help, I need slots.

What do you have handy that you're familiar with *and* handy with? How precise do they have to be? How many do you need to cut?

X-acto?

Dremel?

Mini-router (the tool, not the software)?

Water jet?

EDM?

Plasma cutter? :>)

Is it worthwhile to shop it out to a specialist?

Mark L. Fergerson

Den mandag den 13. juni 2016 kl. 21.37.40 UTC+2 skrev Winfield Hill:

if it is for taps on a connector or similar can't you just use a 120mil hole?

-Lasse

Change vendors? We usually use Pentalogix or Gold Phoenix.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

$335 vs $180, a $150 hit, but better than $400, thanks!

You need a slot machine :-)

I believe Sunstone can do that, but they are not the cheapest.

Cheers

Drill a row of holes that don't quite touch and then finish with Dremel or small hand file.

John

I don't think he wants to hack it. I know for a few bucks Sunstone will put a UL mark on the boards, so a mill should be possible.

Cheers

You must have access to a machinist and a milling machine; you'd need a tiny end mill.

I'd Dremel it, but the carbide dental burrs that I use are about 55 mils in diameter.

A row of holes would be a good starting point.

Is the slot internal, or does it come in off an edge? If an edge, a saw would cut it, again maybe a Dremel with a circular saw blade, or maybe a band saw.

(I just Dremel'd another pcb breadboard. I got ahold of some 2oz copper somehow, so it felt weird, more like ditch digging. It will heat sink my fets nicely.)

Hmm sounds like advanced circuits. If that's the case they won't let you do a row of holes either, for cheap, only a few slots.

The mill problem is that no machinist wants fiber glass near his stuff. I'd first try a thick cut-off wheel on my dremel. Then the burr tool. (wear eye protection, of course you know that.. but other may be reading.)

George H.

Yes, they do five at the proto price, but for eight, $400 more.

Yes, I did my prototype with our LittleMachineShop mill / drill and a high-speed PCB drill piece.

Yes.

This isn't a great idea, but... you might buy a punch and die for your slot size, using a subpress to hold the punch and die, and air or oil press. It'll make less wear on tooling than a mill, goes faster, but makes a raw edge and can't easily cope with any delicate components already mounted.

We have a nice foot shear that I'm not allowed to use. I have to chop FR4 on an ancient rusty old shear/brake/roll klugey thing that's always surrounded by parked bicycles.

Grrrrr.

I want a laser that will cut anything.

Sunstone is the pits. They screwed my by shelving my order without telling me about it because the lost my credit card number, then they lost the number a second time! So the order was two weeks late!!! When I got the order some 30+% of the boards were X out boards and of the ones that passed their electrical test I had about 10% that never worked after assembly. Fortunately I had ordered a lot more than I really needed so I wasn't sunk. I'll never use Sunstone again.

Run the numbers over on pcbshopper. If you need domestic, Accutrace (pcb4u.com) is cheaper than Advanced.

If you need quickturn and multilayer and everything else, well you know...

Tim

-- Seven Transistor Labs, LLC Electrical Engineering Consultation and Contract Design Website:

Back a century ago, there were very few problems that couldn't be solved with the NNC machine tools of the day (Non-Numerically Controlled). One amusing solution used a cam to operate a lathe tool's plunge, and a second cam that tilted the tool's cutting face so it always kept the same cut and relief angle to the work.

It was a masterpiece of cam-programmed tooling, used to produce (what else?) cams.

So, 'a laser that will cut anything' sounds like a punch/die production tool, required to cut the precision slot in the die.