a quesrion of inlay material

F

fjc

Registered
hi, I have a question, hopefully I will get my enginnering degree this fall and I am thinking of having a custom cue built to celebrate that :D. so I want to ask if it would be possible to have some inlays done out of a PCB. I think a couple of windows of pcb would look really nice in a cue.

grettings

Francisco
 
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fjc said:
hi, I have a question, hopefully I will get my enginnering degree this fall and I am thinking of having a custom cue built to celebrate that :D. so I want to ask if it would be possible to have some inlays done out of a PCB. I think a couple of windows of pcb would look really nice in a cue.

grettings

Francisco
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That's sweet! Now that you've impressed us with your apparent knowledge of condensed engineering terms, may be you could describe just what a PCB is that you want inlaid. After a Google search I've found a couple of different meanings, none of which, I might add, would make much of an inlay.

Dick
 
rhncue said:
That's sweet! Now that you've impressed us with your apparent knowledge of condensed engineering terms, may be you could describe just what a PCB is that you want inlaid. After a Google search I've found a couple of different meanings, none of which, I might add, would make much of an inlay.

Dick
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Oh Jeez Dick; everybody knows what a "PCB" is. :):).

It is a large piece of that stuff they smoked back in the 60's.

Arnot:confused: :confused: :D
 
If I had to guess, I would say he's an electrical engineering student referring to a printed circuit board. Just a wild ass guess though. If that is what he's talking about, one could cut deep pockets, set a piece of a circuit board in place, and then fill over the top with clear epoxy, and cure it in a pressure pot. It would be different anyways.
 
pwm-0-10small.jpg

That would look great as a window on the sleeve.
 
Arnot Wadsworth said:
Oh Jeez Dick; everybody knows what a "PCB" is. :):).

It is a large piece of that stuff they smoked back in the 60's.

Arnot:confused: :confused: :D
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OK Arnie, who's this 'they' you're referring to? I still claim to be a hippie today and just turned 60 two weeks ago. During the 60's, for a brief time, I lived only a few blocks from Haight & Ashbury streets in San Francisco, Eddy Street I believe it was, but I don't know nothin' bout smokin no PCBs. It was about that time that the cops started shooting at hippies so I figured it was time to get outta Dodge.

California frowns on carcinogens. I say that because the only PCBs I'm aware of were used in transformers as insulation until they discovered that it causes cancer. So yeah, let's inlay this stuff in cues. This saving the elephants thing just got a whole lot more difficult.
 
Joey is correct.
PCB= Printed Circuit Board and is as he has pictured it. I have my MScEE and I have have made those things:D
So it would be involving making some shallow pockets and glue cut outs of the PCB in there (PCBs are usually not thick but could be flexible).
Another option would of course be like desert1 mentions, making some deep pockets and filling these with epoxy.

N
 
ouch, sorry i forgot to mention what a pcb is (printed circuit board) :( sorry its been a long week.

what I am interested in is the actual look of the pcb i don?t know what options there would be to have a green inlay with gold or copper color lines on it.

sorry about the pcb.

francisco
 
Hey, it's your cue. If you want printed circuit board inlay then go for it. Don't anyone else in the world have to like it but you. A degree in any form of engineering is an accomplishment so I'd say you've earned it. The thing is, I just don't see a lot of cue makers from here standing in line to do this for you, though I think a couple might.


There's a cue maker here by the name of Ed Wheat that places great emphasis on giving the customer exactly what he wants. Look him up.
 
Some recon malachite with brass/gold dots and wire might actually look pretty cool.
Probably better than burying actual pcbs in the cue.
 
fjc said:
ouch, sorry i forgot to mention what a pcb is (printed circuit board) :( sorry its been a long week.

what I am interested in is the actual look of the pcb i don?t know what options there would be to have a green inlay with gold or copper color lines on it.

sorry about the pcb.

francisco
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I just think that is too kewl of an idea! When you get this cue done, be sure to put pics of it on the forum for us.
 
PCB Material
Printed Circuit Boards can be broadly categorized into 2 types; rigid and flexible. Flexible PCB is much more expensive and should only be used on areas where space is limited, for example, inside a camera or telescope. PCB or in particular rigid PCB are composite material which made from a reinforcement material immersed in a temperature resistant polymer. Conducting material like copper foil is bonded on top of the laminate. Foil thickness, regardless of the manufacturing process, is specified for printed circuit boards in ounce of copper foil per square foot. Some common materials for printed wiring boards are:-

Phenolic-resin-impregnated Paper, (e.g. XXXP, XXXPC, FR-2)

Epoxy-resin-impregnated Paper, (e.g. FR-3)

Epoxy-resin-impregnated cloth surface cellulose paper core, (e.g. CEM-1)

Epoxy-resin-impregnated cloth surface nonwoven fibre glass core, (e.g. CEM-3)

Acrylic-polyester-impregnated random glass mat, (e.g. FR-6)

Epoxy-impregnated fiberglass cloth, (e.g. G-10, FR-4) and

Other resin system like polyimides (Kapton) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

Notes:-

Kapton is a registered trademark of E.I. du Pont.

The classification of material inside the bracket follows National Electrical & Manufacturers Association, USA, (NEMA) grading.

The number of X represents the amount of resin present in the board; the amount of resin increase with the number of X. P suffix indicate punchable at elevated temperature and PC suffix indicates that the board can be cold punched.

XXXPC, FR2 and CEM-1 is normally used for single sided consumer electronics application.

CEM-3, G10 and FR4 are normally used for double sided computer/industrial electronics application.

CEM-3, G10 and FR4 are normally used for double sided computer/industrial electronics application.
 
There are several types of PCB substrates, FR4 is close to G10 I would guess, both are glass reinforced epoxy things that dull tools .. OK, a quick check confirms that : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FR4

As far as looks go, you can get PCBs in many different forms. The common green tinge to PCBs is the solder mask, a paint job that protects the tracks from accidental solder bridges that might let the smoke out. You can get PCBs without a solder mask, then they are pale yellow not unlike a G10 pin. The tracks (little lines) are copper, but to prevent corrosion they are soldered over and look silvery. You can order PCBs without this treatment and the tracks will be coppery in colour, that is until they turn green from oxidization :eek: . Last, but far from least, you can whip up a PCB that has whatever graphics you want really, to a fine resolution, including the tracks of copper, the solder mask, and a silk screen layer, and get it made quite easily. I'm speaking of making a custom PCB with some graphics for the purpose of inlaying it in a pool cue. Making one that actually works is a bit of a drag, it's what my wife often complains about when she gets home from work.

Dave
 
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For anyone interested, here is a cool company that makes PCBs in small quantities. They also show the process nicely on their site, and have free (!) tools for designing the things. They don't have the same features as the $10K software my wife jockies, but they don't have the learning curve either. I've been playing with their software and it works great for the price, but I've not ordered boards from them ... their pricing does seem quite attractive for a few small quick turnaround boards, if you can live within their parameters.

http://www.expresspcb.com/

Dave
 
DaveK said:
For anyone interested, here is a cool company that makes PCBs in small quantities. They also show the process nicely on their site, and have free (!) tools for designing the things. They don't have the same features as the $10K software my wife jockies, but they don't have the learning curve either. I've been playing with their software and it works great for the price, but I've not ordered boards from them ... their pricing does seem quite attractive for a few small quick turnaround boards, if you can live within their parameters.

http://www.expresspcb.com/

Dave
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Tracking down an actual PCB and cutting it into
inlay sized pieces - $100

Putting gold colored elements that emulate the look
of a PCB onto an inlay sized piece of Mallacite - $200

Using today's technology to 'capture' a hi-res picture
<digital camera, downloaded jpeg, etc...>of a PCB and
published on a sturdy substrate and bonded to a robust
inlay sized piec of plastic - priceless

for everything else there's master...

Dale
 
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