cutting vero cleanly?

[Toney]

Hi all,

I read in an older thread that tin snips were the best method for quick cutting of boards. Well, I finally bought some over the weekend and .............crumble. Damn. One new large vero board wrecked. It sort of crumbled and cracked laterally. It was the standard large size Dick Smith board. I am thinking , was it perhaps phenolic ? I have been trying to get away from sawing as I live in an apartment and want to minimize mess and glass fibres.
Anyone have any input for better clean cutting methods?

[aron]

Same as pad-per-hole.

Score with Xacto knife, use a pliers and snap. Snap off excess if needed.

Works for me.

[TheBigMan]

Slight variation, I score it with a scriber and then grip it in a vice to break it.  I've got one of those little table top vices for precision work that the perfect size.

[Toney]

Thanks guys.

The tin snips method is just for glass boards perhaps?
I have often had wondered how to work out exactly what the boards I have bought are made from. I'm pretty sure the transparent greenish  tinged ones are fiberglass, but when they are brown it gets harder to distinguish.
I buy the size that best suits the next project. They are often quite different.

[PurpleTheory]

I didn't have much luck with the exaco knife method, I got a cheap little jeweler's saw, it works great. It also helps to have vice, but you don't really need one.

[petemoore]

I just set it on a cutting board, aligned with my shoulder so I can pull straight back, %^&* the nice pocket knife just right and it 'connects the dots' down the line every time. I flip the board over, and do the other side of along the same line, and just pull it across the non holed border to score that, not too worried about exact straighness.
 I just bend along the score lines with my stiffly held hands, which I pull away from each other [controlled so I don't cut myself with the sharp edge of the freshly broken board] and get a clean break every time.

[niftydog]

I scored a pair of ribbon cable cutters that work for smaller pieces, maybe a max of four inches wide. They're kind of a guilotine (sic) action.

Otherwise, a good score along the line (on both sides if you're really pedantic) and snap over a sharp table edge.

[nosamiam]

I went out and bought a tile scribe to cut PCB (double-sided from Radioshack) and ended up with crappy cuts.  I gave up and went out in the garage to see what I could scrounge up.  I found a hacksaw like this:



It works GREAT!! I just use an ultra-fine tipped Sharpie to trace out the measurements, use a C-clamp to clamp the board down to my workbench so that part of it is hanging off, and carefully cut out my board.  Takes about 2 minutes or less and comes out perfect every time.  If an edge comes out a little wavy (a tiny bit at most), I just drag the edge along a piece of sandpaper till it's ruler-straight.  I end up with very little scrap.  I highly recommend this technique if you haven't tried it.  I imagine it would work very well with vero.

[MartyMart]

For small builds, like a Fuzz Face which is 10 X 12 or so, I just score with
a stanley knife ( which almost cuts right through ! ) and snap between my
fingers.
For larger pieces, I use a small "hacksaw" cutting while pressing down on a large flat top - table etc, takes about 20 seconds, then just hoover up
the dust .... done !
I have not had a ruined piece yet !! ( I've cut some a bit too small though)

Marty.

[toneman]

sounds like U R cutting "phenolic"...
very brittle....
nosamiam's right on with the little hacksaw.
U need a fine-toothed blade.
i usually use a bandsaw, but a hacksaw is similar.
a *coping* saw works similiarly.
better 2 cut larger that U need, then, sand excess off.
tin-snips only work well with glass-expoxy pcbs.
even a kepco shear will crack phenolic.
i've actually used a table saw, with a fine-toothed blade,
to cut a large phenolic board to many smaller pcbs
i tend 2 avoid phenolic...but,
if that's all U got, well, that's all U got...
after cutting, use sandpaper on a block of wood,
or a belt sander to clean up any chips, & get it 2 the correct size.
staychopped
tone

[bigjonny]

I've used my Mitre box and saw with great success -- doesn't need to be too fine-toothed when you've got it held in place...

I've used Aron's score-and-break method, too.  Just be sure the side you score is the copper side, so that you cut through the copper traces.  Otherwise, you can rip the traces when the board breaks...

[petemoore]

I tried metal shears, IMO Anything like Scissors will tend to split the phelonic board 'layers' making waste and ugly cuts.
 A little bit of scoring goes a long way. I can cut a board in about 15 seconds reliably. Always pull the knife away from my fingers...I arch my thumb/fingers over the edge of the board, put the knife under the arch, and score away.

[StephenGiles]

No tools required - my work surface has a front edge 90 degrees to the top, so I line up the board at the edge where I want to break it and literally bend it down until it snaps - never fails.
Stephen

[StephenGiles]

Funny isn't it........ 2 years ago - must have a pcb!! Veroboard...........oh my word no!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
Stephen

[petemoore]

For those builds like phasers or trems that have caps that have to go this way then that, or lots of same value resistors that have to be 'wired wierd' to be correct [it can be hard to keep track of which 10k I was referring to on the schematic of say an EZ Vibe or phase 90 while wiring it on perf]  a PCB and nice layout has got to make it easier to get it working.

[Smokin Tone]

I also found myself looking in the garage for something to cut with. It turns out I had a plexi glass scoring knife. Nice big handle on it. Same technique, score and snap.