Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "jerrytr2.com" <jerry@...> 
wrote:
> *** Just got back from the kitchen sink.  The board is GORGEOUS. 

*** And yesterday I ran to the store and bought the dremel drill 
press attachment to drill the holes.  Worked great!  Stuffed the 
board last
night, and it just worked.  Well, except that my TO3 transistor got 
too hot.  Gonna have to heatsink that thing, which is going to pork 
things up considerably.  Or I might mount it remotely on a heatsink 
or on the back of the chassis....

   This morning, I spent a bit of quality time with various 
components and a dial caliper.   Thinking about drill bits here.  My 
quarter watt resistors have .018" dia leads, augat machine sockets 
have .019" pins, etc etc.

   Yesterday while drilling I noticed that my drill bits were mostly 
way too small or way too big.  I had purchased an assortment from 
Jameco.  Most small parts have lead diameters between .018 and .040.
And Jameco only lists two drill sizes in that range - #75 at .021 and
#59 at .040.  Jameco's prices are reasonable at less than $2 a bit.
  
Digikey OTOH has the same limited stock, and their prices are through 
the roof.  $8/bit and up.  They have priced themselves out of the 
Jerry drill bit market.

Harbor Freight has an assortment of 50 bits for $10.  Has anybody 
bought this one?  Are the sizes useful?


                              - Jerry Kaidor