OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

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uze6666
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Re: OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

Post by uze6666 »

Eh, your make me nervous a bit here, Ladyada never came back to confirm my schematic didn't have errors! :shock:
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Re: OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

Post by havok1919 »

uze6666 wrote:Eh, your make me nervous a bit here, Ladyada never came back to confirm my schematic didn't have errors! :shock:
There's not a whole lot that could be wrong, IMHO... If nothing else we have most all the pins on the micro coming out to the DIP, so with the exception of PORTC everything should be probe-able if I run in to any problems.

It's not like it's a ton of money for a few prototypes... Worst case-- "do over!". The cost of R&D. ;-)

-Clay

(The sad part though-- ~5 quick prototypes from a US company cost about the same as 100 'production' boards slow-turn from China!)
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Re: OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

Post by havok1919 »

Soooo... I just couldn't stand it any longer, so I orderd PCB's. :D It finally dawned on me that the proto boards are the same price for 2 square inches as for up to 30 square inches... Seemed silly to only order five 2"x0.75" boards for the same money, so I panelized 'em. Therefore, if they work I'll have enough for ~80 right off the bat. Not sure if it's worth getting solderpaste screens done to do a pilot production run with 'em, but it's an option. (I also have to route them apart individually since vscore/routing isn't offered on the prototype process.)

Anyway, if they don't work, they'll make nice little coasters. ;-) I didn't bother to pay for a rush service, but I should still have 'em by next Friday.

Image

-Clay
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Re: OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

Post by uze6666 »

I'm missing superlatives here! 8-)

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Re: OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

Post by nubie »

havok1919 wrote:Soooo... I just couldn't stand it any longer, so I orderd PCB's. :D It finally dawned on me that the proto boards are the same price for 2 square inches as for up to 30 square inches... Seemed silly to only order five 2"x0.75" boards for the same money, so I panelized 'em. Therefore, if they work I'll have enough for ~80 right off the bat.
I was wondering if you were going to order "full" PCBs from the service :)

Very cool. This is exciting.
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Re: OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

Post by havok1919 »

nubie wrote:I was wondering if you were going to order "full" PCBs from the service :) Very cool. This is exciting.
These are just the 4-layer special from Advanced Circuits (5 day turn, about $300 shipped). I talked to them today and it sounds like they're willing to v-score the boards, so that'll be handy (the panels will just break apart that way). They won't necessarily be "correct" size (I spaced them out a bit more expecting that I'd have to use the router to cut them apart), but they're full spec boards otherwise-- 6 mil trace/space, soldermask top/bot, silk top/bot, electrical test, etc.

I got my AD723's today-- looks like they fit OK, so I don't think there will be any surprises on the components.

-Clay
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Re: OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

Post by nubie »

havok1919 wrote:They won't necessarily be "correct" size (I spaced them out a bit more expecting that I'd have to use the router to cut them apart), but they're full spec boards otherwise-- 6 mil trace/space, soldermask top/bot, silk top/bot, electrical test, etc.
So if I understand you correctly the sticks will have a little extra board along one or more edges? I am assuming that this won't effect it in any way, other than cosmetically or fit in extremely small enclosures (like a pack of bubble gum for example)
I got my AD723's today-- looks like they fit OK, so I don't think there will be any surprises on the components.

-Clay
The less surprises the better :), except for the good kind.
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Re: OK, new idea. (UZEBOX Stamp?)

Post by havok1919 »

nubie wrote: I am assuming that this won't effect it in any way, other than cosmetically or fit in extremely small enclosures (like a pack of bubble gum for example)
Yeah... The prototypes are on a solid sheet of FR4 material-- on production they'll still be on a sheet, but they'll be individually routed or v-scored. (So basically a panel of ~16 gets assembled all at once, then separated when they're all built. That's more efficient for production since a fair amount of the time is spent screening solder paste onto the boards and moving it to the pick and place machine to load the parts, then move to the oven and then wash-- they only move one board instead of 16.) The trick is that different PCB manufacturers have different specs for how close they can run their router to the nearest solder pad, minimum amount of material to leave on the board, etc. So the final panelization waits until I've got a manufacturer selected, but these will be "close" (depending on your definition of close). ;-)

I have a 2D circuit board router here (an LPFK Protomat), so what I'll probably do is just use that to cut these prototypes into individual pieces. The "production" boards should be on the order of 2.105" x 0.705" (the edge of the PCB should *just* cover the plastic on the pin headers). These will be a little bigger-- maybe 2.150" x 0.775". Just kinda depends on the radius of the router bit and how well I have things lined up.

-Clay
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