Copper Clad

[aziltz]

i used shears made for sheet metal that i have here in my lab and they worked beautifully, but I think you could get a reasonably priced pair at a hardware store that would work.

[Chi_Boy]

Well, I received the .031" boards.  I think I'll feel quite comfortable working with it.

And yes, this stuff seems like it could be cut with a sturdy pair of scissors as long as they have smooth blades.  The grooves in kitchen shears leave nasty markings on the copper IIRC.  Using straight blade snips is probably the way to go.

Haberdasher;

Have you tried that .031 yet?  I just received a stack from Bill and boy is that stuff thin.  It feels pretty stiff, but it is notably thinner the the boards I have bought in the past.  I was just wondering if it gave you any problems.

Planning to use it with a laminator and it "says" .039 max thickness.  I've read that Brian pushes his [similar] laminator with up to .060 boards.  I just don't want to break it, but still want good boards.

Thanks,
George

[madbean]

I got some of that .031 stuff. I received some green and some black. The black is FR4 and is slightly stiffer, and I've used that stuff on a bunch of orders. I had no problems building on it. The green CEM is not as robust. It's better suited for small boards, less than 2" square. There's nothing wrong with it, though. One thing to watch out for if you are using the green stuff: careful with your soldering. If the board gets too hot, it will start to warp a little. Not break, but curl. Anyway, I only did a couple of boards with that stuff, and I'm going to use the rest for faceplates (or sell it off).

[Haberdasher]

Hi George, I just saw this.
I've used the thin stuff a few times now to etch boards and I've even soldered on one of them.  It seems to be fine, but I will say I'm using it for small to mid size board only.  I wouldn't try it with a darkside or pork barrel, say.
I don't know what kind of laminator you have, but I've put 0.051" board through my GBC.  What I've found you have to do is- if you're going to feed the thicker boards through the machine, have them cut down to the width of the actual circuit, maybe two back to back circuits still connected, so it's long enough to easily retrieve on the other side of the laminator.  I think you want to avoid feeding thicker boards through there if it is wide enough to extend even close to the width of the entire slot: that's how you get something jammed in there.  But yeah, if it is going through just the center, it comes through fine.  I hope that makes sense.  And like I said, that's how it works for the GBC laminator....I have no idea if it would be the same for your machine.

Good luck!

[Chi_Boy]

Yes, that makes perfect sense.  Keeping it in the middle minimizes the stress at the ends.

I'll try the .031 to see if I warm up to it, but I just bought some .047 to see how that works too.

The laminator is the GBC H220.  Very similar to Brian's, and he pushes the .060.  I should be OK with the .047 then.  I just hope its a little stiffer than the .031.

Thanks again for the info.

George