PCB Panelization!

[JohnsonMiller]

For manufacturing and ease of assembly, we can penalize the PCB. The edge of the PCB is CNC routed except with just a few sections to hold it in place, called mouse bites.
I am wondering what should do after finishing assembly? if you just crack it, the edge will not be smooth enough, another CNC cutting probably does not make sense. Any comment?

[WhoKnewKnows]

The narrow sections where the throw-away frame connect to the circuit board are tabs. If you drill a series of small holes to make a mouse bite, set them slightly inward from the PCB edge so that when the frame is flexed to break it away from the PCB, the breakaway point isn't right at the edge, but recessed

[robertferanec]

This is very tricky and we have a had a LOT of problems with this. When Assembly house try to file the stubs, they can damage some of the PCBs. So what they do now, they insert the PCB into a special metal case which clearly guides the tool and when filed, PCB can not be damaged.

If you find out the best way how to do it, let me know.

[qdrives]

Perhaps you could opt for V scoring. One of the EMS companies I had uses a CNC milling machine to depanelise. Smooth all the way, no stress on the board and lower chance of damage. However, the board we had produced there, we needed the mouse bites and stubs as a means for mounting in the housing. We had small slots in the housing for the tabs.