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Anyone has any ideas about PCB wire strain relief?

1619 1 Jan 17.2020, 17:43:02

Hello, I am working on a new end-stop switch for my 3D printer (heavily modified reprap prusa), and the first version I made had 3 pin through hole headers, but I would like to get rid of those and solder the wires directly onto the board instead to keep it smaller and more clean to look at, and also have less things sticking out from it to make it as small as possible. I attached a picture of my current idea, but it might not be all pcb houses that are able to make those inner slots in the pcb to loop the 3 wire ribbon cable through.Anyone here got an idea to what good alternatives there are?

How thick is via plating ?

1551 1 Jan 15.2020, 17:56:07

I'm designing a board that needs some low resistance tracks (wide ones) and i need to connect some vias through the board. How "thick" are vias when manufactured ? do hole diameters make much difference ? (other than wall area to be plated).

How to check IC on the PCB working?

1548 1 Jan 13.2020, 18:07:58

Hello, How can I check that some ICs on PCB works properly or not? Can I turn off the power supply and then by giving necessary inputs and checking outputs? My PCB contains ARM Processor and few Op-amp ICs. I need to check Op-amp IC. I do not have any other testing equipments. Well, PCB has few ICs ( Op-amps, Driver, Voltage regulators etc). Now I want to check the IC is in working condition or not. Problem: IC is already connected to other ICs on the board. If I will give some INPUT to IC and then check OUTPUT of the IC, can I check this way? ( What if current would flow from this IC to the other part of the PCB ?! )

PCB Fab that allows plated slots and > 1oz copper

1373 1 Jan 11.2020, 11:45:10

Anyone know of a good and reasonably priced PCB fab house that will allow plated slots and (not required but a bonus) can do 2 or even 4oz copper?

Rigid-flex PCB with metal core?

1507 1 Jan 10.2020, 18:08:16

Does anyone know or has seen Ridid Flex PCB's with a metal core ( aluminium or similar? ).. I've got an application that has a bit of heat in it, and i need to get the heat out, but i also want to use flex.

Is a Convection Oven a Better Choice for a DIY SMD Reflow Oven?

1812 1 Jan 09.2020, 17:47:06

Is a Convection Oven a Better Choice for a DIY SMD Reflow Oven, rather than a toaster oven? The fan is already built in. I have not seen much real discussion on this--unless I missed it. I'm only worried about the wind blowing around the parts--is that a risk? Thanks,

Inventory Management - Parts In Place

1359 1 Jan 07.2020, 17:07:45

I have been asked to devise an inventory management solution for a small electronics manufacturer. I found an interesting application called Parts In Place that seems to fulfill our rather low-end needs. Please share your experiences with it or a similar product. Thanks in advance!

Ever had a PCB design refused?

1431 1 Jan 04.2020, 11:28:33

I've only just done my second (ever!) PCB layout to be manufactured properly so I'm still very new to this. Both times I've breathed a sigh of relief when I get the "Your design was accepted and will now go in to production" e-mail! I was curious - has anyone ever had a design not be accepted (for reasons other than a bad gerber file or it was 10x bigger than it should have been or something)? I wonder how much checking they do with design data for ultra cheap boards. E.g. if you used a couple of 5mil traces on a 6mil minimum, would they instantly detect this and refuse to even try and produce it?

Pick and Place control

1470 1 Jan 02.2020, 18:11:33

If you were to purchase a desktop size Pick and Place machine, how would you prefer it to be controlled?

For a new PCB, is right?

1375 1 Dec 30.2019, 17:24:43

I just had these FR4 boards delivered a few days ago guys and to be honest they look like old stock perhaps to me. They have what looks like an exposed edge down one side which IMO doesn't seem correct? Its as if the photoresist has either not been applied evenly or perhaps the pcbs have been poorly stored or something. As you can see the surfaces are different colours down one edge. The pics were taken as soon as the black protective film was removed in a dark'ish room. Surely this is not correct for new PCBs? Many thanks for any advice.

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