Dremels work great for cutting those boards. I need to get a clamp for mine.

No no no !!! Wrong kind of thing for cutting boards.

At a push you can mill boards with a cutting bit in a Dremel - they are like a drill bit but have burrs on the outside. They make a nice job if you have a steady hand.

For the kind of board you're cutting (the one with the holes in), just score with a sharp knife, place a metal ruler or similar on the top and snap it.

For normal PCB, the best device I've found is a tilecutter with a diamond (or similar) cutting wheel. They are around £20-£30 here in the UK or around $30-$40 over the pond.

I also use an old paper guillotine with a very sturdy blade - makes a nice job but delaminates the edges of the board slighty. I've also got a bandsaw which is handy but make sure you get one with a nice deep blade as the skinny bladed ones snap very quickly.

Originally Posted by Pavius

Why is the above wrong? I've cut a few boards and had very good results with very little wear on the dremel disc bit.

Wait till it shatters

I used to cut my PCBs with a similar type of disc in my Dremel but when they shatter they tend to pepper you with bits of disc so always make sure you wear goggles or similar (as you should with any power tool really).

The tile cutter seems to be the best all rounder for price vs cutting ability. Mine has done two bathrooms and a hundred or so PCBs and is still going strong.

I won't use a high speed grinding or cutting disc on PCBs, they create a lot of very fine particles AND put them into the air. Nothing worse than fine fibreglass dust in your eyes and lungs, and all over your stuff everytime you touch something.

For small PCBs I use a hand nibbler, these are great and make very large PCB particles that just fall down (not fly off out of control), so i do it over the top of a waste bin.

For larger PCBs I use a little tabletop scroll saw (about $50 USD new) these are fairly slow revving, use a coarse blade and the saw blade cuts downward so the particles fall harmlessly through and land below the machine. You can safely get your face close for fine cut control and even to cut out shapes etc.

For bigger jobs I have used my full-sized bandsaw out in the shed, but this does make some airborne fine particles. Mainly I avoid using that because blades are expensive and fibreglass PCB does tend to blunt blades.

But the hand nibbler rules! For PCB's up to 3" x 3" I just grab the nibbler and do it right at the workbench.

Hi,

Good point about the dust...have to be careful with maybe a mask.

I have thought about using a tile cutter too, but saw that the blade was
kinda thick so would waste a lot of PC material...well maybe not that much.

I used to use a razor too, and score and score and score...that got old fast.
I intend to use a dremel with the larger cutoff wheel too now, but better yet
is a larger diamond disk which lasts a long time and makes a thinner cut.

Doesn't the board dull the saw blade? I had a friend cut some pcbs on a small table saw and destroyed the blade.

I've got plenty of cutting discs and I cut my boards outdoors. No problems so far.

I wouldn't cut a large board that way, but for my little prototype boards it works great, and quick too.

Scoring works if you need to cut the board on a row of holes, but sometimes I need to just take an edge off to get a board to fit in the case/box. The Dremel works great for this.

I use thin PCB and a $30 paper cutter from Office Depot. Been abusing it for about 6 years now, and it still cuts paper just fine. Must be self sharpening, as I use it for thin metal as well. Turned out to be a very useful tool, like the $44 drill press.

The paper thin PCB etches and drills faster too. I don't use large, heavy parts, high voltages, or really care if it looks professional. Just as long as it's functional, besides who is going to see it, once it's in a case?