3mm thickness PCB - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: koitk
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 18, 2015, 03:36:19 pm
content: HeyWe are in progress of modifying one of our products and there is this 3mm aluminium panel, witch holds couple of mechanical elements and one magnetic sensor with a connector, so we are in progress of completely ditching the aluminium sheet and replacing it with PCB (FR4) it only needs to be one sided, but our electronics guy sais he can't order 3mm thick PCB's. I kind of doubt that, I searched the forum for "3mm thick pcb" and "3mm FR4" but it didn't yield any good results. So has anyone of you come across anything like that? Ideally we would like to order routed and cut PCB's but if not possible we have a LPKF Protomat S43 pcb mill in house and we can more-less cut it ourselves.Thanks aheadKoit

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2015, 03:46:59 pm
content: I did make 3,2mm thick PCB (Eurocircuits, not that it matters). It is not exactly 3mm, but I guess it will be OK. 2mm milling and big holes/vias were on the board.

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2015, 04:10:16 pm
content: if you want are looking at the usual cheap prototype places you probably won't find something special like a that.but any "proper" pcb manufacturer can makes almost anything you ask for

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2015, 04:22:40 pm
content: I order 3.2mm PCBs every now and then. They are rather expensive though and in some cases ordering 20 (half euro card) costs the same as 1.

author: Kalvin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2015, 04:34:36 pm
content: How about stacking two identical 1.6mm PCB? If the PCB is really cheap, and the pancake would be mechanically stable enough, this might be one possibility.

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2015, 11:40:33 pm
content: What sort of quantities? If your doing production, then yes you can buy pcbs, but a custom stack up means you buy the whole panel, (hence 1 or 20 cost the same, presuming 20 fit on the panel, as nctnico said)If your doing really low run/1-off, stacking 2 1.6mm boards seems like a good idea, either identical boards, or just order one with the same outline and hole pattern, but no copper, and laminate it yourself with a high temp adhesive (real adhesive, I.e.hysol 9460, not 5 minute garbage). Go easy on the adhesive and where you apply it so you don't have to clear out holes, or if it's just a few, if the squeeze out doesn't totally fill it, clear it with a drill.

author: fivefish
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2015, 01:39:06 am
content: If acrylic will work in your application, that's an alternative. (I've used 3mm transparent gray acrylics, looks nice with LEDs behind it.)QuoteMay I ask why? Is it for cost reasons? or convenience?

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2015, 08:49:26 am
content: 3.2 mm is nothing special really, we use it quite a lot (mechanical reasons). We use this company:http://www.printed.cz/eng/rsBut there's no reason for any reasonable manufacturer to not be able to do it, if at a bit of an extra price - the guys I linked do it for very little extra. There are some tradeoffs, but nothing significant.