The length of the drill and the amount protruding are part of the problem along with the hardening. "Case Hardening" was found to be a problem with car axles & not confined to them.

The deeper was the hardening the more brittle was the axle, by regulating & re-evaluating the depth and surface needing to be hardened, it left the axle more flexible & less brittle.

Two of the things I do to reduce "squirming" are, where practical: It to use a centre punch to make a slight dent which the drill point will run in, OR Use one of the Lathes centering drills (normally in the drill press, but not always) to start the hole: They will not squirm.

A stepped drill can often achieve this as well. You can drill PC boards with a drill press & get quite small ones.

Do not get a fixation on drills. I often use a Die Grinder with a Steel cutting Burr, or a router bit to wet cut Nylon. & a small burr will drill a PC board. And you are liable to find one with a usable shank / mandrel.

This sort of thing: https://www.esslinger.com/spearhead-high-speed-round-ball-bur-sizes-1-34-sold-individually/

OK, I'll have a go myself, and if I stuff it up I'll call on your expertise, Ian. I want to make my own boards anyway to finish a couple of Seventies Electronics Australia projects I've started. I've bought the old fashioned brown phenolic board already, might as well use it.

Good on you Sue, don't listen to those young whippersnappers, just centre punch the holes through the copy of the handbook, do the iron on from the printer or dalo pen outline act and etch the bloody thing. Done ! The centre punch marks will centre the drill no worries.
I used to make prototype boards from a paper layout and pen and have one ready in a couple of hours from start to whoa.

That was well before the computer experts had time to boot up their Aps and produce a file that someone else sent out to the PC board supplier and weeks later you got your board.
Of course in PRODUCTION the reverse was the case I would then do a design using Autotrax or whatever was the flavour or the time 1990's and send a file to the PC guy when my shaky hand prototype was proven and he would do the numbers for me. Mind you there was an intermediate stage where I coated boards with photo sensitive UV resist and made up taped on positive film artwork and did small number boards for low production numbers.(coat resist-oven dry-UV expose-ammonium persulphate hot etch= boards in 4 hours)

There is nothing like splashing the dalo pens around and splilling ferric chloride around the kitchen and on your fingers, its a real "hands on" experience and if you only do it once that's enough. Paper picture to printed circuit board and you did it the hard way all by yourself...what could possible go wrong?

Fred.

There is nothing like splashing the dalo pens around and splilling ferric chloride around the kitchen and on your fingers

There's still a stain on the carpet in a built-in wardrobe where I used to develop PC boards in the late 1980s. The stain still survives to this day but on the up-side, so has the carpet. I think 1989 was the last time I used the stuff as I was doing electrical/electronics at tech at the time.

Er... Didn't get a reply until too late. I am not able to look due to being out of the state. I will check in a week or so. I know I have fixed a couple of them in the past year and pretty sure a bloke I restore for trashed one of them and it will be in the parts buckets.

OK, I'll hold off on making a board until you get back.

Yes, there's plenty of scars around our house from artistic and repair mishaps. But the worst accident was in 1967 when I got a chemistry set for Xmas and promptly spilled a whole test tube of logwood solution over my grandparents' living room wallpaper.

I got my chemistry set for Xmas in 1967 also.

Some fine moments I still remember are injecting a cactus plant with a blue dye and eating almost all of the ascorbic acid crystals.

What is logwood solution? Does it have another name?

I had lots of fun with litmus paper and ants.

In 1968 I got a Philips Electronics Kit. That was the end of a budding young chemical engineer.

Of course I blew up all three transistors in the kit (all Geronimo's ) I can still recall them---two AC126 one AC128

Grand memories-----.

(Dried chips of the plant logwood produce a deep purple-red solution in water. It was used as an acid indicator - it turned brown when acidic, and it was also used for dyeing wool, which is why it's about the worst thing to spill on off-white wallpaper.)

Chemistry can be fun. I started work in a Lab, trained as a textile dyer (more chemicals) & ended up spending several years with a big chemistry set, making Polymers, Resins, Wax emulsions & using lots of things like Strong acids & Bases, Oxidant's, Reducing agents, Flammables, Carcinogens & other very interesting things, some of which were actually pretty harmless.

Thank you Sue.

My chemistry set only supplied litmus paper strips---probably just as well. I did a lot of silly things with it.

Marcc.

I lived in Mt. Beauty when I was a kid, and the only memories I still hold of Wang was an enormous brick wool mill on our way to Melbourne.

Is that where you worked???

I also remember a Flash Gordon type rocket ship in a Benalla, a playground and park on the Hume. In those days the Hume was single lane with the occasional "chicken Lane" here and there.

Poor old Dad drove a Vanguard, couldn't overtake anything---long day trip there and back. Had to get up at 0400, home by 0100 the following day.

Interesting? Once again I have had to change to IE as Firefox would not login. Sometimes it messes up the virus program & is a stable as a bucket of weeping gelignite.

Never worked at the Woollen Mills, it's pretty much stuffed like the rest of our manufacturing. I was at Bruck, the other textile mill, but did most of my dye work in Albury.

The chem factory has also gone by the wayside, it had passed its use by date. However, there were other reasons that led to its closure.

Fortunately I seem to be able to diversify into lots of things & that has proven handy. I am supposed to be retired, but I did get conned into replacing the cylinder head on a tractor last year & mine needs work as well, I haven't pulled its engine down for 33 years & its showing signs of needing some expensive, major TLC.

The Benalla park is still there, however they did add an Art Gallery decades ago.

Hi Sue

Got back last night. I had a quick look today and there was a few similar ones in it but nothing I would consider suitable. I will ask the "Man" when he drops around his next lot of radiograms for me to restore if he has anything else there.

Dan

I've taken a chance and made a board now. It wasn't as difficult as I thought. Only one drill broken! Being hand drawn it looked a bit rough coming out of the etch bath, but now it's tinned and soldered it looks very neat. Assuming it works, the problem's solved.

Hi Sue, you beauty!!!!!!
I used to do PCB's for prototyping or one offs by hand, who cares what it looks like, and it will look better with the parts on and working, well done!
Fred.

Saw the ultimate answer in Diyode Mag. Its a desktop milling machine that can engrave. That means it can cut out PC patterns & examples are shown.

The miller should be able to bore holes as well.