Router Bit Life and Depaneling Quality Control Methods Routing separates boards from a panel with a rotating cutter that travels along the outline, leaving a clean machined edge. It handles curves, internal cutouts and shapes that no score line can produce, and it is the standard method for anything other…

PCB Corrective Action Report Guide A corrective action report is a record of a problem, an investigation and a change, written so that the same problem does not return. In a board shop it is usually triggered by a customer complaint or by an internal nonconformance, and the quality of…

Depanel Routing And Tab Design For Assemblies A depanel operation separates finished boards from the panel they were assembled in, and the way that separation is arranged is decided at the design stage. The panel carries the boards through printing, placement, reflow and test, and it has to hold them…

PCB Process Audit Checklist for Board Shops A process audit checks whether the shop is doing what it says it does, at the moment the work is happening, rather than whether the paperwork exists. That distinction is what makes the exercise useful. A single page audit checklist applied on the…

Via Barrel Crack Analysis By Microsection A microsection is the reference method for examining a plated hole, and the way the section is cut decides what can be concluded from it. A section through the centre of a hole shows the plating thickness at its thinnest point, the shape of…

V-Scoring Depth and Web Thickness Control for Depaneling V-scoring cuts two grooves into the top and bottom of a panel so that the individual boards can be snapped apart after assembly. The cut does not pass through the material; a controlled web of laminate is left in the middle, and…

PCB Order Processing and Delivery Process The distance between an order and a delivered board is filled with steps that each look simple and that together decide whether the promise is kept. Order processing, engineering verification, material release, production scheduling, fabrication, test and packing are all separate activities with their…

Cleaning And No Clean Residue On Assemblies A no clean process is one in which the flux residue left after reflow is considered harmless and is left on the assembly. The decision is a chemical judgement rather than a cosmetic one, and it depends on the activity of the flux,…

PCB Tooling Cost Structure Explained A tooling charge is a single figure on a quotation that covers a group of one off costs, and customers often treat it as a fee rather than as a cost. In a board shop it is the opposite: it is a set of real…

Press Fit Connector Hole Design For Backplanes A press fit connector is held in a plated hole by the elastic deformation of its own pin rather than by solder. The pin is wider than the hole, and the compliant section compresses as it enters, then pushes back against the plating…