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Who can make this micro PCB ? — Parallax Forums

Who can make this micro PCB ?

InteractInteract Posts: 79
edited 2008-01-19 17:46 in General Discussion
I know I know, the number of post asking for a board house recomendation is staggering...
but mine is special (not).

I need to have a PCB made but it is REALLY small.
.4"· x· .54"
The thin guage board, I think it's called .8mm or .03" ??
Small trace width·.4mm.
2 layer.

The first few I contacted couldn't do it.

Any recomendations on who might be up to this very small job?

Comments

  • James LongJames Long Posts: 1,181
    edited 2008-01-17 21:50
    I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but


    Those requirements are on the extreme end of the spectrum.

    Don't take this the wrong way, but I do not think you will find anyone who will make that board without a whole panel being made. (panel containing about 100 of those in one sheet)

    The size is not bad if you have a panel made, and the material is not that bad either.

    If you not opposed to having a panel made in China (whole panel not just one board) and your requirements are correct, you could have Gold Phoenix make the panel.

    http://www.goldphoenixpcb.biz/special_price.php

    The job is not small....just your board. No one that I know of would make just one board that small. It's just not feasible.


    This is all based on the fact that the trace width is truly .4mm which is not that small. (about 15mils)

    If your looking for 0.04mm ....that is a totally different story....and·practically impossible without a laser.

    James L

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    James L

    Partner/Designer
    Lil Brother LLC (SMT Assembly Services)
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2008-01-17 21:52
    A board that small is typically panelized and saw cut to seperate the individual boards (the smallest paneled boards we work with are 3"x4"), If you can't find a board house to do that for you, you may need to do it yourself. If you don't care about the quality of the edge, you may be able to have them v-score the board and you can use a straight edge to snap them into individual boards.

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    Paul Baker
    Propeller Applications Engineer

    Parallax, Inc.
  • InteractInteract Posts: 79
    edited 2008-01-17 21:59
    I wasn't planning on having just one board made. I could use 25 now.
  • InteractInteract Posts: 79
    edited 2008-01-17 22:02
    I guess I not opposed to cutting them out myself.. but won't make them myself.
  • James LongJames Long Posts: 1,181
    edited 2008-01-17 22:06
    Interact said...
    I guess I not opposed to cutting them out myself.. but won't make them myself.
    I hope the information I supplied helped......The calculation is not that hard....but it adds up pretty quick.

    Also.....I and a lot of my associates have done business with Gold Phoenix....they are a pretty good company.

    James L

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    James L

    Partner/Designer
    Lil Brother LLC (SMT Assembly Services)
  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2008-01-17 22:48
    Do you need solder mask or marking ?

    I might be able to make it on my LPKF mill.

    0.4"x0.54" no problem
    0.031" no problem.
    0.015" traces no problem (I assume you have 0.015" spacing or there abouts)

    If you could send a picture of the board I could let you know if I can do it.

    Bean.

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    www.iElectronicDesigns.com

    ·
  • InteractInteract Posts: 79
    edited 2008-01-18 00:30
    Wow 200 of these litle things on one board! With Gold Phoenix .
    For about 100 dollars. Thats a lot of cutting.
  • James LongJames Long Posts: 1,181
    edited 2008-01-18 00:42
    Interact said...
    Wow 200 of these litle things on one board! With Gold Phoenix .
    For about 100 dollars. Thats a lot of cutting.
    Well.....it would be close to that...you would have to add in for the material change.

    Yes...it is a lot of cutting.....but that is what they do.

    Remember.....it does take some time to get the boards back from Gold Phoenix.....

    James L

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    James L

    Partner/Designer
    Lil Brother LLC (SMT Assembly Services)
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2008-01-18 02:18
    Interact, take them up on this service: 6) Free Step and repeat service. Free V score

    This means they will panelize it for you and score both sides of the board to deliniate the individual boards. If you take the board and align the score along a hard edge, place even pressure along the board and snap the row off, repeat this to seperate all the individual boards.

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    Paul Baker
    Propeller Applications Engineer

    Parallax, Inc.
  • InteractInteract Posts: 79
    edited 2008-01-18 19:36
    I've been struggling with comunication with them. It seems that the most they will v score is 20 peices on one board. so I am trying to have it done without scoring. I'm not sure that translation is going that well. I use diptrace and the most I could get out of the software was 14x8 of these boards before diptrace froze. But that will be plenty.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2008-01-18 20:01
    I'd have them V-scored in one direction only: 20 horizontal strips of boards. You can then break the strips off and cut the boards apart with a good pair of tin snips. (I just tired it here with some 1/32" FR4, and it shears cleanly.) As an alternative, you could put perf holes between the individual boards in the strip and just break them apart. It won't look as nice as a sheared cut, though.

    -Phil
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2008-01-18 21:29
    lever guillotines are good for the cutting aswell get perfect straight,neat cuts everytime.
  • InteractInteract Posts: 79
    edited 2008-01-18 22:25
    I tried my office paper cutter, the type that has small blade that you pull, not the guillotine type, and it worked fine. I thus ordered the boards.
  • WhitWhit Posts: 4,191
    edited 2008-01-19 01:05
    Interact,

    Mind if I ask what the board is for?

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    Whit+


    "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,666
    edited 2008-01-19 01:43
    I agree with Phil about having the board V-scored into strips that hold several of the the small 0.031" thick microPCBs, and then separate them along the other axis with snips, or a heavy diagonal cutter with 3/4" jaws for the really small boards. What's more, I recommend a margin on the ends of each strip to allow for clamping in a jig for soldering a whole strip at once.

    A couple of our small circuit board designs for sensor probes end up in the form of 0.4" diiameter circles. The boards come as multi-up scored strips, which we rough cut into multigons, and then put them on a spindle against a fine sanding disk. That effectively spins them down to size amd a very nice circle. I have a tooling hole fabbed in the center for the spindle. Those boards have parts (MSOP, SC70 & 0603) on both sides and fine wire leads.

    You can ask most fabricators for "mouse bites". Those are rows of 0.020 holes that can help in separating panels. They are quite often used on the tabs that connect tab-routed panels.

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    Tracy Allen
    www.emesystems.com
  • InteractInteract Posts: 79
    edited 2008-01-19 17:46
    Board is for a serial gear motor.

    The boards are Square. I will cut them out a bit oversized and sand to fit. Some of the traces needed to be very close to the edge, and I was afraid of the v-score not lining up perfectly. Since I have a machine shop it really won't take that long to cut out and sand 20 of these buggers.
    Besides I couldn't seem to get the Gold Phoenix to understand what I wanted, so I figured it wasn’t worth it being done wrong.
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