PCB depaneling is an important step in the production process of high-volume electronic assembly. In order to increase the yield of PCB circuit boards and the production speed of SMT lines, printed circuit boards are usually designed as one large board,2 oz copper thickness in mm which is then divided into many smaller individual PCB circuit boards using depaneling machine equipment. This large board is referred to as a connecting board or patchwork board and is used in the final product. Depaneling can be done after SMT, after an in-circuit tester (ICT), after solder-through SMT, or even before final product assembly.

There are six main ways of PCB circuit board depaneling:

1. manual depaneling: this method is mainly used for stress-resistant circuit boards (such as boards without the installation of SMD parts), the operator simply along the V groove and a suitable fixture to separate the PCB circuit board.

2. Saw Blade Separation: Saw Blade Separation can be used for PCBs with and without V-grooves, but it cannot be used for cutting a variety of materials, and some dust will be generated. It can only be used for cutting PCBs in straight lines and will produce high stress on the board.

3. V-cut divider: This method mainly utilizes the V-cut divider on the round knife or straight knife on the V-shaped blade with a V groove divider for the operation of the board. Simply put the PCB circuit board with V groove on the V-CUT depaneling machine workbench under the knife is fixed, and then by manual, electric or pneumatic way to slice.

4. Punching machine: Punching machine requires the use of special punching and cutting molds to match the division of the board. The PCB circuit board to be divided will be placed on the lower die of the mold to fix the position, start the switch of the punch press machine,plated through hole vs via and the continuous PCB circuit board will be divided into predetermined small pieces through the process of punching and cutting by closing the mold.

5. Milling cutter type depaneling machine: The milling cutter type depaneling machine utilizes a high-speed milling cutter to depanel a number of rigid PCB circuit boards according to a pre-programmed path. It overcomes the previous walking knife and walking board type board splitter can only be divided in a straight line of the limitations.

6. Laser Depaneling Machine: Laser Depaneling Machine cuts the PCB circuit board section flat and burr-free, no dust, no pollution to the lens and other components; no stress, no vibration, no harm to the components; high precision; no defective products caused by cutting; the overall effect is perfect.

Various PCB circuit board substrate materials can be cut by laser depaneling machine, including FR4 substrate, imitation resin-based materials, polyimide, ceramics, PTFE, polyester, aluminum, brass and copper.

Despite the advantages of laser depaneling machines in terms of depaneling speed and quality, which can meet customer's delivery and quality requirements, the price of laser depaneling machines is relatively high at present. As a result, most manufacturers usually choose punch press depaneling machines or milling cutter type depaneling machines as an alternative.