LED Chess Set

Step 5 Drilling the copper plate

The purpose of this step is to get holes into the copper board that will allow the negative (-) contact points for the chess pieces to pass through the copper plate. If you know a more effective or better way of getting holes through the copper than what I describe here, feel free to use your own technique. This step describes the method I used with the knowledge I had and the tools I possessed.

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Mark off the center point of each square - The holes will go through the center of each individual square on the board. There are many ways of marking off the center points. I decided to draw an X on one of the remaining unused square stickers, line that square up with the squares on the board, and poke it with something that would leave a mark. A crossbow bolt is what I had, so a crossbow bolt is what I used. Do this for all 64 squares on the board.

Drill through the board - The goal is to get 1/4" holes through the center of each square. I used a hand-held drill with regular bits to do this. Before drilling, clamp the copper plate down to a flat piece of scrap wood, so the bit will have something to drill into once it passes through the copper. The scrap wood will help prevent the copper sheet from bending out of place while it is being drilled. It is best to use clamps with rubber feet, so they do not scratch the copper. If a metal clamp must be used, put a piece of cardboard between the foot and the copper. Keeping the drill perfectly perpendicular to the plate, drill out all 64 holes.

Clean up the plate - After drilling, many of the holes will have burrs on them. Remove these either with a metal file, or a deburring tool. I found the deburring tool to be much more effective ... I wonder why.

Comments

[skrubol]

Did you use carbide for this? I believe PCB's are really tough on drill bits (the fiberglass is the tough part, not the copper,) The kinking might be because your bit got dulled.