I was able to cut an FR4 board without much trouble...

I used an acrylic cutter (from Home Depot). It cuts on both push and pull strokes:

Several strokes guided by a steel rule. Then used a hand seamer (from Harbor Freight):

...and snapped it against a scrap board (hand seamer and bench vise next time). All tools I already had...so bonus points!

 

A heavy duty guillotine paper cutter does the job too.

 

I tried many methods before settling on a metal shear:


It was around $125 and HF no longer sells them. I'm glad I bought one before they stopped selling them.

 

A heavy duty guillotine paper cutter does the job too.

View attachment 214784

That's probably a lot faster than the Dremel I was using....
Also significantly less substrate dust!

 

I have had it with cutting PCBs using a blade ... it's time consuming and even prone to accidents. And I don't like using shears either, they leave too rough a finish at the edges and lose their sharpness quite quickly.

That's why I decided to design my own PCB cutter using a diamond blade and a small 12V motor.

@upand_at_them , if you don't mind, I'm willing to post my project here. But it will be no problem if you'd rather I opened a new thread.

 

Go for it.

 

I use very thin FR-4 boards and usually cut them to shape using scissors from my desk. That is the reason I use very thin FR-4.

 

I use very thin FR-4 boards and usually cut them to shape using scissors from my desk. That is the reason I use very thin FR-4.

Where are you getting those? I get the green boards with the plated-through holes, about 1/16" thick...no way I could cut them with scissors. I see that Harbor Freight has a pair of scissors they claim can cut US pennies...hmm.

 

Personally a pair of good heavy shears for aluminum work gets me by. They aren't perfect by any means, but will do a good enough job for the small boards I've come up with.

The metal shear / brake that @dl324 mentioned would be nice. Never thought to look up something like that before. I could finally make something nice out of the old PC case skins laying around.

@upand_at_them thanks for sharing! I do think I'll give this a try next time.

 

I use very thin FR-4 boards and usually cut them to shape using scissors from my desk. That is the reason I use very thin FR-4.

This is blank one-sided PCB material. It is very thin because it is used in the fabrication of multi-layer boards.

For heavy stuff there is always the vise, hacksaw, and file.

 

I have always scored and snapped my boards...unless it's a compound cut, then it's the bandsaw.

 

I use a little 4” “table saw” from Harbor Freight with diamond blade. Makes a very smooth cut.

Bob

 

I use a little 4” “table saw” from Harbor Freight with diamond blade. Makes a very smooth cut.

Bob

That's neat, I didn't know they had that.

 

The metal shear / brake that @dl324 mentioned would be nice. Never thought to look up something like that before. I could finally make something nice out of the old PC case skins laying around.

The shear I have can only handle stock up to 8" wide. Larger shears cost several hundred dollars and more if you want bending capability.

 

That's neat, I didn't know they had that.

I use the MicroMark version from years ago when it was reasonably priced. A carbide blade helps. A finer pitched blade makes smaller projectiles to dodge.

I switched to a shear. I still use the table saw to cut grooves, as when doing dead-bug or Manhattan construction.

Edit: If you want one for both purposes, I have no complaint about the result. Just be sure to wear eye protection, which I often forget to do.

 

Aaaaahhhhh...a Harbor Freight table saw! I had one for a year or two in the early 1980's until the motor developed problems. It gave me many pleasant week-ends before it finally went.

 

I use a heavy duty paper cutter for the thin FR4 boards (.032") and the Harbor Freight 4 inch table saw for anything thicker.
SG

 

The shear I have can only handle stock up to 8" wide. Larger shears cost several hundred dollars and more if you want bending capability.

I assumed with "brake" in the name it could bend also. Found some stuff on Amazon to save up for

 

I assumed with "brake" in the name it could bend also. Found some stuff on Amazon to save up for

I t looks like the brake is a press brake with the die at the bottom. Those are nice and can give a controlled radius easily with the proper die. If you intend to make boxes and such, you might want to consider a box and pan brake that has different width fingers. With either brake, you can bend two sheets together to get a radius. One sheet is a waste sheet.

 

I assumed with "brake" in the name it could bend also. Found some stuff on Amazon to save up for

The HF unit I have is on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Central-Machinery-8-Shear-Break-90757-/302556506197

$75 plus shipping. I think I had mine shipped; that was before there was a local HF.