Drill Press tips

[mcasey1]

Well I got a Ryobi 12" drill press yesterday and drilled a PCB.  I learned a few things in the time that it took to do just one.  I think they might be useful.

1.  Set drill for fast speeds, mine only goes to about 2800 rpm.  Faster is better.

2.  Begin each hole by positioning  punch indentation to be drilled directly below bit and moving the board until it is perfectly below bit and the bit can be moved down to land perfectly in the center of hole.  With bit barely touching board, gently move board to find the best position.  Don't rely on a laser alignment system on your press.

3.  Start each hole with a quick, shallow drilling of the pad to let the bit find the center.  Then come back and drill all the way through.

4.  Others may disagree, but I have found that when making the hole, pushing the bit down through the board at a slower speed yielded very clean holes with little to no deformation of the back side of the board.

5.  Wear goggles.

6.  ...and a face mask.

7.  Check drill bit regularly for center and any bending.  Replace immediately if it is bent.  Its not worth messing up an hour of work to save the few seconds that it takes to change a bit.

8.  Always know where your hands are.

[Auke Haarsma]

Well I got a Ryobi 12" drill press yesterday and drilled a PCB.  I learned a few things in the time that it took to do just one.  I think they might be useful.

1.  Set drill for fast speeds, mine only goes to about 2800 rpm.  Faster is better.

Amen!

I use a Dremel for drilling 0.8mm holes in pcb's. I destroyed quite a few...until I set the Dremel at max speed. No broken drills since then!

[John Lyons]

Sounds right to me...
Drill rotation speed needs to be as high as possible, drilling at a slower rate of feed helps this if the speed is not as fast 2800,3100 etc.
This is the same theory as router bits which are screaming fast and need to be fast to acheive a smooth cut. They are actually scraping the cut.

I made a tool from a jewlers screwdriver to ream the holes a little cleaner. Sometimes you get a hole that's not as clean or open.
I just filed the screwdriver to a point with 4 sides. You have to heat up the tip with a lighter to soften the metal (doesn't need to be hot to file though) . Then when you get the point filed you can heat up again and dunk it in water to re forge the tip.

John

[Fret Wire]

4.  Others may disagree, but I have found that when making the hole, pushing the bit down through the board at a slower speed yielded very clean holes with little to no deformation of the back side of the board.

No need, just use a backing board under the pcb. It's an old drilling trick that works for most materials, and provides support for the material being drilled, giving clean exit holes. Scrap plywood works fine. Just clamp it to the press table. Move your pcb as needed when you drill, not the backing board. If you are drilling a multiple examples of the same pcb, leave the backing board clamped in the same place. For a different pcb, move the backing board so that fresh, solid wood is now under the pcb to be drilled. With the small size of fx pcb's, a backing board will last a long time before it has no more solid area.

Like I said, it's an old drilling trick.

[Pushtone]

The backing material thing works for me.

I tape the PCB to a 2" x 1" x 10" piece of wood.

Gives you a handle to hold on to so your fingers are a safe distance.

And now like a broken record I'll link to my old wet dill post for the benefit of new folks.
Wet drill = zero dust.
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=44440.0

[markm]

Very good ideas Gents!

[mcasey1]

I like that backing board idea.  Also the idea of taping the PCB to the board is great.  I will try it.

[The Tone God]

Metal, much like most good things in life, needs lube!

Andrew

[mcasey1]

Good way of putting it.  What kind of lubrication is good for drilling aluminum boxes? 

[Fret Wire]

You can use any cutting/tapping/drill lube that specifically indicates that it can be used on aluminum. Not all cutting fluids can, and will cause a chemical reaction. I use Tap Magic for aluminum.

[The Tone God]

I usually have tap oil lying around everywhere so I use that. You could probably get tap oil at most hardware places.

Andrew

Edit: Dang, nine seconds.

[Fret Wire]

Assuming you're in the US:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=40724-1083-694691&lpage=none
General pupose cutting fluid (most metals) that specifically indicates aluminum also.

[dpresley58]

I keep a small (8"x8") scrap of 3/4" MDF on the bench for a backer when punching boards. A Dremel is my weapon of choice, set to high speed and used with a footswitch. The first step for me is to indent the pads slightly with a small punch to give the bit a center to settle into. The OptiVisor helps tremendously with this task. Then it becomes a matter of feeling the indentation and I'm off to the races. A small bit of masking tape wrapped around the base of the bit will also keep the bit from plunging too deeply after it clears the board. You'll be surprised how quickly you can punch and drill a board after you get the hang of it. (... gee, Mom, I should really have taken that job on the assembly line...)

If you have the pencil-like attachment for the Dremel <I forget what its called>, even better.

I tried the Dremel drill press approach, but lining up  e a c h  and  e v e r y  pad on a complex build almost drove me nutz.