I have used a straightedge and a tool that is used to scribe and cut plastic laminate and linoleum...it has a carbide cutter on a steel blade and after lining up the straightedge I give the cutter a few pulls to make a groove...then remove the straightedge and keep pulling the cutter thru...turning the board around every few strokes to make it even.
This produces a clean but beveled edge which I flatten up by rubbing the cut edge on a file.
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What's the best way to make little ones from big ones? I would like a method that takes a small kerf and produces a straight line. For one-at-a-time boards. One that a klutz can handle. TIA Charlie
Sorry mate. I don't understand your line of banter.
Graham
I use aviation style tin snips, the kind with the compound action. Use the straight cut.
JazzMan
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I score both sides, with a screwdriver, then stick it in a vice and snap it off.
Best? Dunno. Easiest? A paper trimmer. Item # 818674 at
the "best way" is to start with them the right size,
assuming a typical garage/basement workshop...
use a steel ruler and a sharp knife (box cutter etc)
mark the ends of the cut with notches or holes
clamp the ruler to the PCB (use a vice, g-clamps, Vice-grips(tm) etc) and make several passes with the knife,
repeat on the other side.
repuat until cut all the way though or go about 1/4 way and snap it off.
smooth the edge on a file or other abrasive surface,
I once, very long ago, in a galaxy far away, made a 6-up of a 2.5"dia. round circuit, double-sided, on .031 fiberglass. (copper clad, both sides, I etched it in FeCl3, drilled it with a little Dremel drill press, and fudged on the vias).
I don't remember exactly what tool I used to trim them to size, but just that fact that I don't remember indicates to me that it must have been trivially easy. Like, Mom's sewing shears or something.
But this was .031" stock - I guess for .062, if I was really persnickety, I'd press a die grinder into service as a little router.
Getting them apart in the first place, well, I'd say, shear them, score and snap them, saw cut them, whatever works. It's pretty much a matter of taste and getting your hands dirty. ;-)
Cheers! Rich
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