Cutting Circuit Boards

ghost13

I'm putting components into a circuit board, and need to reduce the size. The components only use up the bottom corner of the board. What is the best way to cleanly cut away the excess circuit board.
I don't have that many power tools... just a drill and a dremel. Can I do it with this stuff?

Thanks!

PJAllen

The Dremel is a winner.· I use the cutting wheels to cut up amd "modify" protoboard all the time.· Just go slowly, removing a little at a time (zip, zip, zip...), mindful not to go at it quickly (because it'll snag like and jump back, a real attention-getter.)

Nick Waldvogel

My vote is for the Dremel with a cutting wheel also.

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ghost13

I have the diamond cutting wheel. Is that good?

Also, when I use the dremel w/ the standard cutting wheels, they sometimes break apart and fly off. Is this common? Should I just try to stay out of the "line of fire"?

Thanks

Dgswaner

those little friction disks are fragile definitely stay out of the line of fire and goggles are a good idea.

I cut my PCB's with an 8" band saw $80 home depot. but I have cut many things with my dremel in the past. highly recommended.

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Gadgetman

I use pretty thin boards, and I just cut them with a sturdy pair of scissors...

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Bean

A sheet metal shear is what we use at work and it does a great job and is fast and safe.
If you plan to cut boards often I would recommend getting one (harbor freight sells and 8" one).

Bean.

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PJAllen

ghost13 said...
the standard cutting wheels, they sometimes break apart and fly off. Is this common?

Not common for me.· Sounds like you're trying to cut too much, too soon.· You have to keep going over the line -- zip-zip-zip...· Don't bear down and don't use it like a circular saw blade.
You don't have to cut all the way through.· In cutting board material (to make smaller boards like), I get it down so that it's very thin and then I can break it free and then smooth·everything out with a file.
The little red guys are brittle, so I use them mostly to·buzz·away pads and traces.· There's a coarse wheel that I think works best for cutting boards.·
I wear a mask, too, to avoid that fiberglas dust.

Robert Kubichek

I use the diamond grit cutting wheel on my dremel to cut a board.
It will not fly apart, and will last forever cutting circuit boards..
Another good way to cut a board is by using a scroll saw with a fine blade,
and a straight edge jig/stop to guide the board against.

ThePenguinMaster

a diamond wheel is for cutting glass and carbide.. itll clogg up a lot if you use that.. i work at a cnc shop and i do all the setup,programming and tool selection. we cut g10 (circuit board material) sometimes and the only good way to do it is with an end mill. you can get a small end mill from any store that sells dremmels. its like a drill with sharp sides on it. you can 'drill into it' by plunging the tip into the material and then slowly pull it sideways to cut a line. since the sides are sharp, you can cut lines and pockets. if you want to do it right without breaking or wearing out tools, this is the right way to go.

John R.

Based on personal experience, both at home in a shop with limited tools, and at work with anything you could want in the way of machinery, etc., I would suggest that using a mill type bit in a Dremmel would work better than the thin fragile cut off wheels, but not as good as the thicker cut off wheels discussed. The one exception might be small inside "pockets".

While a mill is certainly a "technically superior" alternative, from a practical standpoint, getting a straight line and ease of use/time involved would all point to a cut off wheel when working "free hand".

I would agree that a diamond wheel would not be the best choice, but for small volume, the clogging might not be too much of a problem.

The thin red discs are not really meant for this type of application, and when applied this way, are prone to breaking/shattering unless you are extremely patient. There are thicker wheels available, the ones I'm thinking of look like they are "fiberglass reinforced".

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John R.
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Post Edited (John R.) : 6/7/2007 12:13:00 PM GMT

ThePenguinMaster

'John R.' what kind of shop do you work in? just out of curiosity.

i did a few projects at home with an endmill type tool and it worked out pretty well for straight lines.. i did a biohazard sign out of the side of a computer case and i did a lot of case mods for xboxes. in plastic its supprisingly easy to freehand a straight line. and i did finish it off with a little fime grade sand paper to give it a really clean look. id suggest just increasing the arsonel of tooling to include a 'drywall cutter' or endmill..

John R.

At my prior employer we built our own fabrication machines "in house" so we had a number of lathes, saws, milling machines, etc. as well as some sheet metal fabrication stuff (brake, roller, shear). On the machine side, we ranged from an old manual bridgeport to full CNC and a couple "hybrid" manual/CNC.

The primary business was manufacturing carbon brushes (i.e. for motors and generators).

I miss having access to that stuff :-(

I guess what I was really trying to say above was that some people may find using the "drywall cutter" or "end mill" type bit a little harder to use cutting a sheet of material. Others may not. I probably shouldn't have been quite so "this is the way to do it" and more "you may find this works easier".

And in case it didn't come out right, if I had access to that shop, I would probably mill the boards (and use one of the "hybrid" machines to drill the holes too).

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John R.
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