rons
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2009
- Location
- California, USA
Working with magnification drilling a bunch of .026 holes in circuit boards. Instead of holding a board/vise by hand and asking for a small bit to break.
Or clamping the vise for each hole and then re-starting the power, repeat etc. (For hours).
So I was wondering if there is a foot operated magnetic vise which can allow the guy (me) to reposition the work piece under a microscope and live to see
another day. I can get up and personal with a drill press and maneuver a vise. But not so much if I had to crank handles on a mill. A run of 50 .026 holes
may not line up perfectly and I would be correcting x and y.
I remember about 10 years ago I saw a demo of a 3 axis machine that would finish cut circuit boards. Compared to that, my process prints the image on special
paper through a laser jet printer. The paper is held against the copper board and run through a heat sealing machine with rollers. The black plastic particles
from the toner transfer off the paper and tack onto the copper. If that special paper I bought was just butcher paper then the have a good business. This paper
has a shinny side and a dull side. Like tin foil. Then there are touch-ups that I have to do with a small pin strip brush for .020 wide traces. For that I use
lacquer with some black dye. X-Acto knife is also used for trimming
The copper etch actually proceeds from the board edges to the center. If left in bath for all excess copper to be removed there would be under-cut traces
near the edges and but looking traces near the center.
Therefore I had to etch say 2 minutes, removeand wash with water, cover finished areas with lacquer, wait to dry, then back to another 2 minute etch.
Repeat this until all the excess copper is gone.
Or clamping the vise for each hole and then re-starting the power, repeat etc. (For hours).
So I was wondering if there is a foot operated magnetic vise which can allow the guy (me) to reposition the work piece under a microscope and live to see
another day. I can get up and personal with a drill press and maneuver a vise. But not so much if I had to crank handles on a mill. A run of 50 .026 holes
may not line up perfectly and I would be correcting x and y.
I remember about 10 years ago I saw a demo of a 3 axis machine that would finish cut circuit boards. Compared to that, my process prints the image on special
paper through a laser jet printer. The paper is held against the copper board and run through a heat sealing machine with rollers. The black plastic particles
from the toner transfer off the paper and tack onto the copper. If that special paper I bought was just butcher paper then the have a good business. This paper
has a shinny side and a dull side. Like tin foil. Then there are touch-ups that I have to do with a small pin strip brush for .020 wide traces. For that I use
lacquer with some black dye. X-Acto knife is also used for trimming
The copper etch actually proceeds from the board edges to the center. If left in bath for all excess copper to be removed there would be under-cut traces
near the edges and but looking traces near the center.
Therefore I had to etch say 2 minutes, removeand wash with water, cover finished areas with lacquer, wait to dry, then back to another 2 minute etch.
Repeat this until all the excess copper is gone.