In the link above JL demonstrates nicely cut PCB channels of about 0.025" width to allow 0805 SMD to bridge the gap and form a nice breadboard. How do you cut these channels? The corners are so well formed that it was not free hand Dremel. If I could rout copper clad like that I could rule the world.
Cheers, Harry
I cut that one with an x-acto knife, but that's pretty difficult. The fiberglass dulls the blades very quickly.
I want some sort of small pantographic Dremel guide so I could do stuff like that semi-freehand, quickly.
This was dremel'd with a dental burr, easily spanned with 0805 size parts:
This is quick and easy: whiteboard the geometry, draw the lines on the copperclad with a sharpie, cut with the Dremel.
just build one:
a mini mill / x-y table would work too, you'll just have to practice the hand-eye coordination to "draw" with the hand wheels
-Lasse
A suitable job for lasers? As they get cheaper and more powerful?
Sure, Q-switch lasers can be used to ablate copper without completely destroying the substrate. Lots of nasty fumes, I'm sure, and the samples I've had made were not that impressive.
Dunno about it being that much cheaper though, a commercial unit costs about the same as a really nice car. That will buy a heck of a lot of prototype boards.
--sp
Den tirsdag den 25. februar 2014 19.35.13 UTC+1 skrev Cursitor Doom:
you don't want to know the price
-Lasse
Something like $150K, right?
No mention of vias.
Den tirsdag den 25. februar 2014 21.23.07 UTC+1 skrev John Larkin:
I've read $150k, someone here said "only" $40k
could buy a helluva lot of PCBs with all the trimmings for that kind of money
they have electroplating, probably expensive. chemical, some kind of epoxy I guess, probably not very good
they also have some kind rivets, probably need to be quite big
-Lasse
Nor solder mask on both sides, overlays on both sides, gold plated tabs, 100% electrical test, routed outlines, V-grooves, 8 layers, etc. etc.
--sp
Yeah, it's easier to lay out a proper multilayer board and buy some quick-turn. Most engineers can keep busy on other stuff for a few days, waiting for the parts and boards to arrive.
We avoid prototyping; we go for a sellable rev A first pass. I think that saves time and money, and teaches good habits. We do breadboard little circuits, but you can usually Dremel those.
A really big outfit that did big-buck RF stuff might use a machine like that. It would almost need its own operator and prototype assembly staff. Vias, plating, trimming, all that could get messy.
At $3K-$5K a week for an engineer sitting on his thumb, maybe not so much.
Ick! I used to use a hunk of 30Ga wire (or paper clip), soldered on both sides, where there weren't already PTH parts.
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