giant PCB holder

[coppercone2]

I had to fix 4191 A board that is gigantic (2x2 foot or so)

I have a panavise board holder (extra large) but its just not big and stable enough.


If I really wanted to get a board holder to do stuff like that securely, what would I need? I repaired it in chassis because I was scared of breaking ceramic parts without fixturing. Ideally I would have built a aluminum plate it screws into with a cut out behind the part I need to work on., but that is expensive. The idea would be to put the board on, mark where the work is, remove pcb then plasma cut some holes and work on it


I see you can get a 36 inch crossbar, but I would need like 18 inch arms to hold it secure, they don't sell that.


dip 48 or whatever ceramic = need to be really careful!

[Doctorandus_P]

You can plasma cut a section out of the PCB, put it in a "normally sized" holder to repair it, but putting it back in the rest of the PCB would be a bit problematic.

[coppercone2]

No I mean like a backing plate. YOu might be able to cut a copper covered PCB with agressive settings but I mean just so it s fast. You mount the PCB to a sheet, mark it up, cut it, and presto

its less work then actually trying to cut it with jig saws or whatever, but its still mega lame compared to having a big vise You still need to drill holes for the standoffs in the correct positions and stuff like that.


building any fixture for a REPAIR is freaking horrible. If it was a prototype I can stomach it, but to repair some OLD equipment it makes my stomach churn


Another option is to make a universal backing plate that is segmented, i.e. it has 8 big cut outs in it with panels, so you can mount the board and remove relevant panels to access the rear. but its still custom fitting to position the standoffs. Cleco clips might help make it easier



haha, I wonder what they do for giant ceramic boards (70's-80's military). those repair guys were probobly borderline postal


maybe you can make a adjustable one out of those aluminum rail pieces


they should have made it thicker. boards this big with ceramic should be thicker. its almost floppy. 









But for a board this size, I don't think you could even use a standard vise if it was big. Its too floppy, you need like a section to support the middle with like adjustable thumb screws. god what a pain in the ass

[pcprogrammer]

There is a solution for this. https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005007099503510.html

These are magnetic so with a large steel base plate you can position these underneath the holes in your PCB. One drawback with these is that if you want to fix the board from jumping back up there is no way to grip it.

You could make up something yourself with magnets and standoffs where you screw the PCB in place. Or maybe these already exist, but I have not found them. Did not really look for it though.

[coppercone2]

hmm a strong magnet could do the buisness but damn you better not knock into it.If a magnet decides to find a new home it can do some serious damage to fragile parts LOL