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Drilling 300 holes in fibre board is tedious, difficult to do neatly and prone to snap bits. What simple methods and tools are available to the home user to drill PCBs effectively?
In my case it's only going to be used occasionally and then on a kitchen table. Apparently a Dremel won't be accurate enough.
If you're looking for a drill press for this purpose, remember that the smallest drill bit sizes require the highest spindle speeds, a general purpose drill press won't run fast enough to be ideal. It'll work for a few boards if you're patient and have enough drill bits.
This little one from Proxxon and some carbide bits would be a step in the right direction with 8500rpm top speed, but below 1mm even faster would be better. Just to clarify I'm not endorsing this specific model (though it looks OK), but it's an example of what you're looking for.
What Olin said. You can get PCBs for $1/sq inch qty. 3 if you don't mind waiting a couple of weeks.
If you do mind waiting, then you'll have to spend some money. A carbide 0.030" diameter drill bit wants to turn at least 20,000 RPM to cut cleanly and it can't dwell in the hole. That means that you need to drive it straight down and immediately straight up. You WILL NOT be successful doing this solely by hand.
So, what can you do? If you really don't have the room for even a benchtop drill press that takes up less footprint than a laptop computer, your options are limited. Dremel sells (or used to) a cheap small drill press holder for their mini tools that's a bit smaller than a regular drill press. However, it does not maintain alignment very well, so expect to break at least one bit per 300 holes. They also had a small 4" scissor table that would move the workpiece up and down against a fixed tool. That worked a lot better, but I think it was around $100. The Proxxon tool mentioned above looks really good
You can try making your own drill guide out of wood: a block of wood sandwiched between two other pieces so it moves in a straight line and that will work, but I'm guessing you don't have the tools or the woodworking skill to build something that precisely. In any case, it will be very slow and tedious.
Seriously, this is one of those cases when you really are better farming the job out.
Unless you want to build a CNC for drilling, your best bet is a small drill press and patience. I find that audio-books are an excellent supplement to tedious otherwise mind numbing tasks.
Additionally I've found that 0805 or 0603 surface mount packages for basic passives are simple to hand solder and cut down on fabrication time considerably.
For small boards (not quite 300 holes!), I have used a thumb drill: this one. This is a pen-like instrument with a small chuck which can hold drill bits. You rotate it with your fingers. Though it came with drill bits, I bought a separate set which is both in smaller sizes needed for circuit boards and in an indexed container. You don't want to mix up sizes.
Using it would be a little time consuming for 300 holes, but you can use very thin bits without the risk of breaking (if you are careful). It is like knitting or doing a crossword puzzle: you can do this anywhere, for instance while waiting for something or someone, or riding transit. Any "down time" that you would otherwise waste. 300 holes are done sooner than you think.
In any case, that tool is indispensable when you're replacing through-hole components, for re-drilling a hole which is constricted by remaining solder that won't wick out, or for widening a hole by a mil or two that was incorrectly sized.
DIY circuit boards are time-consuming. You get a fast turnaround time compared to mail order boards, but the cost is not really low unless you pretend that your time is worth nothing.
With patience, the Proxxon Micromot 50/E drill/grinder set with power supply and drill stand MB 140/S.
The quality of Proxxon compared to Dremel is apparent in the video Drill stand review: Dremel 220-01 vs. Proxxon Micromot MB 140/S
$77 if you can find a store get extra drill bits with thick shank and short bits.
http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-shop/stationary-drill-press/5-speed-drill-press-38119.html
Overall dimensions: 23" H x 17" W x 7" D
Or buy this
