I just received my second board and it looks great! I’m looking forward to populating it and testing it. By design, I placed two circuits on the board with the intention that I would cut them apart.
I went to make the cut but my xacto saw blade doesn’t seem up to the task. Any suggestions?
Joe
Greetigns Joe,
Congrats on the PCB!
jdemeyer:
I placed two circuits on the board with the intention that I would cut them apart. Any suggestions?
Depends upon your resources and how much space
you left for the saw kerf.
I’ve used a table saw with carbide blade, but for small
boards you can use a hacksaw with a fine blade.
Another tool is a [Dremel mototool with a cut-off wheel.
In theory you can score a v groove on the PCB at
the cut line and snap it apart.
If all else fails you can gouge a score line using a
straight edge and sharp X-Acto knife, and snap it.
Safety first!
Comments Welcome!](Dremel - Wikipedia)
A Stanley knife works quite well for scoring boards.
Leon
jdemeyer:
I just received my second board and it looks great! I’m looking forward to populating it and testing it. By design, I placed two circuits on the board with the intention that I would cut them apart.I went to make the cut but my xacto saw blade doesn’t seem up to the task. Any suggestions?
Joe
Have a look at the following. I have not used them but they seem good:
I use a dremel and cutting wheel (it’s a Black & Decker RTX, but any rotary tool will work, really). It’s quick, easy, and gives you nice clean cuts.
While not as clean or precise, the aforementioned scoring method works just fine, as well.
We use a miniature table saw with a diamond blade (no teeth…just grit).
It works really well…but does take about almost 1/16 of kerf.
James L
smdFan:
jdemeyer:
I just received my second board and it looks great! I’m looking forward to populating it and testing it. By design, I placed two circuits on the board with the intention that I would cut them apart.I went to make the cut but my xacto saw blade doesn’t seem up to the task. Any suggestions?
Joe
Have a look at the following. I have not used them but they seem good:
Here are some more
http://www.megauk.com/shears.php
http://www.mutr.co.uk/catalog/product_i … d6beca5052
smdFan:
Here are some morehttp://www.megauk.com/shears.php
http://www.mutr.co.uk/catalog/product_i … d6beca5052
Before we get to far into this, it is a good idea to think about the future method of your projects.
Guillotine are only good for pre-production cutting. They are not good for boards with components mounted (stresses or smashes the parts).
V-score separators will only work with v-score panels (boards). But will work with populated boards. Trying to use them without a v-score is a problem waiting to happen.
The saw method works with all of them…and if using a blade underneath will separate boards with components mounted (top only of course). It does remove material…so that is something to consider. I do recommend a nice unit with a vacuum attached to remove the majority of the dust.
Doing what we do (my company)…I figured it was a good idea to consider the advantages and drawbacks of each method.
James L
Thanks everyone for their suggestions!
I purchased a 32 teeth/in hacksaw blade and made a slow and patient cut. The separation was successful even with the wide kerl.
In the future, I might try multiple holes along the line I want to cut (something like a perf board). Optionally, I like the v groove idea. Two questions:
Would Eagle have a method of placing a v groove into a board design?
If so, would BatchPCB be able to make the board?
Next: populate and test!
Joe
jdemeyer:
Thanks everyone for their suggestions!I purchased a 32 teeth/in hacksaw blade and made a slow and patient cut. The separation was successful even with the wide kerl.
In the future, I might try multiple holes along the line I want to cut (something like a perf board). Optionally, I like the v groove idea. Two questions:
Would Eagle have a method of placing a v groove into a board design?
If so, would BatchPCB be able to make the board?
Next: populate and test!
Joe
Joe,
The holes would be the best with Batch PCB for they do not offer v-scoring. If you order a full panel from Gold Phoenix directly, you could get the v-scoring.
James L