(Mostly) easy PCB manufacture

Step 10: Drill the holes

This is a little tricky, but can be done without requiring a drill press or other fancy equipment. I use a dremel tool with a #60 bit. That's the smallest bit I can find at the local hardware store. The bit is clamped into a collet, which in turn is held in the dremel's chuck.

Here's my secret to drilling lots of tiny holes with a hand-held drill: use a scrap piece of acrylic as a drill guide. Drill a hole in the acrylic, then drill through that hole and through the board. The clear acrylic makes it easy to line up the drill bit correctly on the center of each pad. After a dozen holes or so, the "guide hole" in the acrylic will start to "loosen up" -- just drill another guide hole & keep going.

Comments

[OptimusTronic]

Gut Danke, this tutorial very good. Danke!! Saludos desde Guatemala!

[Fritzk9]

On Step 6, you can save a lot of wasted time soaking off the paper backing by printing your PCB pattern on Toner Transfer Film (TTS) instead of paper. TTS film is a thermoplastic film that has a water soluble backing which releases it in about 30 seconds when dipped in water. See details at www.pulsarprofx.com under Direct Etch. You can purchase TTS film from Digi-Key (www.digikey.com) for $14.95 for a 10-sheet pack (Digi-Key stock # 182-1003-ND). Once you've used TTS film, you'll never go back to paper.

[nickjohnson]

The acrylic guide is a sweet trick.