First attempt at making my own PCBs

[frequencycentral]

Got the copper clad from Maplin (I know, I know - had to get solder and bought it on a whim - it's about time I did my own PCBs).

Toner transfer has gone well:



It's in the FeCl right now, stuff I've already used diluted with water to etch enclosures.

More photos later. 

[deadastronaut]

looking good man....

yeah i use my spent box etch stuff for pcb's.... surprised you aint made pcb's before!..getting tired of perf?...

[egasimus]

Use HCl+H2O2. Much better.

[frequencycentral]

surprised you aint made pcb's before!..getting tired of perf?...

Well I'm tooled up for etching now as I bought a laser printer recently. And 5 iltres of FeCl. For each etched enclosure I make a fresh mix of FeCl and water, so it seems a shame to waste the spent etchant. PCBs was the next logical step. I still love perf - but yeah it eats time - that dual compressor I just built took most of a day to perf. But I'm a perf-ectionist.

[frequencycentral]

Now, how do you guys make those tiny holes? I have a 1mm titanium drill bit, but only a hand drill - guess I need to buy a dremel - any recommedations?

[Steve Mavronis]

Cool! You scared me in that first photo. It almost looked like you etched in reverse! Final PCB photo looking good. Congrats! Are you gonna tin it (or electroplate) too? I know some people think that's overkill but if you want to make it last without the cooper oxidizing over time...

[Kearns892]

Rick,

I'm also surprised you've never rolled your own PCBs before. Looks great so far!

I also only have a hand drill and have no problem drilling out the holes, but I always take the 10 minutes or so (for a large board) to center punch all the holes to make sure the bit doesn't wobble. I do know a lot of people here rely on the divot made from etching, but the copper I use is never thick enough to prevent wobbling with a hand drill.

Hope that helps

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Now, how do you guys make those tiny holes? I have a 1mm titanium drill bit, but only a hand drill - guess I need to buy a dremel - any recommedations?

Definitely get a dremel. Save the receipt also because I have noticed that not ALL Dremels are created equal. You want to make sure that the drill does not WOBBLE when it is at full speed. I had to take back 2 Dremels because of this. Third time was a charm and it is straight as an arrow.

Some people claim that you need a Dremel stand or drill press but, I have always hand-drilled my PCBs and it seems to work fine for me!

Also, PCB drill bits are a good thing. I use 0.031 size for everything. Never had a problem fitting components on the board up to now. I found a 50 pack on fleabay for $19 

Good Luck Rick 

[Perrow]

I've thought about suspending my Dremel (rechargeable) with a rubber band when drilling pcb's, as a "kludged" drill press. Never actually gotten around to doing it but I think it'll work out really nice. When drilling by hand I've sometimes had to go back and fix holes, especially for sockets.

[Pigyboy]

Just break down and get a normal pillar drill then you can do enclosures too. Try doing 500 holes by hand or with a dremel - no thanks. You have to figure you want something as solid as possible as the expensive little bits break very easy....

I found a 50 pack on fleabay for $19 

Hey GLacky
You have the link for the bits?

[R.G.]

Glass-epoxy PCB stock is incredibly abrasive. It is, after all, mostly glass fiber. You can drill it with steel drill bits, for a while. An un-coated high speed steel bit lasts about 100 holes before it is dulled so much that it's wearing through, not cutting. Titanium nitride coated will probably last longer, a bit at least.

The standard for drilling PCB stock is solid carbide. Carbide bits will drill thousands of holes before needing sharpening.  They are however incredibly brittle. Any misalignment or wobble makes them break. It is quite difficult, approaching impossible, to drill with carbide bits by hand and not break them. Hence the need for a press, to keep the bit from being wobbled and broken.

All small drill bits need to be run FAST. There is an optimum speed for a cutting edge to cut any material where you get the most cutting with the least wear on the edge. For such tiny bits, the spin rate needs to be in the thousands of RPM. For carbide, it's even faster. The commercial drillers run at 10K to 50K RPM on their carbide spindles.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Hey GLacky
You have the link for the bits?

Here is a link for a different deal from the same company/person:

http://cgi.ebay.com/50-Micro-Carbide-Drill-Bits-63-0370-1379-/150639475613?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.OPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D370505620513%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D1801928582670823139

Same deal.... just a bit bigger size.

Cheers 

[boogietone]

http://drillcity.stores.yahoo.net/ has a good selection and prices. You can get packs of 5 or 10 of a single size.

And, do not drop them they will break on impact.

[markeebee]

I use one of these attachments with a Dremel for drilling pcbs, think it was about eight quid:



It's not exactly precision, but it takes a lot of the arse-fisted wobbliness out of the process.  I also gaffer taped on a little lazer pointer keyring thingy, so you can see exactly (ish) where the bit's gonna go.  I prefer it to a drill press for PCB's - it's a bit quicker and I don't have to get out of my chair.  Drill press is still aces for enclosures though.

[bean]

Dremel drill press attachment is the way to go if you plan on doing a lot.



#67 carbide bits for components (big enough for a 1n4001) and #60 for PCB mounted pots.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Dremel drill press attachment is the way to go if you plan on doing a lot.



#67 carbide bits for components (big enough for a 1n4001) and #60 for PCB mounted pots.

I have one of these too bean 

I found it kind of useless though because, as you know... with this press the dremel is now held in place and moves up and down with ease BUT, you are still holding the PCB with your hand 

One little kick of the board and SNAP!!!! Bye bye tiny drill bit.

What do you use to keep the PCB from moving?

[markeebee]

^ Yeah, I found the same.  Now I use that router attachment and I tape the PCB to a board.  I find it easier to move the router base around and then hold it steady while I plunge the dremel, than move the pcb around under the dremel drill press and then try to hold the pcb steady.

Did that make sense?

[bean]

Me, I just hold the board very steady. Occasionally I'll have a little uncontrolled muscle jitter and snap the bit, but not too often. Plus, I use a magnified light which makes a big difference in accuracy. I break bad bits more often than accidental breakage. Some of the re-sharpened bits I've gotten lately from Drillcity were just not very good, so I plunked down the extra $8 and got new bits. I could tell the difference right away!

Also, I find it takes a little time to get "warmed up" on drilling...not the equipment, but my actual hand-eye coordination. After half an hour I can drill pretty fast, though

[defaced]

One little kick of the board and SNAP!!!! Bye bye tiny drill bit.

What do you use to keep the PCB from moving?

A steadier hand.  I've never snapped a carbide bit on a drill press.  Because of the number of holes, it would take a LONG time to clamp the board between drill hits.  Another option would be an XY table, which will still be very slow, or a CNC, but who has the money for that?  

Out of curiosity, how much slop is in the travel on those dremel drill press attachments?  Slop can really screw up a delicate operation like this.  I've only drilled PCBs with HSS and a dremel by hand or with carbide and a proper drill press.  

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I just clamp the board into one of these:

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=8904420

I can use it for populating the board AND drilling (free-hand of course  )