Cutting blank PCB's to size

[Jason S]

Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.

 

[Eric]

During my apprenticeship, the factory used to heat up the PCB in a oven
before cutting them on a guillotine



Jason S <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
news:433d3a91$1_1@news.iprimus.com.au...
Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.

 

[Eric]

by the way, why you not put
cut fiberglass Pcb
into google and see what you get?

Jason S <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
news:433d3a91$1_1@news.iprimus.com.au...
Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.

 

[Ken Taylor]

"Jason S" <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
news:433d3a91$1_1@news.iprimus.com.au...

Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.


We used to use a workshop -sized guillotine. ie. one used for cutting sheets

of tin plate etc.

Ken

 

[dmm]

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 23:15:55 +1000, "Jason S" <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote:

Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.

Go to a local sheetmetal shop where they'll probably cut it for nothing on one of their guillotines.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

dmm wrote:

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 23:15:55 +1000, "Jason S" <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote:

Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.


Go to a local sheetmetal shop where they'll probably cut it for nothing on one of their guillotines.

They won't, if they've done it before. Fiberglass dulls the cutting
edges on a sheet metal shear in a hurry.
--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Sir Nigel Puke-Fuui]

Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Try a hand-held nibbling tool, with the job finished off with a fine file.

Works for me....

 

[quietguy]

I'd be inclined to try a very fine toothed blade in a jig saw - might work -
if a lot need to be done then a band saw might be the way to go

David

Sir Nigel Puke-Fuui wrote:

Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Try a hand-held nibbling tool, with the job finished off with a fine file.
Works for me....

 

[Mark Harriss]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

They won't, if they've done it before. Fiberglass dulls the cutting
edges on a sheet metal shear in a hurry.

That's what I thought, I have a small guillotine with tool steel blades
and I wasn't ever planning on cutting glass PCB's with it.

The OP might be better off with a table mounted power saw.

 

[dmm]

On Sat, 01 Oct 2005 01:38:07 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

dmm wrote:

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 23:15:55 +1000, "Jason S" <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote:

Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.


Go to a local sheetmetal shop where they'll probably cut it for nothing on one of their guillotines.

They won't, if they've done it before. Fiberglass dulls the cutting
edges on a sheet metal shear in a hurry.

The wear would be insignificant for the small number of cuts that the op would be requiring,
particularly when guillotines are used to cut various metals with different guages, repeatedly,
between sharpenings.

 

[Rob]

"quietguy" <quietguy@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com> wrote in
message
news:433E17C7.32D31930@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com...

I'd be inclined to try a very fine toothed blade in a jig saw - might
work -
if a lot need to be done then a band saw might be the way to go

David

A band saw works well except it hammers the crap out of the blade. A dremel

with a cut off disc also works but heaps of nasty f/glass dust. I woder how
well an old style paper guillotine would work - the ones with the heavy
wooden base & 3/8" thick blade.
There are small guillo's for trimming pcbs but they cost a couple of grand.
rob

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

dmm wrote:

The wear would be insignificant for the small number of cuts that the op would be requiring,
particularly when guillotines are used to cut various metals with different guages, repeatedly,
between sharpenings.

If you say so. Around here no one will let you use their metal
sheers to cut fiberglass. I worked for a company that did asset
recovery, where they had a really nice foot operated metal shear that
they used to remove the gold plated fingers from PC boards. A couple
days after they were sharpened you couldn't cut thin aluminum, let alone
steel. They would wear the blades so bad they had to be replaced.

--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Alan Rutlidge]

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:433ECCFD.77269C5@earthlink.net...

dmm wrote:

The wear would be insignificant for the small number of cuts that the op
would be requiring,
particularly when guillotines are used to cut various metals with
different guages, repeatedly,
between sharpenings.


If you say so. Around here no one will let you use their metal
sheers to cut fiberglass. I worked for a company that did asset
recovery, where they had a really nice foot operated metal shear that
they used to remove the gold plated fingers from PC boards. A couple
days after they were sharpened you couldn't cut thin aluminum, let alone
steel. They would wear the blades so bad they had to be replaced.

--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

I agree. Years ago the place where I worked used to use a sheet metal
guillotine to cut fibreglass boards. Mind you that all we ever cut with it
for just the same reasons Michael has outlined.

For small runs I clamp a steel straight edge onto the board and use a box
cutter blade to score a deep line on both sides of the board, then snap them
apart. This method works okay provided you don't have very thin tracks near
the edge of the board as insufficient scoring prior to snapping can create
microfractures in the copper tracks.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[Jason S]

"Rob" <rdsfal@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:433e4119$0$6545$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

"quietguy" <quietguy@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com> wrote in
message
news:433E17C7.32D31930@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com...
I'd be inclined to try a very fine toothed blade in a jig saw - might
work -
if a lot need to be done then a band saw might be the way to go

David

A band saw works well except it hammers the crap out of the blade. A
dremel
with a cut off disc also works but heaps of nasty f/glass dust. I woder
how
well an old style paper guillotine would work - the ones with the heavy
wooden base & 3/8" thick blade.
There are small guillo's for trimming pcbs but they cost a couple of
grand.
rob

Thanks for your input.
Yeah, I was thinking about a heavy duty guillotine too. Thing is, I don't
really want to spend $100-300 for one and then find out it doesn't work!
Damn things... so expensive!

 

[Jason S]

"quietguy" <quietguy@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com> wrote in
message
news:433E17C7.32D31930@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com...

I'd be inclined to try a very fine toothed blade in a jig saw - might
work -
if a lot need to be done then a band saw might be the way to go

Thanks for your input.

hmm, I wish i HAD those machines! =) No it would be only once in a blue
moon really. It's just a hobby.
Jason.

David

Sir Nigel Puke-Fuui wrote:

Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Try a hand-held nibbling tool, with the job finished off with a fine
file.
Works for me....

 

[Jason S]

"Sir Nigel Puke-Fuui" <wanker@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
news:1103_1128140932@Loud_Belch...

Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Try a hand-held nibbling tool, with the job finished off with a fine file.
Works for me....

Hi, thanks for your input.
Don't you find that the tool chips or cracks the fibreglass doing that? Is
it difficult to do?
Jason.

 

[Jason S]

"Ken Taylor" <ken@home.nz> wrote in message
news:1pj%e.15345$iM2.1255944@news.xtra.co.nz...

"Jason S" <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
news:433d3a91$1_1@news.iprimus.com.au...
Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to
size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.


We used to use a workshop -sized guillotine. ie. one used for cutting
sheets
of tin plate etc.

Ken

Hi, thanks for your input. Yeah we used to do that at school when I went...
it was so quick and efficient!
Jason.

 

[Jason S]

Thanks for your input everyone! I just thought perhaps there was some sort
of non-expensive tool or machine that is used to specifially cut PCB's in
the electronics industry. Obviously there are different methods of doing
this (going by all your replies), but most of which are too very expensive
for something I'm only going to be doing once in a blue moon. Haha, I just
felt stupid cutting them using a sharp utility knife and a steel ruler!!!

Sir Nigel Puke-Fuui's idea of a hand nibbling tool and a fine file sounds
quite reasonable. What do people think of this idea?

Thanks again.
Jason.

"Jason S" <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
news:433d3a91$1_1@news.iprimus.com.au...

Anyone know of a cheap but easy way to cut blank fibreglass PCB's to size?
Previously I have been using a very sharp cutting knife and steel ruler
(very timely task!). Is there such tool out there that isn't massive and
doesn't cost the Earth that can do this? Has anyone tried using a
guillotine used to cut paper/cardboard? (i wonder if that would work?).
Any ideas?
P.S It needs to be a nice clean, straight cut.

Regards,
Jason.

 

[Poxy]

Alan Rutlidge wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:433ECCFD.77269C5@earthlink.net...
dmm wrote:

The wear would be insignificant for the small number of cuts that
the op would be requiring,
particularly when guillotines are used to cut various metals with
different guages, repeatedly,
between sharpenings.


If you say so. Around here no one will let you use their metal
sheers to cut fiberglass. I worked for a company that did asset
recovery, where they had a really nice foot operated metal shear that
they used to remove the gold plated fingers from PC boards. A couple
days after they were sharpened you couldn't cut thin aluminum, let
alone steel. They would wear the blades so bad they had to be
replaced.

--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

I agree. Years ago the place where I worked used to use a sheet metal
guillotine to cut fibreglass boards. Mind you that all we ever cut
with it for just the same reasons Michael has outlined.

For small runs I clamp a steel straight edge onto the board and use a
box cutter blade to score a deep line on both sides of the board,
then snap them apart. This method works okay provided you don't have
very thin tracks near the edge of the board as insufficient scoring
prior to snapping can create microfractures in the copper tracks.

I've been doing that for the last few boards I've done, although I tend to
get impatient and go for the snap a bit early and end up with stressed
fibres along the edge of the board - it cleans up fairly easily on a full
sheet of sandpaper on the bench, but I think I'll try a Falcon drill nibbler
on my next board and see how it goes.

 

[budgie]

On Sun, 2 Oct 2005 20:01:37 +1000, "Jason S" <jst3712@iprimus.com.au> wrote:

Thanks for your input everyone! I just thought perhaps there was some sort
of non-expensive tool or machine that is used to specifially cut PCB's in
the electronics industry. Obviously there are different methods of doing
this (going by all your replies), but most of which are too very expensive
for something I'm only going to be doing once in a blue moon. Haha, I just
felt stupid cutting them using a sharp utility knife and a steel ruler!!!

Sir Nigel Puke-Fuui's idea of a hand nibbling tool and a fine file sounds
quite reasonable. What do people think of this idea?

Depending on the shape, a nibbler can be a viable option. For simple
straight-line cuts - which some use the knife/ruler/edge-of-table for - I use a
very rare but inexpensive tool. It's called a ....







hacksaw.

Then I Nigel-Puke-it with a file to get clean edges.