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Making a home brew printed circuit board

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Chuck in E. TN:
 I have finally succeeded in making a pcb for my Rotary Table indexer project. Next step is drilling the through holes for the components. The component leads range from .020” to .042” Can I use HHS drill bits or should I get carbide?
I have a HF bench model drill press and an X2 mill. Which would be better? What speeds  for the dill bits? Any other suggestions/cautions?

Chuck

 

Country Bubba:
Chuck,
IF your using FR4 board, your best bet is to use carbide as the fiberglass will eat up HSS bits.
As for speed, go with the fastest one. A .020" bit would like in excess of 30,000 rpm (max my spindle will do!) and .042 a tad over 18,000. :smart:

Of course slower rpm means slower drilling.  Good luck cause it can be done. As for bits, I use some off fleabay.

Good luck :beer:

John Rudd:
Chuck,

As he has said, go for the fastest speed you can for the smaller bits....

Carbide is best for FR4 although for small production runs HSS will do for what you are needing...and keeps the expense down by not having to source carbide...That said the number of boards I've made over the years ( and its quite a few I must say) I've not needed carbide...

BTW, if you need carbide bits for reamign small holes or slots, check out your local dentist....for spent bits.. :lol:

Chuck in E. TN:
Thanks for the input folks. Never thought of the dentist ! Good tip.
 
Chuck

andyf:
Both the drill press and mill/drill may be a bit lacking in sensitivity for such tiny drill bits, Chuck. 0.042" isn't too bad, but a light touch would be needed for 0.020". And if the drill press is an inexpensive model, the quill may rattle about in the housing, increasing the likelihood of bending the bit and breaking it. I had (they are all broken now) some 0.75mm (30 thou) bits with 3mm shanks, which meant that they were easy to grip in a largish chuck which wouldn't have gone down far enough to grip 0.030" shanks.

I used to make my own PCBs for various electronic projects, and only ever used (and broke!) HSS. If you are only concerned with a one-off, an HSS bit with two or three spares to cope with breakages would probably see you through all the holes you need in glass fibre reinforced board.

Andy

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