Homebrew PCBs

Has anybody ever cut, or tried to cut, a PCB
in the form of a circle?   If so, how?

At 20:36 04.03.2007, you wrote:

>Has anybody ever cut, or tried to cut, a PCB
>in the form of a circle? If so, how?

I can do that on my CNC milling machine.
Cristian

In a message dated 3/4/2007 12:38:27 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
alan00463@... writes:

Has  anybody ever cut, or tried to cut, a PCB in the form of a circle? If so, 
 how?<<
Use a plywood fixture on a bandsaw.  Or, if you are very  skilled, make a 
fixture for your router, using a CARBIDE-edged bit!
 
Or, if you are a lathe operator, first draw the circle with a  Sharpie pen on 
a sheet of FR-4 (or whatever), then manually bandsaw "outside" of  the marked 
circle (leaving 1.5-3 mm waste).  Then fasten the "blank" to a  
plywood-covered face-plate on the lathe with double-stick tape, and fasten a  disk of 
plywood about the dia. of your finished PCB circle over the blank,  holding it in 
place with a live center in the tail-stock, cranked up nice and  hard.  Then, 
TURN the disk to final dim (and sand it!), being VERY  careful.  Don't breathe 
that nasty glass/epoxy  dust!       Jan Rowland



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "alan00463" <alan00463@...> wrote:
>
> Has anybody ever cut, or tried to cut, a PCB
> in the form of a circle?   If so, how?
>

That was one of the main reasons for me converting an X1 micro mill to
CNC. 

I have a proxxon clamped to the head so I can drill the boards and
then cut the outside shape without any intervention.

Before the CNC Mill, and depending on size.. I either used hole-saws
mounted in a pillar drill, cut them by hand on a hegner saw then disc
sanded them, or clamped them between an MDF faceplate and a rubber
block on the lathe and turned them.

Trust me..  if you do more than a few, CNC is the way to go..  and you
can cut any shape you like !

Chris

On Mon, 05 Mar 2007 06:48:10 +0100, <JanRwl@...> wrote:

>
> Use a plywood fixture on a bandsaw.  Or, if you are very  skilled, make a
> fixture for your router, using a CARBIDE-edged bit!
> Or, if you are a lathe operator, first draw the circle with a  Sharpie  
> pen on
> a sheet of FR-4 (or whatever), then manually bandsaw "outside" of  the  
> marked
> circle (leaving 1.5-3 mm waste).  Then fasten the "blank" to a
> plywood-covered face-plate on the lathe with double-stick tape, and  
> fasten a  disk of
> plywood about the dia. of your finished PCB circle over the blank,   
> holding it in
> place with a live center in the tail-stock, cranked up nice and  hard.   
> Then,
> TURN the disk to final dim (and sand it!), being VERY  careful.  Don't  
> breathe
> that nasty glass/epoxy  dust!       Jan Rowland


If not many need to be done i suppose approximating the shape with any  
type of shear or saw will do, followed by sanding to the final dimensions.  
Dont breathe the dust.

ST