Homebrew PCBs

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:15:42 +0100, lcdpublishing  
<lcdpublishing@...> wrote:

> Yes, I too have noticed the same thing with drill bits, but as long
> as they make a decent hole, they are still sharp enough to cut ;-)

Decent is the word. You can punch a hole through FR4 with almost anything,  
but if you try HSS bits they'll soon melt-rub their way through rather  
than any form of cutting.
I do not mind if there is a small burr in the copper, PCB houses would  
change the drill bit long before it got that dull, i usually use them  
until they break.

> Glass is a bear to cut, no doubt.  I have only had moderate success
> with cutting it using tin snips.  Perhaps this year I can finally
> aford to get something appropriate like a shear or similar.  In the
> mean time, I will keep using that cabide tipped saw blade until it
> starts to shred as opposed to cut.

Even just because of the dust i would use a shear. I guess if one has a  
CNC those diamond pattern routers would work fine (i think PCB houses use  
them almost always for outline routing). With sufficient dust extraction  
that should work well, and would be very precise too. I've seen those bits  
on ebay.

ST