Hi from Glasgow

[bartdietrich]

You're right about the V-Cutters, but the one I prefer is a 0.3mm diameter straight mill - so the cutter is about 2mm long before that bells out into a more conventional 1/8" shank - if you tried one of these with any runout the cutter would snap pretty quickly. V-Cutters are okay but they suffer if you have a warped PCB substrate. Isolation routing is not the easiest thing to get right, particularly if on a weak machine. You've got some fun ahead :)

If by straight mill you mean what I know as end mill then 0.3 mm is crazy thin! How does that stay in one piece for any time at all!

I've actually made a simple one-sided PCB the other day. Actually over a week ago, before I even started this thread. Incidentally, it was for a optocoupler interface for the axis limit switches for the mill. The PCB came out ok (but not great) but after soldering I found that the solder would bridge neighbouring pads extremely easily. And it did it in such a subtle way that the bridges were very hard to find even under a microscope. In the end I binned the PCB and am thinking of just etching it instead. I'm not exactly new to soldering so my soldering technique is not the issue. Is this a common property of routed PCBs? In retrospect, maybe I should have deburred it before soldering...

Bart

[Doddy]

If by straight mill you mean what I know as end mill then 0.3 mm is crazy thin! How does that stay in one piece for any time at all!

I did refer to end-mill at the start but... anyway, re. the 0.3mm - quite simple, you don't breath whilst your PCB is milled. I prefer to the 0.2mm, certainly. The one saving grace is that they are provided with a protective shroud which I keep on until ready to cut. They are stupidly easy to break.

I've actually made a simple one-sided PCB the other day. Actually over a week ago, before I even started this thread. Incidentally, it was for a optocoupler interface for the axis limit switches for the mill. The PCB came out ok (but not great) but after soldering I found that the solder would bridge neighbouring pads extremely easily. And it did it in such a subtle way that the bridges were very hard to find even under a microscope. In the end I binned the PCB and am thinking of just etching it instead. Is this a common property of routed PCBs? In retrospect, maybe I should have deburred it before soldering...

Bart

Many people have tried, and many people have different results.

I hate it as a technique but it's quick. But not reliable. Then again, few DIY solutions are 100%.

I've got a 2560x1400 5" display that I'll get around to making an auto-exposure box for presensitised boards, but that way lies chemicals and stained jeans. Then you're still having to align onto the mill/etc to drill.

China is remarkably affordable - it's just the 4-8 week wait and faffing with DHL demanding signatures.