Homebrew PCBs

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

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

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "lcdpublishing"
<lcdpublishing@y...> 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

I have a 30 inch metal shear and it leaves a rough edge.

I have a T-Tech etching machine and it leaves a pristine edge.

A friend has a wet tile saw from Home Depot  item 100074675  ($89.00)
sold in the flooring department.

Diamond blade and all that. cuts wet so there is little to no dust.

Dave

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan"
<stefan_trethan@g...> wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 18:52:38 +0200, lcdpublishing  
> <lcdpublishing@y...> 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


Side note : when you read such a complete post and review of
differeing technologies, how can you complain ?  saws are better,
shears work, sizzers might be OK, watch for the health hazzard... 

I would have been MUCH more dire in the health warning.  ONE breath of
fiberglass dust is worse than smoking for 20 years.  you can get rid
of the tars and nicotine in a few months after you stop, the glass
will be in your lungs forever.

I am worried that a shop vac picking up dust from drilling will
actually blow it around the shop.  I keep a watchfull eye out on the
surfaces to make sure there is no dust.

Dave

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:18:30 +0200, Dave Mucha <dave_mucha@...>  
wrote:

>
> I am worried that a shop vac picking up dust from drilling will
> actually blow it around the shop.  I keep a watchfull eye out on the
> surfaces to make sure there is no dust.
> Dave


i hope the filter catches it.
Looking forward to try "wet" drilling with the CNC.

ST

I use this http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?ItemNumber=G4011
It is clearly overkill for the job but I use it for lots of other
things like making boxes.  I like the shear because it is very fast
and does clean work.  It also has a guide to allow me to do several
boards at once.  I use a disk sander to clean up the edge - it takes
one or two seconds per edge.  Even with sanding, it only takes a few
minutes total.  If you get a shear, make sure you get one with a
clamping bar like the grizzlys have.  You can get similar at Harbor
Freight and others.  If I were just doing boards, I think the baby
brother of mine would work pretty well -
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?ItemNumber=G6089

Since you have a cnc machine, why not V score the line when you have
it on the machine for drilling and then snap it?

I'm not at all a fan of saws as even the largest boards I've done (6x6
or so) takes some care to safely cut. Just the thought of cutting a
2"x2" board gives me the creeps...  Noisy, dirty, blah blah blah

Phil

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "lcdpublishing"
<lcdpublishing@y...> 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

>I like the shear because it is very fast

There's no way I'd be using a saw. Been using a shear (it's a 12" 
shear, brake, roll combo that HF used to sell a couple years back) then 
finishing with disc sander too. I frame each board/panel with a .010" 
track for cutting/sanding reference like the panel in this shot;

http://www.pbase.com/eldata/image/46673206

A metal shear will work fine.  I have used the run of the mill paper 
cutters -- flat 16x16 inch platform with a slightly curved blade on 
right side.  However, the more robust variety would probably work better. 

David

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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos:
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>Yahoo! Groups Links
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>  
>

I use a Prosnip 20SL hand snips I bought to cut aluminum sheeting.  It
does a good job.  The edges are pretty crisp.



--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "lcdpublishing"
<lcdpublishing@y...> 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