Rugged stand for PCB drilling
Mechanics ·Introduction
For drilling home-etched PCBs, a stable drill stand is quite important. I’ve been using a wooden contraption with drawer slides ever since I build it many years ago because as everyone knows from experience, once something kind-of works it is never changed again. The problem with a slabby drillstand is, however, that the fine carbide drill bits easily break and that is of course somewhat frustrating.
From the CNC project, I had all sorts of nice mechanical parts lying around. Among those were some very sturdy linear bearings with only about 40mm of stroke, however. Those have been begging to be part of a better drill ever since.
The 20mm bore that holds the dremel is manufactured on the lathe using my 4-jaw chuck. Everything else is build from left-over materials from the CNC-build. Even though not the most elegant thing I’ve build, it is plenty sturdy and has a nice feel to it thanks to the ball bearings and brass bushings.
Impressions
Front view of drillstand
From the back
Lever mechanism with bearing block and linkage pieces
Drilling a home-etched PCB with it