I'm working on a PCB that has through-hole components on both sides of the board. The "top" side of the board is mounted flush to a Delrin plastic block (the only top-side component is a gas sensor that is fed air samples through hose fittings in the plastic block).
The flush mounting means that I have to add grooves to the plastic block to accommodate the soldered pins of the bottom-side components. Assuming a standard 0.062" thickness FR4 board, how deep do I need to make the grooves in the plastic block? The only thing I could find is this NASA workmanship standard that states 0.5mm to 2.29mm, but I'm not sure if that will always hold true.
Best Answer
Do you even need grooves? We make several products using through-hole components that are intended to mount using VHB double-sided foam tape. The boards are 0.062" thick double-sided with PTH and we use a table-top vertical belt sander to bring the component leads almost flush with the solder mask. In other words, the solder mask isn't touched by the sand paper but the leads are all sanded flat and sitting just proud of the solder mask.
This works well for small boards.
For what it's worth, there are commercial machines available that use a rotary saw blade to do the same thing. The board is held horizontal in a mounting / clamping system on the base and the saw motor is vertical on a sliding X-Y mechanism. The saw blade simply cuts all of the leads almost flush with the board surface.
This system is suited for boards of all sizes but especially for those boards larger than can be handled easily to be sanded with the belt sander.
Also note that these techniques are suitable only for PC boards with plated-through holes.