Ideal type bits for PCB drilling??

[royalmp2001]

Hi,
I drill pcbs on a daily basis and am getting fed up with brittle
carbides that break too easily, particularly the very small sizes.

I read on someone's site to use dental ball burs...has anyone else used
them. Do I need diamond, carbide or steel burs?

Are high speed steel bits really no good as they wear out quickly on
fiberglass epoxy boards?

Thanks

 

[John Larkin]

Hi,
I drill pcbs on a daily basis and am getting fed up with brittle
carbides that break too easily, particularly the very small sizes.

I read on someone's site to use dental ball burs...has anyone else used
them. Do I need diamond, carbide or steel burs?

Are high speed steel bits really no good as they wear out quickly on
fiberglass epoxy boards?

Cheap hss steel will wear out fairly quickly, hundreds of holes maybe,
but then they're cheap! You need an air-bearing, servo-feed, 100,000
RPM drill to use carbides right.

John

 

[Rich Webb]

Hi,
I drill pcbs on a daily basis and am getting fed up with brittle
carbides that break too easily, particularly the very small sizes.

I read on someone's site to use dental ball burs...has anyone else used
them. Do I need diamond, carbide or steel burs?

Are high speed steel bits really no good as they wear out quickly on
fiberglass epoxy boards?

The smaller "de-burring" bits (not sure of the correct identification,
they're the ones with the very small fluted cutting ball) work well for
me -- although I certainly don't go through anything like the number of
holes you do. There's not a lot of cutting edges, though, so they will
wear quickly.

One bennie of the spherical bits seems to be a forgiving nature with
respect to off-axis force.

 

[Bob Masta]

Hi,
I drill pcbs on a daily basis and am getting fed up with brittle
carbides that break too easily, particularly the very small sizes.

I read on someone's site to use dental ball burs...has anyone else used
them. Do I need diamond, carbide or steel burs?

Are high speed steel bits really no good as they wear out quickly on
fiberglass epoxy boards?

Thanks

I use carbide dental burs. These have a fluted carbide ball
on a steel shank. I have never had one break, though if you
drop your Dremel and it lands on the bur, you can bend the
shank. (Voice of experience!) I use them for drilling epoxy
glass and everything else, and have been using the same
set for over 20 years. I use them for all sorts of abusive
side-load things like hogging out slots for transformer
mounting tabs, etc, with no problems.

After the first dropped tool and bent shank, I made a
sleeve from a piece of thinwall conduit sliced down the
side, which I can slip over the end of the Dremel when
I'm done drilling to protect the bit, in case the tool gets
knocked off the bench or something. End of problem.

More notes on this and simple PCB construction at
www.daqarta.com/lptxh.htm

Best regards,


Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

 

[ehsjr]

I use carbide dental burs.

Bob,

Have you found a source for these, other than your dentist?

Ed

 

[Bob Masta]

Bob Masta wrote:

Bob,

Have you found a source for these, other than your dentist?

Ed

I got mine from a dental supply house, where the dentists
get theirs. That was many years ago, so I don't even know
if it is still in town. Your dentist will know what's local for you,
but I'll bet there are plenty of Web sources these days!

Best regards,



Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

 

[DBLEXPOSURE]

Haven't baught any in a while but I belive they are callerd jeweler's bits