Dala
Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2018
- Messages
- 349
Okay so a bit of an update on the PCB manufacturing. As you know a few posts back I posted pictures of a few PCBs that I had ordered. The original idea was to maybe assemble a few CAN-bridges by hand, and then let a local company do the rest. Turns out I have a lot to learn about PCB manufacturing and assembling.
So I visited the only local place in Vaasa that does PCB assembly. Very cool that such a service is available here! Here is the parts picking machine, rolls of components are fed into it, and it places them automatically in the correct location before soldering them into place in an oven.
The main issue was size. Take alook at these measurements for a capacitor.
0.4mm x 0.2mm x 0x07mm
- Most of the components are so tiny that you need microscopes to assemble them by hand.
- The PCBs that I order were "Lead Free HASL" coated for the pads. While cheap, this leads to uneven surfaces for the surface mount components. Gold was the de-facto standard for a precision job like this, but I didn't know that So new boards will be ordered from an EU supplier. You can learn more about PCB finishes here: https://www.kingsunpcb.com/the-difference-between-gold-plating-and-enig/1604.html
-The edges of the PCB doesn't fit in their clamping machine, so the PCB will be redesigned, extended with a few mm on the sides (only particular to their machinery)
So I'm handing it over to them to fix my mistakes, and I'll learn more how much actually goes into precision automotive grade PCB creation I could ramble on more about this, but I'm holding back so we don't get too much offtopic
So I visited the only local place in Vaasa that does PCB assembly. Very cool that such a service is available here! Here is the parts picking machine, rolls of components are fed into it, and it places them automatically in the correct location before soldering them into place in an oven.
The main issue was size. Take alook at these measurements for a capacitor.
0.4mm x 0.2mm x 0x07mm
- Most of the components are so tiny that you need microscopes to assemble them by hand.
- The PCBs that I order were "Lead Free HASL" coated for the pads. While cheap, this leads to uneven surfaces for the surface mount components. Gold was the de-facto standard for a precision job like this, but I didn't know that So new boards will be ordered from an EU supplier. You can learn more about PCB finishes here: https://www.kingsunpcb.com/the-difference-between-gold-plating-and-enig/1604.html
-The edges of the PCB doesn't fit in their clamping machine, so the PCB will be redesigned, extended with a few mm on the sides (only particular to their machinery)
So I'm handing it over to them to fix my mistakes, and I'll learn more how much actually goes into precision automotive grade PCB creation I could ramble on more about this, but I'm holding back so we don't get too much offtopic