Outdoor IoT PCBA: Conformal Coating Done Properly Equipment that lives outdoors is judged by a different standard from equipment that lives in a cabinet indoors. A board that passes its factory test and then spends two years in a roadside enclosure, a buried chamber or a coastal installation faces moisture,…

PCB Design Version Control: Which Revision Is Which Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB design version control from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…

PCB CAD Data Exchange Formats: Getting Files Across Tools Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB CAD data exchange formats from the perspective of a PCBA…

What to Send for an Accurate SMT Assembly Quote Two factories can be asked to quote the same board and return figures that differ for reasons that have nothing to do with their margins. One of them assumed a single-sided build and the other allowed for two passes; one counted…

PCB Gerber File Package Check: What the Factory Receives Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB Gerber file package check from the perspective of a PCBA…

Handling Confidential PCB Files Safely Under NDA Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB non disclosure and file handling from the perspective of a PCBA factory…

Turnkey PCBA: From BOM Kitting to Shipment Turnkey PCBA is usually described as a purchasing service, and that description misses most of its value. Buying the parts is the visible part of the work; the part that decides whether the order succeeds is the reconciliation of the bill of materials…

PCB Intellectual Property Protection: Keeping the Design Yours Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB intellectual property protection from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…

PCB Export Control and Shipping Restrictions: What May Go Where Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB export control and shipping restrictions from the perspective of…

Small Batch PCBA Builds: Import, First Article, Release A small batch of a few dozen to a few hundred boards is a rehearsal for volume, and it deserves the same preparation. The quantity is smaller but the tooling is not: a stencil, a placement programme, a first article and an…