


I pointed the nozzle of the vac towards the drill, and made a u-shaped  
baffle that i can slip on from the front, that goes all the way around the  
drill. This gets all the swerf build-up on the drill, and most of the dust  
on the board (enough so that it doesn't obstruct the next pads and get  
into the air). A small amount of dust still seems to stick to the board,  
could probably be reduced further with a better suction hood or the vac  
cranked up higher.
The front of the suction hood is easily removeable so i can change drills.

It's loud and i hate the noise, but i hope to get a quieter vac some day.  
Still much better than killing yourself with glassfiber dust.

ST