Homebrew PCBs

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 18:52:38 +0200, lcdpublishing  
<lcdpublishing@...> wrote:

> After cutting a few boards to size on the band saw, I now realize how
> abrasive they are and how quickly then can dull a band saw blade (made
> for wood cutting).  I have used the table saw (with a carbide tipped
> blade), but again, suspect this may cause premature dulling.
> I have heard about shears and even paper cutters, but am not sure if I
> am thinking of the same shears and papers cutters being disscused.
> Chris


The cleanest cut will be with a carbide circular saw - there are small  
blades made of carbide about 10cm dia..
clean but dusty and noisy. tile saws (with wather bath) work too but ppl  
say it is a bit of a mess.
The circular saw i have leaves a perfectly square shiny edge, but as said  
it is dusty and noisy.

Many types of shears will work, including handheld sheetetal shears and  
bench shears, also papercutters.
The interesting thing is shears do not seem to wear as fast as saws, the  
sheetmetal shear i have used for many boards will still cut a single sheet  
of paper nicely.
But a shear will always leave a "broken" edge, with more or less  
delamination. This is also the case with PCB shears made by bungard so i  
guess it just doesn't get any better with a shear.

Still i use a handheld sheetmetal shear for all my boards. the rough edge  
is not really a problem.


Take care with that glassfiber dust, no good for bearings etc. and also  
bad for the inner workings of PCB makers.


ST