Attaching\/Aligning the Blade<\/strong><\/h3>\nAttachment of the blade to the hard disk platters (see part 2<\/a>) sets the basic accuracy of the tool.\u00a0 If the blade is out of plane the cut will be wider than the blade.\u00a0 If the blade is off center, portions of the blade will wear faster.\u00a0 Achieving perfection is virtually impossible, but I managed to get a ‘good enough’ result.<\/p>\nMy method was to lay the ring blade down onto the larger platter and use tape to temporarily hold the blade in place while I manually spun it around to check for centering.<\/p>\n![\"Method](\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/blade_gluing1.jpg\")
Method for centering the blade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA little fiddling and re-alignment will get things pretty close.\u00a0 After the centering is good, the next step is to glue the blade into place.\u00a0 I used tiny drops of Zap-a-Gap<\/a> around the inner edge of the ring and held the two together firmly as the glue set.<\/p>\n![\"After](\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/blade_gluing2.jpg\")
After gluding the blade, spots of glue are visible on the top surface<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe result is not perfect, but cuts I have done seem to be sufficiently narrow.<\/p>\n
The Cutting Setup<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe picture below shows the setup for making cuts.\u00a0 The large silver box in the background is the vacuum pump, the green vise in front is holding a digital indicator<\/a> (for making precisely measured cuts) and the blue airbrush is ready for spraying water onto the cutting surface.<\/p>\n![\"Dicing](\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/P1180787small.jpg\")
<\/a>Dicing saw setup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe parts to be cut are mounted on glass slides using Crystalbond <\/a>adhesive, a thermoplastic mounting polymer.<\/p>\n![\"Test](\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/P1180789small.jpg\")
<\/a>Test substrates about to be cut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUsing the Chop Saw<\/h3>\n
Below are some pictures of cuts made with the saw.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/P1180791small.jpg\")
<\/a>A partial cut through one of the substrates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Several](\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/P1180792small.jpg\")
<\/a>Several diced pieces. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Microscope](\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/P1180793small.jpg\")
<\/a>Microscope view of a part diced into three pieces<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFrom the photos above it is clear that the saw is working reasonably well.\u00a0 The cuts are straight, the pieces have no obvious large chunks missing, and the gold metallization shows minimal signs of peeling.\u00a0 I have made many cuts using this saw including angled cuts.\u00a0 I have also used the saw to carefully strip off the backside metallization.\u00a0 This will come in handy when I am making diveboard-style waveguide transitions.\u00a0 I have also used the X\/Y table to feed the piece along the blade, allowing me to make much longer cuts than in “chop” mode.\u00a0 These came out very nicely as well.<\/p>\n
The accuracy of the saw is reasonably good.\u00a0 Using a dial or digital indicator, cuts can easily be made with 0.001 inch accuracy, which is sufficient for circuits working through 50 GHz at least.<\/p>\n
One issue that was of concern initially was whether a hard drive motor actually had enough power to do the job.\u00a0 It turns out the motor works fine as long as the cuts are made slowly.\u00a0 Fast cuts are not advisable anyway, as the part is more likely to fly off into oblivion.\u00a0 Some of the substrates I cut had fairly thick metal backing and required slower cuts.<\/p>\n
Future Improvements<\/strong><\/h3>\nEvery project ends up with room for improvement.\u00a0 With this project a few things come to mind including a precision machined spindle with a better mounting mechanism.\u00a0 This would require a much larger lathe than what I own, and some careful though into balancing.\u00a0 Another improvement would be a self-contained coolant sprayer and vacuum pump for the chuck.\u00a0 Setting up the dicing saw currently requires a vacuum pump, an air compressor, and so on.\u00a0 Another nice feature would be a microscopic camera to observe the cutting in action.\u00a0 And finally a CNC retrofit would be nice.\u00a0 All of these upgrades would be handy, but as it is, the saw is immensely flexible and precise.\u00a0 I’m still on the first blade which is showing no signs of wear.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/h3>\n
It has been a lot of fun putting together this series of articles and even more fun putting together and using this saw.\u00a0 So if you are planning on putting together a saw like this, happy cutting!\u00a0 If you are just planning on building something with a hard drive motor, they are really handy for certain applications where high precision, high RPMs, and cheapness are required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Finally, I bring you the conclusion of my Diamond Chop Saw series! In this part I’ll cover a few remaining issues, but mostly I’ll report on my use of the machine in the construction of my 47 GHz radio, for which this project was intended.\u00a0 If you’re not already familiar with this project, you might … Continue reading Tony’s Diamond Chop Saw (Part 4)<\/span>
My method was to lay the ring blade down onto the larger platter and use tape to temporarily hold the blade in place while I manually spun it around to check for centering.<\/p>\n A little fiddling and re-alignment will get things pretty close.\u00a0 After the centering is good, the next step is to glue the blade into place.\u00a0 I used tiny drops of Zap-a-Gap<\/a> around the inner edge of the ring and held the two together firmly as the glue set.<\/p>\n The result is not perfect, but cuts I have done seem to be sufficiently narrow.<\/p>\n The picture below shows the setup for making cuts.\u00a0 The large silver box in the background is the vacuum pump, the green vise in front is holding a digital indicator<\/a> (for making precisely measured cuts) and the blue airbrush is ready for spraying water onto the cutting surface.<\/p>\n The parts to be cut are mounted on glass slides using Crystalbond <\/a>adhesive, a thermoplastic mounting polymer.<\/p>\n Below are some pictures of cuts made with the saw.<\/p>\n From the photos above it is clear that the saw is working reasonably well.\u00a0 The cuts are straight, the pieces have no obvious large chunks missing, and the gold metallization shows minimal signs of peeling.\u00a0 I have made many cuts using this saw including angled cuts.\u00a0 I have also used the saw to carefully strip off the backside metallization.\u00a0 This will come in handy when I am making diveboard-style waveguide transitions.\u00a0 I have also used the X\/Y table to feed the piece along the blade, allowing me to make much longer cuts than in “chop” mode.\u00a0 These came out very nicely as well.<\/p>\n The accuracy of the saw is reasonably good.\u00a0 Using a dial or digital indicator, cuts can easily be made with 0.001 inch accuracy, which is sufficient for circuits working through 50 GHz at least.<\/p>\n One issue that was of concern initially was whether a hard drive motor actually had enough power to do the job.\u00a0 It turns out the motor works fine as long as the cuts are made slowly.\u00a0 Fast cuts are not advisable anyway, as the part is more likely to fly off into oblivion.\u00a0 Some of the substrates I cut had fairly thick metal backing and required slower cuts.<\/p>\n Every project ends up with room for improvement.\u00a0 With this project a few things come to mind including a precision machined spindle with a better mounting mechanism.\u00a0 This would require a much larger lathe than what I own, and some careful though into balancing.\u00a0 Another improvement would be a self-contained coolant sprayer and vacuum pump for the chuck.\u00a0 Setting up the dicing saw currently requires a vacuum pump, an air compressor, and so on.\u00a0 Another nice feature would be a microscopic camera to observe the cutting in action.\u00a0 And finally a CNC retrofit would be nice.\u00a0 All of these upgrades would be handy, but as it is, the saw is immensely flexible and precise.\u00a0 I’m still on the first blade which is showing no signs of wear.<\/p>\n It has been a lot of fun putting together this series of articles and even more fun putting together and using this saw.\u00a0 So if you are planning on putting together a saw like this, happy cutting!\u00a0 If you are just planning on building something with a hard drive motor, they are really handy for certain applications where high precision, high RPMs, and cheapness are required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Finally, I bring you the conclusion of my Diamond Chop Saw series! In this part I’ll cover a few remaining issues, but mostly I’ll report on my use of the machine in the construction of my 47 GHz radio, for which this project was intended.\u00a0 If you’re not already familiar with this project, you might … Continue reading Tony’s Diamond Chop Saw (Part 4)<\/span> The Cutting Setup<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a>Using the Chop Saw<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a>Future Improvements<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h3>\n