Comments on: Home made PCB drill press

By: vic

vic — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:20:32 +0000

I’ve always found drill presses hard to use. You need to align the drill bit with the hole with your naked eye, which is time consuming and usually approximative. The method I use is to have a very small drill that I can hold in the palm of my hand, and drill freely. This method is very fast. The drawback is that you need a steady hand, and drill bits do break once in a while, but much less often than I need to change them because of abrasion.

By: threepointone

threepointone — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:40:40 +0000

http://www.instructables.com/id/$30-High-Speed-PCB-Drill-Press/

Built this a while ago; it's probably more much more stable (only bits I've broken so far were when I pushed the bit WAY too deep into the material, and when I accidentally got my glove caught in the way--drills PCBs [almost] like butter) and it's cheaper, provided that you already have a compressor and the tools to make it.

By: EdZ

EdZ — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:52:24 +0000

A simple 7-bar linkage (1 ‘bar’ being the drill, another the base stand) would provide completely linear motion (though you’d probably need two of them to prevent twisting, given that the linkage would not be flat).

By: fred

fred — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:11:39 +0000

Ok smartass. F=-kx isn’t too tough, but he still needs to “apply” the math. how many coils per inch? What material? How long to heat it? What temp?

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:07:31 +0000

I suspend my Dremel from the ceiling with a bungee cord, about an eighth of an inch above the PCB which has a couple layers of cardboard behind it.

Holes can be drilled with only a couple fingers of one hand on the Dremel, and I can drill several holes without repositioning the board because the bit can move over about a square inch without becoming too far off vertical.

By: userjjb

userjjb — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:00:55 +0000

“Frickin spring math is insane…”

F=kx…
yeah man hooke’s law is totally insane!

By: taco

taco — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:48:09 +0000

Milescraft makes a pretty nice dremel drillpress that can be had for around $30 on amazon. works pretty good for drilling PCBs in my experience.

By: fred

fred — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:58:41 +0000

the rotation comes from the hinges distance. If the hinges are exactly the same distance apart, then there wouldn’t be any rotation. The 4 angles need to make a (perfect) rectangle or a complimentary rhombus. Also, I think that extending the length of one of the boards on the pivot might provide a place for a couter-balance which might be simpler than a spring. Frickin spring math is insane…

By: garrett

garrett — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:43:57 +0000

@1: I don’t know, the four bar linkage looks really stable, and the movement is going to be pretty precise with minimal effort. Using pipe, you’d need two guides to get rotational stability, then you have to make sure they’re parallel or you get binding, and you also have to make the sleeves tight enough to be accurate but loose enough to slide. Obviously using a vertical guide is better if you have the time and tools to do it right, but the hardware store hinges and scrap wood get you something 90% as good for about 10% of the effort.

By: diy audio projects

diy audio projects — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:28:08 +0000

How about mounting the dremmel to a pipe and then using a smaller vertical pipe or dowel as a guide? It will take up less space an not pivot.

Gio