I used to use a belt sander, but unless you have only a little material to trim away it quickly becomes hard to see where you are meant to stop. Also I could never get it dead square or dead flat.
Now I use a mini circular saw meant for cutting ceramic tiles. I can use a set square to get everything square once I have one good edge. Also make a lot less dust than the belt sander and the edge is perfect no finishing required.
Now I use a mini circular saw meant for cutting ceramic tiles. I can use a set square to get everything square once I have one good edge. Also make a lot less dust than the belt sander and the edge is perfect no finishing required.
At one point in my life I had a custom home remodeling business with my cousin. Between the two of us, there wasn't much we couldn't do and do it well.
We did a lot of Ceramic tile (and I have the knees and back to prove it) and many other specialties. Maybe I should use my wet saw to cut larger PCBs.
Another thought, when we did siding work, there was a siding product called Nailite. It was a fiberglass/plastic siding that emulates hand split shakes. Snips were out of the question. Circular saws with panel blades worked marginally in warm weather and forget it in the cold...shatter!
Then we reversed the blade and it cut slowly like refrigerated butter! No shattering, chipping, losing control of the material or saw, etc. We were even able to use larger toothed carbide blades when on backwards.
Maybe this is applicable to PCBs as well? Maybe this is the answer to the bandsaw too!
Regards//Keith
We did a lot of Ceramic tile (and I have the knees and back to prove it) and many other specialties. Maybe I should use my wet saw to cut larger PCBs.
Another thought, when we did siding work, there was a siding product called Nailite. It was a fiberglass/plastic siding that emulates hand split shakes. Snips were out of the question. Circular saws with panel blades worked marginally in warm weather and forget it in the cold...shatter!
Then we reversed the blade and it cut slowly like refrigerated butter! No shattering, chipping, losing control of the material or saw, etc. We were even able to use larger toothed carbide blades when on backwards.
Maybe this is applicable to PCBs as well? Maybe this is the answer to the bandsaw too!
Regards//Keith
I just gave the reversed band saw blade a shot. Comparing a couple of cuts with the blade normal and backwards, here are the results. The blade has a low hook angle and 14TPI.
Normal
Cut quickly, leaving many shreds of copper on the exit side of material.
Difficult to control a straight line.
Backwards
Cut much more slowly, accompanied by increased smell due to increased heat.
Fewer shreds of copper on exit side, but still too many to consider a finished cut.
Easier to control a straight line.
Conclusion
I will not bother to change the blade around when I cut PCB material.
I always finish my cuts with a belt or disc sander, mounted right next to the band saw.
Normal
Cut quickly, leaving many shreds of copper on the exit side of material.
Difficult to control a straight line.
Backwards
Cut much more slowly, accompanied by increased smell due to increased heat.
Fewer shreds of copper on exit side, but still too many to consider a finished cut.
Easier to control a straight line.
Conclusion
I will not bother to change the blade around when I cut PCB material.
I always finish my cuts with a belt or disc sander, mounted right next to the band saw.
Well thank you GTF.
Looks like I am sticking with the knife/hacksaw/beltsander routine.
But tell the truth, the burning fiberglass smelled good, didn't it? Kinda like the smell of napalm in the morning! LOL
This makes sense, the "Nailite" was nowhere near as dense and had no copper. We also hid the cut edge with a self trimming edging called J-Channel. This kind of precision wasn't required.
Regards//Keith
Looks like I am sticking with the knife/hacksaw/beltsander routine.
But tell the truth, the burning fiberglass smelled good, didn't it? Kinda like the smell of napalm in the morning! LOL
This makes sense, the "Nailite" was nowhere near as dense and had no copper. We also hid the cut edge with a self trimming edging called J-Channel. This kind of precision wasn't required.
Regards//Keith
Something to keep in mind is the orientation of boards... the side that gets cut first should be the top, and the break away side should be the copper... side. this keeps the board from threading away... so imagine you were using a table saw, you would push the board through coper side to the bottom...
Also with my metal shears there is a diffirence in the boards depending on which side faced up while cutting....
Also with my metal shears there is a diffirence in the boards depending on which side faced up while cutting....
I've been thinking about this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93211
It comes with a continuous rim diamond blade, which might not be a bad choice. I understand there are carbide tooth blades out there too for this size.
I just haven't been willing to spend the money to try it out.
--Greg
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93211
It comes with a continuous rim diamond blade, which might not be a bad choice. I understand there are carbide tooth blades out there too for this size.
I just haven't been willing to spend the money to try it out.
--Greg
I used the Stanley knife method, sharpened with the side of a cut-off wheel on both sides of a 4 layer PCB. Scored the 4 layer PCB on both sides and then used a block of wood to assist in a clean break. Cleaned the edge with the cut-off wheel. It was fairly fast, 10 minutes of careful work and yielded an excellent result. Thanks AuroraB.
I use a 1mm carbide router bit with a Proxxon grinder and a modified Proxxon drill press. The grinder and bit face down on a base that I built. I added a movable fence to help guide the board through. The nice thing about this setup is that it doesn't matter what angle the fence and board is to the bit. I always get a straight and very clean cut.
When I not cutting boards, I use it as a regular drill press for drilling the boards.
David.
When I not cutting boards, I use it as a regular drill press for drilling the boards.
David.
Tile wet saw. You can get small cheap ones where the blade runs through a water bath, no pump, and eliminates dust. A continuous rim tile blade may not be optimum but a segmented blade or turbo style blade should do well. You can get cheap Chinese variants of these blades that would be fine for circuit board. Look for a blade that states it's for concrete or granite. You can get them cheaply in the 3 to 4 inch size that fits one fo these cheap $50 saws.
Milling with a fish tail bit is the least stressful way if the board is populated. If you cut using a wet system the boards would be best dried in an oven if PTH or multilayer, especuially if using lead free solder, I cant remember the temp and time, but use to do it regular many years ago to help avoid outgassing.
Acrylic cutter
Reviving old thread. Saw some people recommended acrylic cutters but did not specify PCB material. Have anyone tried this method, is it viable for FR4 boards? Recommendations on specific models?
As a side question what would be the recommended spacing between sub-boards for manual cutting?
Reviving old thread. Saw some people recommended acrylic cutters but did not specify PCB material. Have anyone tried this method, is it viable for FR4 boards? Recommendations on specific models?
As a side question what would be the recommended spacing between sub-boards for manual cutting?
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