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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Why PCB Prototype services are crucial for electronic manufacturers?

If you are a part of electronics industry and want to launch a product in the market, then it is never a good idea to launch the first idea that engineers came up with. The reason is that first design or idea of product can have some flaws and may not be perfect one. New concepts have to first go through testing as made refined before supplying it down to the assembly line.

Failing to do so can turn out to be a costly affair afterwards. A company generally faces this problem when it outsources electronic manufacturing to outside party. The quality of product manufactured will depend upon the specification provided and the quality of device. If the specifications are flawed, then the ultimate product will also be of substandard quality.

To save electronic manufacturers from these, PCB prototype services come into picture. There are companies that offer these services, which every electronic manufacturing company should contact before outsourcing the PCB services.

Advantages of PCB prototyping


One can think of it as getting insurance done. Spending a little money in the beginning, one can save himself from potential losses. You can compare the idea of a prototype to that of a model or a sample. Prototyping creates multiple samples, and gives manufacturer the liberty to choose the one that promises perfection and highest quality.

For example if one has to finalize a PCB design, these services will create multiple designs and make them go through real life testing. After testing, one can choose that design which is the ideal one involving least costs and the one that promises maximum efficiency. The idea behind it is that of a test and trial so that engineers can find errors in early stages.  The advantage of creating these samples via prototyping is that it provides specifications which are real as per an actual working system, and not just in theories.    

These services help save businesses from facing reputation loss as a result of making poor quality products. Once some negative news has broken out that particular firm offers poor product, it is hard to compensate that loss and undo it without a complete rebranding.

PCB prototyping provides the makers enough room where they can implement procedures to thoroughly test and idea or concept before replicating it into a real product and thus saves from committing big mistakes during production phase.

If a company does not have an in-house research and development department, it can outsource this task to a firm that offers prototype services. initially, there are many uncertainties whether a new concept will be able to perform required task and deliver needed results, but engineers who do prototype testing can detect problems, and make required changes until the design has reached an ideal stage of perfection.

The advantage of PCB prototype services is that it helps manufactures create a replica of a new design after thorough real-life testing.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Reasons to prefer PCB surface mount manufacturing over traditional techniques

Printed Circuit Boards have become the basic components of different types of electronic components. Many industries such as automobile, medical, telecommunications, power supply, instrumentation control, entertainment, and others greatly rely on PCB manufacturers in order to fulfill their needs of manufacturing variety of electronics.

PCB, depending upon the purpose they are designed for, can be single layer, double layer, or multi-layer structures. These structures contain numerous electronic components soldered on the board and conductive paths through which the components communicate.

The electronic components on the boards are soldered through using various technologies such as through-the-hole and surface mount. Through the mount technique is a traditional approach of soldering electronic components that use leads or wires. The wires are passed through the holes drilled on the board and attached on the pads on the other side of the board manually or using mounting machines.

Highly popular soldering technology used by printed circuit board manufacturers these days is PCB surface mount manufacturing. It is the best suitable method when it comes to the fabrication of highly complex and superior quality PCBs.

Significant improvement over the traditional component mounting technique, SMT has become the ideal choice of manufacturing printed circuit boards for numerous reasons including:

Effective time utilization: Prior to the emergence of surface mount technique, through-the-hole and point-to-point soldering techniques were used. These fusing methods consumes large amount of time since the components need to attach pads on the frames and require wires to be inserted into the holes. This type of manufacturing of PCBs not only consumes significant time on soldering but also affects the way energy is conducted throughout PCBs.

On the other hand, surface mounting technique supports the fusing of electrical parts on the surface of the boards instead of connecting through holes. Using this method, electrical parts are mounted on PCBs via automation which saves a lot of time.

Reduced  manufacturing costs:In comparison to traditional soldering techniques, SMT save much money needed to produce fully-functional PCBs. Furthermore, the production of lower quantity or prototype printed circuit boards was extremely expensive with traditional fabrication methods.

Due to the automation of the fabrication process and ability to produce variety of low quantity PCBs simultaneously, surface mount method lowered down the expenses needed on the production.

Enhanced Usability: Printed circuit boards that are manufactured using surface mount fabrication technique make use of smaller components which made entire PCB compact and sleeker. Due to their smaller size and lighter weight, they provide electronic devices with portability feature.

That is why printed circuit boards are widely used in electronic devices such as computers, laptops, washing machines, smart phones, and others.
 
At American Progressive Circuits,Inc, PCB surface mount manufacturing helps to produce small-sized and properly functioning PCBs at reasonable costs.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Ensure properly working PCB production with reliable PCB manufacturing companies

Printed Circuit Board is a thin sheet on which electronic component and chips are soldered and connected for communication via conducting pathways.

There are different types of printed circuit boards available that are manufactured, according to the client’s requirement specifications, using various types of soldering techniques.

PCBs are widely used in different industries that deal with the manufacturing of electronics such as automobile, entertainment, medical, telecommunications, power supply, instrumentation control, and others.

Many of such businesses hire professional PCB manufacturing companies for fabrication of ready-to-use printed circuit boards. Let me share with you the common steps used in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards.

  • After choosing the thin sheet on which various electronic component are mounted, the next step is to make pathways on the board so that electrical components and chips can communicate to produce the desired functionality. Pathways are made by removing unwanted copper from the board. Manufacturing of PCBs is generally carried out through etching process which is accomplished using ferric chloride.

  • The designing of conductive pathways is accomplished through a photographic process in which a thin layer of photo-resist material is used to cover the copper on the board.

  • Photo-resist material on the board is then exposed to light through mask, known as photo-mask or photographic film, printed with the details of required pattern of pathways.

  • After this, photo-resist is placed in a designer so that spaces on the board where conductive lines are needed are highlighted in the resist.

  • The next step in the fabrication process is to etch the board areas where no conductive lines are needed.  To achieve this PCB is placed into ferric chloride.

  • The time for which the board is placed in ferric chloride greatly depends upon two aspects that are the thickness of copper on the sheet and concentration of ferric chloride. Any carelessness in the measurement of such factors can give you with low definition track designs. For example, if the board is placed in the ferric chloride for long time, it may produce a low definition pattern because ferric chloride has properties to weaken the photo-resist.

  • Although photographic processing for manufacturing PCB is quite popular, there are many other techniques to achieve the same results. Using highly specialized milling machine, copper layer can be milled away from those parts of the board where it is not required. The milling of copper is controlled by printed circuit board design software. When it comes to the manufacturing of PCBs in large quantities, this method of designing printed circuit boards is not suitable.

  • Another methods used for printed circuit board prototype is to print onto PCBs etch resistant inks via silk screening printing process.

Hiring PCB manufacturing companies, one can ensure the fast production of properly functioning PCBs.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

What basic qualities are needed to be looked into PCB prototype manufacturing services distributor?

Choosing of an able electronic supplier is must, in order to get best quality results and to meet up to the expectation of the clients.

Especially, when it comes to electronic industry choosing of reliable supplier is must in order to reach the goals on time and to let the business prosper.

However, finding one reliable distributer amongst the hoard of suppliers is not so easy because there are many counterfeits and cheaters in market whose main purpose is to grab money from people.

This is where you need to be cautious and look into few qualities when searching for PCB prototype manufacturing services supplier:

Channelizing of stocks

Manufacturers expect from the distributor that their orders will reach on time. For this, a distributor needs to channelize their orders in an appropriate way, so that it can reach the customers as early as possible.

Offer affordable rates

A distributor must have effective interaction with the retailers and sell the equipment on affordable prices to them, so that manufacturers do not find it heavy on their pockets.

Coordinates well with the retailers

Besides, accomplishing orders on time, distributor also needs to maintain a healthy relation with the retailers. This is because relation (good or bad) affects shall be borne by the manufacturers. For example, if distributor won’t have good relation with retailers then certainly supplier will not give any discount to retailer and subsequently, retailer won’t give any less to manufacturer. Hence, a supplier should be one who has good communication with everyone.

Deliver quality of services

Quality is the major aspect that is needed to be considered when looking for a manufacturer because there is no room of experimentation in business world.  Especially, when you want to come speed up in the competition, you need to be sure of that distributer you are thinking to rely upon is best in line and trusted for delivering quality products to their clients.

Relied for providing consistent solutions

Your job task of selecting a reliable manufacturer is not just to avail quality services, but to also make sure that he provides consistent solutions in a long run, as well. This is important because in case your product wears down, then he should provide you immediate solutions for it.

After reading all the above aspects related to the qualities of distributer, you must have got a clear idea about the things that you need to look into while searching a distributor.

As there are numerous suppliers available in market make sure to research well. The best way to find some reliable suppliers is via searching online or through directories, or even you can take reference of your friends and colleagues.

To get the best and guaranteed electronic equipment, research well and then choose one reliable PCB prototype manufacturing services supplier available in market and online.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

How to select a reliable PCB manufacturing testing manufacturer?

Undoubtedly, the essential component of electronic industry is PCB, which is also known as printed circuit board.

The world has changed and so the technology. With such rapid changes, it has become quite important to meet up with the pace of development.
Talking about electronic industry which too has kept the pace with the change, this calls for the need of reliable manufacturer.

If you are a newcomer and you don’t have any idea about who are the best PCB manufacturing testing manufacturers in your vicinity, then have a look at this document that will help you to find the best one. Let’s get started:

There are many companies who prove to be more capable than they are in actuality. You need to be aware from such manufacturers, as for them their motive is to grab customers towards them for the sake of earning money. In regard to this, you need to research well. This comprise of looking out for authentic dealers.

However, finding one is a difficult task. You can make use of internet, the best platform to search. Via this you will come across a number of dealers.
Besides getting the list of suppliers, you can also find out who is the best amongst those. Thinking, how? Well, via seeing the reviews and comments of people regarding the manufacturers.

Once you have sought the few suppliers that you find are good, make sure to have one on one conversation with them. This will help you know more about them personally.
During this conversation, you must ask few things like, standards, quality, technology used and measures taken to build PCB boards.

After having conversation, weigh out the pros and cons of the available options. This will help you out find one reliable manufacturer who will cater your needs.

Once you have searched a dealer, you must ask if he gives you guarantee of the product. If not, then you must reconsider your choice. Guarantee of boards is important because, in case if it get wears down then you can get it replaced easily, if you have guarantee card with you. Eventually, it will also give you an assurance that in such case you won’t have to spend your money again on buying new PCB board.

After looking at the points you must have got an idea about the factors that you need to consider when searching for a reliable manufacturer.

So, make sure you follow these points, as there is no room for experimentation in such case because you would never want your business to suffer any losses.

PCB manufacturing testing is the most essential step carried out by the manufacturers to build up a good PCB board.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

What manufacturing methods do PCB manufacturing companies follow?

Electronic industry is not simple. This is because wide number of add-ons and alterations are carried out in it that makes things complicated. Especially, when it comes to making of PCB board, quite a number of things are needed to be taken into consideration.

From this document, you would get a complete guide over modes of manufacturing that are used to make PCB board.

Commonly, there are two techniques for the making of PCB: point to point and surface mount assembly.

Point to point method: This is the oldest form of manufacturing method. In this, soldering of electronic circuits is done by non-automated form. Tin and lead alloys are preferred because point to point assembly is very well carried out only by these alloys. However, using these alloys is relatively more expensive and time consuming, but there were no other options in traditional times that could efficiently help perform the manufacturing process.

Surface mount assembly: This is completely a new form of PCB manufacturing process. Relatively to point to point method, it is much more reliable, cost effective, trusted process for printing circuit boards. Where in point to point tin and lead was used to attach the wires on PCB, in this process solder balls, flat contacts and short pins are used for the same purpose. Moreover, unlike to point to point method, it does not require drilling holes through the circuit boards.

Therefore, if you are looking for reliable and cost effective solutions, surface mount technique is the best option. Another benefit of SMT is that it is versatile because this process is used in making of number of applications such as laptops, mobiles and a host of other gadgets.

However, while looking for PCB manufacturing companies, make sure they follow SMT method, along with that consider the fact of usability and affordability, as well, because such things should also suit your pocket.

Countless options are there in the industry that can be trusted for the manufacturing of most well suited printed circuit boards. But choosing one manufacturer from hoard of suppliers is a tedious task. Along with this, you even need to ensure that the supplier is not a counterfeit or a cheater. Thus, on the whole, you need to do a thorough research and then make a wise decision of choosing a manufacturer.

While searching, consider factors like reputation, certified, trusted, integrity, credibility etc. This will help you ensure that you have contacted the right person to cater your needs and requirements.

Besides factors that are to be looked in a manufacturer, you also need to assure the quality of product, price, and functioning of the product etc. This will help ensure you that the machinery is working properly.

There are numerous PCB manufacturing companies in market that are known for manufacturing printed circuit boards. So, choose a one that you find impressive.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Designing guidelines for PCBs!



Printed circuit board is a key element used in the manufacturing of electronic products used in different industrial area. We can say that PCBs are the basic building blocks make an electronic unit functional.

A printed circuit board itself is constituted using variety of, large and small, electronic elements that collaboratively exhibit the function of the product.

The fabrication of PCBs needs a professional designer or engineer to come with a design that will work according to the product prototype. Professional designers first create a schematic for the circuit that will give you a close idea of the actual circuitry that will be etched on the board using that diagram (or schematic).

PCB manufacturing companies rely on professional engineers for the fabrication of these electronic units. The skilled design professionals ensure that the printed circuit board will be manufactured keeping in mind various standards and techniques, and the blueprint of the model will be exactly transferred to the board.

In order to ensure that PCB will work successfully, it is good to follow some guidelines, although nothing can substitute the knowledge and experience:

PCB design guidelines:

Listed below are some guiding principles that will help to design and layout a PCB. These guidelines are divided into different section as follows:

Board constraint design guiding principles:
  • The selection of right reference points that costume the fabrication process. They most important thing is to have reference holes on the substrate. These points are used to place machines and examine fixtures. Choose these pints in such as way they complement the manufacturing process of PCB. They may be in the form of holes for machines or may be in the form of cross points for sensors.
  •  The area of the board should be sufficient for the circuit. The length and breadth of the circuit board will define the size of the final product. Therefore, it is important to make estimation about the size of the board so that it can accommodate all components and pathways needed to design the desired circuit and also give you the final product of the required size.
  • Determine whether it is a single layer, double layer, or multiple layers printed circuit board that your project needs. Also, if it is a multilayer board then how many layers it needs to fabricate the comprehensive PCB as per client’s requirement specifications?
  • An important fact to know that increase in the number of layers will also increase the production costs. When the circuit is complex, it is not possible to etch all needed tacks on the single substrate. Adding layers the job of etching pathways become much simple.
  •  The next thing that you need to consider is element mounting techniques. There are different types of mounting techniques, such as surface mount technology, through-hole technology etc.
  • PCB manufacturing companies facilitates the professional designing will give you a standard design and fully-functional printed circuit board.