There also several suppliers of press type de-panelers.
They are much faster and leave less dust than the router type.

Dies can be procured from the manufacturer or a tool and die shop.
Recently have had more sucess with a local die shop for the punches.

The mouse bites reduce the amount of force required and less than 500 micro
strain can be achieved.

The presses are small enough and inexpensive for our volumes that they are
tucked away in the operation flow before and after testers or other assembly
stations.

Routing is a good method if the volume is low enough. The tooling has to
hold the board after it is cut away. Again the mouse bites help reduce the
effort required to cut away the material. Cycle times can add up quickly on
small assemblies in panels. As do the pins that locate each PCA in the panel
for the router.

On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Keith Calhoun <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Depending on volume and product mix, there are other options that may be
> more economical.  We use a nibbler type of depaneler from CAB Technologies
> on a lot of our boards with excellent results. We also have one of their
> "pizza cutter" units we use on V-scored boards.
>
> Keith S. Calhoun
> Product Engineer
> SoPark Corporation
> 3300 South Park Avenue
> Buffalo, New York 14218
> Phone:  716-822-0434 Ext. 237
> Fax: 716-822-5062
> email: [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Goulet
> Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 3:19 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [TN] Depaneling
>
> We used the Cencorp router all the time for that purpose.
>
> With a programmmed router you need a good fixture with good clamps to
> assure the board is placed in the fixture correctly and doesn't move as the
> boards are cut.
>
> A first piece inspection is very important to assure the home positions
> haven't gone out of calibration. The programmer must raise the cutting bit
> over any overhanging connectors along the cutting path.
>
> The Pro's are that you get a clean cut so snading the edge of the board is
> never required and there is no stress nor delamination issues associated
> with manually breaking the boards apart. FNK makes a nibbler that works as
> well as the operator aligning it and is more suitalbe to low volume work.
> For high or repeat medium volumes it is worth the tooling charge and
> programming time to use the Cencorp router.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ken Bloomquist" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 2:53:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [TN] Depaneling
>
> I have a depaneling question. One of our customers uses "mouse bites" for
> their tab-routes. We have never depaneled these boards but they would like
> us to start doing it.
>
> They currently use a hydraulic press with dies to cut through the "mouse
> bites".  Since it takes quite a bit of time to do this we were thinking
> that
> a router like the Cencorp type might work.
>
> My question is; do any of you that have used this type of router to depanel
> boards think it would be accurate enough and easy enough to program to
> follow the tab-route slot and remove the mouse bites? What would be the
> upside/downside of this approach?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> KennyB
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0
> To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
> the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet
> To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to
> [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL)
> To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to
> [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest
> Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
> Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at
> [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0
> To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
> the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet
> To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to
> [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL)
> To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to
> [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest
> Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
> Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at
> [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>  Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0
> To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
> the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet
> To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to
> [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL)
> To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to
> [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest
> Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
> Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at
> [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815
> -----------------------------------------------------
>

---------------------------------------------------
Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet
To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL)
To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest
Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815
-----------------------------------------------------