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It was only a matter of time......... — Parallax Forums

It was only a matter of time.........

WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
edited 2013-11-09 23:07 in General Discussion
Most people know that I work for an EMS Provider (otherwise known as a contract manufacturer) and I have seen my fair share of diverse products. Products like end audio/video equipment, mesh networking sensor nodes, RFID card access devices, solar panel charge controllers, fruit sorting controller boards, robotic controllers and assemblies, and accelerated recovery medical devices. Sorry to say that next week, for the first time ever, we will be building an Arduino shield. :frown:

Ok, all kidding aside, it was rather funny when we were discussing the product during a meeting. When we brought the gerber up on screen I immediately recognized the form factor and made several process decisions based upon knowing where this product will end up: as a raw board, no case, in the hands of everyday consumers that are using an Arduino. That meant no labeling to be added by us, aqueous processing for cleanliness, smooth routed board edges, etc, since the end consumer sees the raw board.

Comments

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-11-09 06:42
    Arduino-compatible, but surely you'll make it propeller-powered, Andrew? :)

    "Legal, please trademark the acronym 'ACPP' ASAP!"
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2013-11-09 07:59
    WBA Consulting wrote: »
    smooth routed board edges, etc, since the end consumer sees the raw board.

    This is interesting to hear as a consideration.

    Does the customer not know enough about the process to request these features? Does the company charge more for these processes?

    I have about a dozen QuickStart boards and I've been very surprised at how different the edges feel on some of them. Your post makes be wonder it the quality differences were from a decision at Parallax or some where else. IIRC, Parallax makes their own boards so I wonder why there are such large quality differences between some of my boards? (Not that I expect an answer from you Andrew.)
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    edited 2013-11-09 20:39
    When we purchase the fabs, it is our responsibility to take these things into consideration. We do have several customers that will include notes such as these on their fab drawing which in turn makes it a requirement for us and our fab supplier. In this particular case, I don't think it's absence on the fab drawing had anything to do with not knowing about the process. There is no charge for how the fabs are setup in regards to edges, unless it affects the assembly process flow. In other words, if we have to run the boards as single up on the line so we can have the fabs supplied as single smooth routed fabs, there are possibilities that this will increase the process time or change the efficiency of the process. For example, parts placed too close to the edge on a board without rails, would mean we might have to run the board in a fixture or rotated in a less desirable orientation.

    For the Quickstart boards, I believe the difference is the different panelizations used by Parallax. A V-Scored panel will leave a beveled edge that may be slightly rough to the touch. We do some consigned builds (where the customer supplies the fabs) where the boards are in a v-scored panel, but the customer wants clean edges on the final product. In our assembly process, we deburr/sand the edges after depaneling and prior to wash. The ideal process would be to run these boards as single up so that the edges are clean and routed from the fab house. There are always variations in the v-scores to some degree due to manufacturing tolerances and some of what you are seeing could be from that. Someone at Parallax would have to answer in regards to how they process the Quickstarts to find out more. However, I do recall that there was a thread somewhere with a bunch of pictures of the Quickstarts in process.

    This thread shows an 8 up panel back in 2011. The way that panel is laid out, all boards would have three v-scored edges and one clean routed edge. If Parallax changed their panel design to where each image could have a different edge pattern, tht might explain some variances you see.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,173
    edited 2013-11-09 23:07
    Another approach we use, is to route with re-entrant break offs - those do intrude into the design space, but the burr is less likely to catch on handling, and they are placed away from the main handling zones. (there are 2 completely clean edges & corners have radii )
    This does need that the final break off, is included early in the design process.
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