Hi...

I want to drill holes in PCB's for through hole components and until now, i am using a high speed steel drill bit. This bit dulls rapidly and bores awful holes.

I have bought a pack of Tungsten Carbide bits and while they cut much better, they are MUCH more brittle and i have broken two just because my Dremel tool is not perfectly centered. What kind of tool do you suggest me for drilling with carbide bits ? All my carbide bits have 3.15 mm (0.124 (1/8) inch) shanks.

Thanks !

There has been a thread or two about drilling PCBs.

The Dremel should be used with a stand that converts it into a drill press.
Many people use these. If your tool is so off center that it breaks bits I would call dremmel about it.

A few of us use table top drill presses. Mine is a harbor freight.

I use Eagle layout and a script called PCB-GCODE that generates gcode for a cnc mill to drill holes under computer control.

A pin vise with a HSS drill works but is slow. Only a real option with a very
small board or one that is mostly SMD.

If you use Eagle run a ULP called DRILL-AID to fill in the center of all drilled holes leaving just enough to start the drill in. This aids in centering when using a pin vice or hand guided power drill such as a drill press.

3v0

Originally Posted by Valence_4

Hi...

I want to drill holes in PCB's for through hole components and until now, i am using a high speed steel drill bit. This bit dulls rapidly and bores awful holes.

I have bought a pack of Tungsten Carbide bits and while they cut much better, they are MUCH more brittle and i have broken two just because my Dremel tool is not perfectly centered. What kind of tool do you suggest me for drilling with carbide bits ? All my carbide bits have 3.15 mm (0.124 (1/8) inch) shanks.

Thanks !

Thanks a lot! Many people told me about the Dremel stand but the slack in it reulsed me. I like the idea of pretensioning the stand to eliminate the slack. I'll also buy a new collet to get sure i will get the best centering possible !

And yep 3v0, i use Eagle layout. I like it a lot !

If you have a harbor freight nearby watch for their bench top drill presses to go on sale. They are good for a lot more then drilling PCBs. I think I purchased mine for under $40.

3v0

I've recently switched to carbide bits (10UKP for 10 per size on ebay) and they really do last a lot longer. But my old standard HSS bits lasted for quite a few boards when I used FR2, or CEM1/3 (200-300 holes?). For FR4, I barely got 50 holes out of a bit before it would 'push' holes into the material rather than cut lol

FR4 is a standard, but there really is nothing wrong with cheaper substrates, they'll be a bit kinder to your tooling, they're cheaper, easier to work with etc.. Of course FR4 is mandatory for RF/high frequency prototyping, but for audio, microcontrolelrs stuff? does the job.

As for a stand, I use this:
Minicraft Tools: PZ541 Vertical Drill Stand

There is a little play in it as you lower it, fitting my 'rubber coated' dremel tool was a nightmare, but once its in and clamped its pretty accurate. Dremels really aren't *that* good for PCB work, the mini chuck I got for mine was off centre, ended up having to use homamde collets for 1/8th shank size. After all that though, my boards look pretty sweet.

Blueteeth