How do you and your provider feel about panelizing very small
boards by drilling a bunch of holes to allow manual “break-apart”
operations? This would add, for example, an average of 10 or
so holes (1mm drill) to an 8mm *8mm board…
(can you do non-plated through holes, or is there only the one
drill step?)
Not sure where you’re headed with this one, but I’ve see this vendor ship boards with ‘vcuts’. Basically, top and bottom of the board get a heavy score line on each side. You just bend/flex the board at the score lines and you get nice, clean break.
My impression from Spary’s posts is that the V-cuts would only work
on a full panel, where you’re scoring it into square chunks across the
full length and width. It sounds like if you want your single 2*3 board,
sharing a panel with who know how many others, cut into 1x1 chunks,
your choices or routing, and doing it yourself, and if you want it in chunks
that are only 1/3 inch on a side, Sparky would rather you did it yourself.
(all of which makes sense based on “rules” I’ve seen direct from PCB
vendors. This isn’t a complaint, it’s a question.)
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From one of Sparky’s posts in another topic:
"Hi,
I edited the topic a bit to match the question/answer a bit better.
The PCB page can be confusing. The minimum amount you can order is obviously 1"x1" or 1 square inch at $2.50. Your board size can actually be anything smaller than this. We will cut to your board. If you need one or two units, no problem. If you need 45 pcs at 0.3x0.4" then we may have to have a talk. Most likely we would need to get you an entire v-scored panel.
2"x0.5" is no problem. "
Hi there, I’m Pete. I’ve recently been hired on at Spark Fun. Nathan’s asked me to address this briefly…
We’re hesitant to do this (the whole hole thing) for fear of accidentally overlapping some holes. When that happens, bits break and the manufacturer gets irate at us. To keep costs low, there are just a few rules we like to follow, and this is one of them.
Pete
I wasn’t planning on putting the holes any closer together than a full
drill diameter (1mm holes at 2mm or more spacing…) Is that OK?
That should be ok. No overlapping drill holes. No smaller than 20mil holes.
Until GP tells us differently. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?
-Nathan