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Recommended side cutters for 1mm route PCB depanelization

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T3sl4co1l:
See also: nibbler tool.  Used to cut slots in sheet stock, seems ideal here.  Sleemanj's examples are basically specialized versions of this.

I don't see any reason to use cutting tools here, especially with the problems of clamping (where do you clamp an assembled PCB?), setup (you want to put every one into a mill?!), and dust, and perhaps vibration and other forces too.  Perhaps some situations would still need such a solution, but it sounds to me, at best, an exhaustion of better alternatives, and more likely a failure of layout/design.

Tim

Someone:

--- Quote from: T3sl4co1l on November 13, 2022, 07:05:31 am ---likely a failure of layout/design.
--- End quote ---
Yes, time for a better mouse bite design.

Kleinstein:
Using a side cutter also causes quite some stress to the PCB. Not for long, bit as a short shock like spike.

There may be the option to use a kind of saw blade, normally intendet to a hack saw, but used without the holder. It would not last very long, but they are cheap.

T3sl4co1l:
Last long?  I've had two bimetal hacksaw blades on my bench for years now, one in a saw frame, one free.  Not that I do a great volume of prototypes here, but both still cut FR4 just fine!  Noticeably dull in the high-use spots, but not too much is needed as the resin part is soft.

Fiberglass, it's a material that's rather soft in bulk, but highly abrasive when cut.  So, steel tools for example can do fine, they do dull quickly, but they are useful to a duller condition than when cutting steel for example.

I have a couple other plain steel tools, that I use on FR4 from time to time, and resharpen regularly as such.  One (a scraper made from the broken tang end of a dull file), every couple of boards say; another (craft blade), constantly because it's made of painfully soft (spring temper?) steel that can't even hold an edge cutting wood or paper...

Also have a couple carbide drills, because drilling is fairly nasty in comparison, drills are harder to sharpen free-hand, and you tend to be doing a lot of holes at a time.  HSS or even carbon steel is fine for a few to maybe hundreds of holes, that's about it.

Tim

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