Before we (or any old assembly house) go about putting surface mount parts on your board, we need to program our assembly robots. I'm oversimplifying, but essentially, the machine program needs to know the X / Y coordinates, relative to... Read more
Small component packages seem to be a recurring theme with me. It's understandable, I guess. Super tiny packages are becoming more and more common and we build a lot of product with them. The smallest we've built is 0.3mm pitch.... Read more
As a Maker, you really need a decent price, with good quality, and good service. Contrary to what many people think, you don't need to look outside of North America for this. You can keep your gaze West of the... Read more
My last post mused on the affordability of assembly at Screaming Circuits for the maker/very small business/kickstarter community. My hypothetical Arduino-compatible dual motor driver Kickstarter came out to $9.81 per board at a quantity of 250. That's probably more than... Read more
Yes, a Maker can get 250 custom-design Arduino-compatible boards built for about $10.00 each at Screaming Circuits. How can Screaming Circuits, a full-service assembly provider, compete with a low-cost assembly house? Upon first thought, it might seem like Screaming Circuits,... Read more
So... You just got a nice big PC board back from the fab shop. You set one on your desk to admire only to discover that it's warped. What do you do? There are two primary types of causes of... Read more
Take a look at the closeup of one of our Beagleboards here on the right. That's what package on package (POP) looks like up close. The bottom chip is a Texas Instruments OMAP processor, in BGA form with 0.4mm pitch... Read more
I referred to "panel rails" in my blog about V-score panels, but I didn't explain the "whats" and whys" of panel rails. You might find yourself asking "what are panel rails and why would I want to use them?" Well,... Read more
Some people, especially in the manufacturing industry, refer to PC board panels by the term "palette." I can't seem to avoid thinking of the big wooden thing used for shipping stuff, so it's tough for me to call a panel... Read more
In my prior post, I covered V-sore panelization. The other very common panelization method is called tab-routing, as in routed, but with tabs. (That's "routed" like using a router, not as in Napoleon being chased out of Russia.) Following this... Read more
