Drilling Fundamentals

Drilling and routing are the only two conventional mechanical machining techniques used in the production of printed circuit boards. Unfortunately these operations are still often underestimated even though drilling, in particular, is just as important as the other processes involved in achieving the final quality of the finished board. The advantages and disadvantages of the various drilling techniques are discussed. This paper was originally presented at the First Printed Circuit World Convention held at the Cafe Royal, London in June, 1978.