$30 High-Speed PCB Drill Press

Step 5 Finishing Thoughts

We ended up attaching a spring to the slide and the back of the upper arm. We did this to remove any excess slack in the linear rail that might appear over time.

The only changes we may make is to add a handle to lower the drill. Currently you simply press down on the top of the drill which works great for now.

Our holes came out perfect, and there was absolutely NO noticeable wobble or tilt in the drill. Just straight, clean holes every time.

Comments

[technopenguin]

Also you could add a potentiometer to adjust the speed, and have an LCD or digit display to show the RPM, with the help of a small circuit or a microcontroller.

[adnimo]

unless it's a humongous pot you won't be able to do that, you'll need PWM to drive the speed of the motor.

[lancandy]

You can adjust the speed with the on/off twist switch, however I run it at full speed all the time. As it is air powered, I guess you could paint half the output shaft black or something and then use a sensor to read in the RPM. It would be neat, but not really needed IMO.

[thowardtf1]

I buy all my carbide bits with .125 shank to drill FR4 pcb material. I use 'Drill Bit City' ( www.store.yahoo.com/drillcity ). They seem to be priced ok, but have availability of all bits I need. (#67 (.0320) 10 for $15.00 at my last order.

[F7]

Can you recommend a source for miniature drill bits with an 1/8 shaft, suitable for drilling PCBs? Fiberglas will dull a drill pretty fast...

[Blackice504]

this cost a lot more then normal drill bits but get Titainium drill set i managed to find a good one from the local $2.00 asian shop and it was $7.00aud and they must be real the deal the brand name is duramax yes to the Russians this will be a funny brand name.

[lancandy]

EBay is where I found my bits.

[Blackice504]

very nice work looks like something you got off the shelf thank you so much for idea's. PS i love my air tools over electrical tools.

[mandy_modded]

a cheap laser pointer would be nice to help align the pcb under the drill. great idea

[_soapy_]

Go for two, so you can put one either side, allowing you to compensate for the change in position of the spot when you change the work height. Have them cross at the exact point the drill hits, and you will always be that bit better and more exact than those without a parallax compensation system built into their laser guidance system. :-)

[technopenguin]

This is a cool idea and I really want to try it! Can you use this drill press to drill other things as well?

[lancandy]

You could, but with the way it is set up it only accepts 1/8" shaft bits. I have a separate drill press that I bought for about $80 for drilling everything else. :)

[technopenguin]

Just out of curiosity, where did you buy it, and what's the part number?

[lancandy]

I don't have a part number for my other drill press, I got it several years ago on ebay I think. If I was to get a new one today, I would run down to sears. They have a good small drill press for about $120.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Bench+Power+Tools&pid=00921900000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Drill+Presses&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

You can find them for around $65 on eBay after s/h.
Good Luck, Hope that helps.

[poprivet]

Lovely! I need a PCB drilling rig and might weld one up this weekend with your plans. Years back we made a somehwat similar rig with the drill mounted under the table and a BB-gun 2X crosshair sight on top. You put the PCB on the table, lined the hole position up under the crosshairs, held it down with your hands and pushed the lever to bring the drill bit up from underneath. The lever was rigged to a treadle-like foot lever so you had both hands free. It was quite disconcerting the first few times to see the drill bit coming at you through the gunsight! But it was really fast to put a lot of holes in the board accurately. Great instructable with excellent photos and descriptions, well done!

[nanonano58]

great idea !

[lancandy]

Thanks!