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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Which Materials for Turret Boards

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4/15/2000 5:35 PM
ADM	Which Materials for Turret Boards I've been checking the http://www.mcmaster.com site for board material, and have been comparing the G-10 glass epoxy board vs the electrical grade fiberglass. The fiberglass board is cheaper and easier to machine, but I don't know if it might cause problems in some other aspect. Does anyone have experience with this material? Andrew.

4/15/2000 5:55 PM
Gil Ayan	Sorry, I have used G-10 exclusively in my amps. It is virtually indestructible and not hard to cut or drill provided you do it slowly and "lean" on the saw a little bit. It looks great too... Gil

4/15/2000 7:55 PM
dale	gil--yep, thats what i meant--the EI 12ax7 compared to the mullard.

4/15/2000 8:05 PM
ADM	What's the easiest way to cut G-10 board?

4/15/2000 8:27 PM

quote:
"What's the easiest way to cut G-10 board?
"

You know, I built 3 amps -- wach with quite a few boards -- and never had any problem using this cheap jigsaw I bought at Home Depot. I use a metal cutting blade. However, I have a friend who's ahving a hell of a time cutting his, so I am not sure what the problem might be.

What I do is use a thin-tip Sharpie to draw the lines where I want to cut the bugger, and I go for it. My saw is variable speed, and I found that slow speed and a little forward pressure is the way to go. IF the edges feel a little sharp once you're done, use sandpaper to smooth it out.

Gil

4/15/2000 8:56 PM

Graydon Stuckey

quote:
"What's the easiest way to cut G-10 board?

You know, I built 3 amps -- wach with quite a few boards -- and never had any problem using this cheap jigsaw I bought at Home Depot. I use a metal cutting blade. However, I have a friend who's ahving a hell of a time cutting his, so I am not sure what the problem might be.

What I do is use a thin-tip Sharpie to draw the lines where I want to cut the bugger, and I go for it. My saw is variable speed, and I found that slow speed and a little forward pressure is the way to go. IF the edges feel a little sharp once you're done, use sandpaper to smooth it out."

Hi,

I also have built a few boards using the G10 material. I used a metal cutting chop saw to cut one board, and I also used a hacksaw with a fairly fine blade to cut a piece. I find that a hack saw works very well for alot of things. There's nothing wrong with a little elbow grease once in awhile. On some very small boards which were actually copper clad boards for a PCB, I used a die grinder with a 3" abrasive wheel on it. That sliced through the stuff like butter. The chop saw made big stink from the burning epoxy, but it worked fine. I imagine a mitre saw with a fine bladed saw blade would also work, as would a table saw, but remember, there's glass in that stuff, so the blade will get dull very quickly, even if it is carbide.

I would have used my jigsaw as Gil has suggested, but I didn't have a fine blade in the toolbox at the time. I'm sure that would also work well.

In all cases, I used a good file to clean up the edges to make it prettier and smoother.

I find the G10 board drills very nicely, and leaves a nice smooth hole (on size too BTW - it doesn't drill oversize like some materials) with fairly sharp edges. My eyelets fit snugly without falling out until I swaged them over.

You can see some of my boards on my site below.

Later,
Graydon Stuckey
http://elektro.cmhnet.org/~graydon

4/15/2000 8:57 PM
andy fuchs	I like plastic like Teflon (when you can find it). I've used 440 brass screws with washers and a drop of liquid solder flux, to make some nice turret style boards as well. Dumble used Formica with rivets in some of his amps, but that looks a bit cheesy IMHO.

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