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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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1917416 No.1917416 [Reply] [Original]

I need some recommendations on types of tools and accessories I should have for making clean precise cutouts in front panels for mounting connectors, displays, switches/buttons,etc. I don't do much heavy duty work and am rather more interested in high precision.
I'd be mostly working with plastic project boxes and maybe some die-cast aluminum. Possibly wood but probably only rarely. Willing to shell out a bit more for a good quality tool, not looking for Harbor Freight cheap tier.

Also, on a slightly different tack, if anyone has suggestions for a good milling machine for PCBs do tell.

>> No.1917419

Another "do the research for me post"! Great! Just what /diy/ loves.
Quality is tolerances. Are you familiar with tolerances at all? Are you familiar with tolerances required by what you expect to work on? All shops list the tolerances they work with, since that is dictated by the machines they have.
Any milling machine can mill PCBs. PCB milling is just about the bits you use, and the ability of the machine to hit the tolerances you requires. Othermill/Bantham is fine if you use the right bits for prototyping. Don't expect to do the finest pitch on it. See what I mean about tolerances?
Do some research.

>> No.1917436

>>1917419
I've done some research and it's all just left me with more questions than answers so I need a bit more direction.
I'm talking getting tools for various projects in general and not for anything in particular so there's no particular tolerance for anything at the moment. I'm going to need to make a wide variety of holes in the aforementioned materials as well as square cutouts kind of oblong cutouts for d-sub connectors and whatnot as well as other things. It's impossible to anticipate every possible use case. As far as the CNC for PCBs goes I'm more looking for a recommendation on the actual machine itself and user experience etc. I'll sort out what bits I need for that.

I feel like this post is not helpful. If I was able to answer every question myself I wouldn't be here.

>> No.1917438

>>1917419
And just for reference I've spent maybe the last 6hrs doing research and I still don't have a clue. I'm not good with tools.

Do I want just a drill with a wide assortment of bits and a tap? Will that be steady enough to do clean holes? Obviously it'll have the power but it's handheld. Is it worth getting a small press instead? What would I even be looking for in one if I was to go that route? How do I do non-circular cutouts? Dremel? Maybe. CNC? Definitely better but probably too expensive, mini-CNC only looks appropriate for etching/engraving so that's not likely to be helpful, might be okay for plastic but not aluminum. Right now I'm having trouble deciding what tools I even need. I can get an assortment of bits to handle any tolerance I might need, so long as the tool itself is well built it shouldn't be a problem.

>> No.1917447

>>1917436
>>1917438
..and not an single usable response. here, I'll say it louder:
WHAT FUCKING TOLERANCES DO YOU NEED
If you can't answer this question, you don't have enough information to select a machine.

>> No.1917451

>>1917419
And another thing, when doing research you find a lot of reviews are garbage either paid shills, or people who just didn't know what they are doing or nitpicking minor product defects. The opposite is true too, a lot of dumb reviewers that didn't even know what they should be critical of "had it a week so far works great." Absolutely useless.
Goolge searching for information like "what is the best tool for doing X" is not helpful. 99% of the posts are sponsored content. Like fuck I'm going to trust that.

So, why don't you dial down your elitism and consider that maybe I have done the research and maybe that ended up not answering any questions and wasting my time. Maybe I want to get answers from other people that have done similar work to what I'm looking to do and maybe they'll have good insight on what tools have worked for them and what hasn't. If you have nothing to contribute to the conversation then don't post. Holy shit.

>> No.1917452

>>1917447
1 mil

>> No.1917453

>>1917447
God you're obnoxious. Can I get someone else to answer my questions please?

>> No.1917456

>>1917447
Sorry +/- 1mil

>> No.1917458

Actually no, best make it a factor of 10 lower.

Go +/-1/10000th of an in.

>> No.1917459

>>1917447
Yes that should work fine. +/-0.1mil or better. That is my requirement.

>> No.1917461

>>1917447
So I've given you an answer, now if you can stop acting like an elitist asshole and actually start providing constructive advice that'd be great.

>> No.1917688

Your going to need to spend money on layout gear. A nice protractor, such as starter. They run about $180 USD. You should get a decent compass too.

Get a variety of punches as well. Start with a quality spring loaded punch. Get carbide tips if possible.
You should also a carbide tip awl.

Then find a drill press and do not skimp out on the chuck. A precision collet chuck is spendy but worth it.

>> No.1918123

cool troll thread boys
top stuff

>> No.1918139

>>1917461
Don't hold your breath bro.

>> No.1918162

>>1918123
It really wasn't a troll thread. I actually want honest advice, but the first fucking guy had to act like some pretentious asshole just because I'm a bit newer to all this than he is. Well fucking sorry. If he had come to me asking about my field of expertise I'd have answered him no matter how simple the question and not berated him for not looking it up on his own. Like Jesus fuck, how much of a prick can you be? I feel seriously bad for whoever has to work with him if he's always like that, then again chances are he's probably unemployed if he acts like that, wouldn't be a big shock.

>> No.1918175

>>1918162
Buy a glowforge.

>> No.1918178

>>1918175
While the laser is interesting I feel like that's more for etching wood rather than PCBs and would be near useless when it comes to making actual cutouts in panels, particularly in die-cast aluminum project boxes.

>> No.1918179

>>1918162
From the first "friendly suggestion" in the single stickied post on this board:
"- First ask Google, then ask /diy/. Your question will probably be better received if you do so."

The second sentence there is the important one that you seem to have missed.

>> No.1918188

>>1918178
Yeah the laser won't work for you (unless you can find a decently powerful fiber laser affordably). Some of those smaller home/shop CNCs (shop bot or cncshark are some, i think) can be finessed into cutting aluminum cleanly, but only certain alloys and grades; they should work for PCB too, just not crazy fine pitches. Honestly, you might be able to get away with a handheld router using templates and flush cutting bits. Get a decent deburring tool as well.

>> No.1918205
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1918205

>>1917461
Casually passing through, he's not an elitist asshole for saying what you're trying to ask is about tolerances, several times really, and then you wholly ignore that and talk about something else.

If you're pig ignorant to start with and lazy that's annoying but whatever, it's life. If you get told to stop being pig ignorant but anyway here is the thing you need to ask me about, then don't, then now you're wilfully ignorant and there's nothing that can be done to fix that kind of retarded and if so, certainly no obligation to further try. If you cannot into reading comrephension then you'll get nowhere, responding to people is not reading comprehension either, actually processing what they said and responding sensibly is. You know about tolerances, pick up the phone and make some calls and don't call people who are exasperated at your wilful retardedness, remember, WILFUL - elitist assholes. You begged for an answer, got it, then threw the answer in the bin. You're an idiot, do better next time.

>> No.1918225

>>1917447
+/-1nm

>> No.1918280

>>1918225
It’s impossible to cut wood more accurately than +/- 1/4”, so OP’s project is probably about the same. Eyeball the thing and then come back with a sander or file until the damn thing fits.

>> No.1918450

>>1918205
I answered his question about tolerances though! MULTIPLE TIMES. Granted I changed my mind once and decided I wanted a bit tighter tolerances but come on. I gave him what he asked for. I've been completely reasonable and I am absolutely not willfully ignorant.

>> No.1918493

>>1918225

i would think something along the lines of grinding and then lapping or edm and then lapping would be the only thing that could get you close but it would still be a total crapshoot. most likely a custom setup where the metrology can be performed on the machine doing the cutting. i'm not sure that even profilometry can generally get close to that range but an appropriate electron scanning microscope should. you'll need a top notch metrology lab to confirm your true dimensions as profilometry or the microscope won't be able to take the gross dimensions and would likely need some custom setup to be able to measure over a range of 9+ orders of magnitude.

>> No.1918516

>>1918450
nah this is definitely a troll. No person can hit every bad /diy/ post meme all at once in earnest. Anyone have the bingo card?

>> No.1918543

>>1918516
I'm not trolling. +/- 0.1 mil is the tolerance. I originally though +/- 1 mil was okay it it's probably fine for cutouts but usually I do 10-15 mil traces for boards and I wanted it a bit tighter for that application.

Honestly I have no fucking clue what bearing the tolerance even has on FUCKING HAND TOOLS seeing as how the CNC was an afterthought question almost exclusively about making PCBs.

The primary question is what tools do I need to make holes in front panels? I'm thinking hand drill or dremel or something like that holy fuck. How does that even have a tolerance? Is the tolerance not only as good as your hand is steady? Holy fuck jesus christ.

>> No.1918550

>>1918543
question said "tools", not "hand tools", and also "more interested in high precision".
"high precision" is an imprecise term, it doesn't mean anything. Hence the question attempting to clarify what you mean, exactly.
You are too stupid too teach.

>> No.1918553

>>1918550
I need tools that make a wide variety of shapes and sizes of cuts from very large to very small in relatively soft materials or thin materials. I want the cuts to be clean and tight. That was very clear in the OP post. It is everyone else that is the retard here. I don't understand what you don't understand about that. This absolutely 100% clear. Just stop focusing on the CNC at all, I'll just make a separate thread asking about that later. Just literally answer this fucking post.

>> No.1918556

>>1917416
sdfewaofn

>> No.1918557

>>1918553
No

>> No.1918560

>>1918543
>The primary question is what tools do I need to make holes in front panels? I'm thinking hand drill or dremel or something like that holy fuck.
You can make cutouts with just a dremel and a cut-off wheel.
Gonna look like shit though and requires a ton of sanding - I don't care how steady your hands are.
You could also use a hand router but plastic is pretty annoying to work with - they're primarily for wood.

>> No.1918570

>>1918560
Thanks for the information, so is there a better option than those? I know a full CNC like the ones we've got at work are probably the best for that but that's way out of my budget so I'm assuming dremel plus a lot of sanding is probably the most realistic option.

I know if I get a mini-CNC I might be able to do some small boxes on it but I have at least one rackmount box I want to do some cutouts for panel meters in and that'll never fit in any mini-CNC on the market so I have no choice but to do that by hand.

>> No.1918574
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1918574

>>1918570
MPCNC would work for that.

>> No.1918576

>>1918574
Alright, I'll look into that, thanks for the suggestion!

>> No.1918582

>>1918576
> WAHHH, I DON'T WANT A CNC MACHINE
> Oh great, I'll get a CNC machine

>> No.1918589

>>1918582
I never actually said that retard.

>> No.1918621

>>1918553
>I need tools that make a wide variety of shapes and sizes of cuts from very large to very small in relatively soft materials or thin materials. I want the cuts to be clean and tight. That was very clear in the OP post. It is everyone else that is the retard here. I don't understand what you don't understand about that. This absolutely 100% clear. Just stop focusing on the CNC at all, I'll just make a separate thread asking about that later. Just literally answer this fucking post.

Here's a novel idea, what about getting a hydraulic knockout set and order the custom dies from alibaba? I can't think of a cheaper more effective solution other than a CNC

https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/punches-and-dies.html?spm=a2700.7724857.scGlobalHomeHeader.12.6c3a401bmzrbUk

Easiest way to do various shapes and cuts without a CNC is with a hydraulic knockout set, the dies will cost more than the cylinder from Harbor Freight.

>> No.1918684

>>1918589
>just stop focusing on the CNC at all, I'll just make a separate thread asking about that later. Just literally answer this fucking post.
> Honestly I have no fucking clue what bearing the tolerance even has on FUCKING HAND TOOLS seeing as how the CNC was an afterthought question almost exclusively about making PCBs.

>> No.1918719

>>1918553
>It is everyone else that is the retard here.
Kek

>> No.1918728

>>1918684
Nothing about that says I didn't want a CNC machine. Only that I'd ask about it separately. Literally just tried to focus the question more. How can you be so retarded you can't see that?

>> No.1918923
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1918923

>> No.1920190

What the fuck is wrong with the people in this thread? How do you retards expect for Google to come up with a good answer about what tools you need for a very specific job? If you can't answer the question then shut the fuck up.

Anyway, OP, if the materials you are working with are thin enough then a punch of some kind will work great but for that you need a die, which may not be useful if the projects are all custom. If everything is custom you have two options as I see it: CNC or a more complex punch arrangement where each component you need has it's own separate punch and die set which will probably need to be custom made. The good news is that the materials you are working with do not need a very powerful press for the punch operation. A couple tons should do it.

>> No.1920221

>>1918280
Lol

>> No.1920290

>>1917416
i use standard project boyes (metal and plastic ) and order a pcb with cuouts and silkscreen as text and plop that on the back and front

>> No.1920302

>>1920290

boxes*

>> No.1920314

>>1917416
For circles, use a step drill. For squares, use a nibbler.