Frequently Asked Questions

1)  What do you require in order to produce a design quotation?

• BOM including full manufacturer's part numbers and manufacturer details.
• Schematic and details of schematic format
• Any mechanical details i.e. size, shape, location of fixing holes
• Datasheets (optional)
• Libraries if available
• Design Rules
• Post processing procedure if you have one
• Time line

2)  What do you require in order to produce an assembly quotation?

• BOM including full manufacturer's part numbers, manufacturer details and component references.
• Gerber data
• Assembly drawings
• Any mechanical assembly instructions
• Test specification
• Firmware if applicable
• Desired delivery schedule
• Assembly Standards, IPC 610 Class 2
• Quality Standards, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 13485:2003

3) Can you manufacture and assemble RoHS compliant boards?

Yes, we have completed a series of trials with various lead free solders and oven profiles.  Once we were happy with the results we sent out boards to a specialist laboratory to be X-rayed and sectioned.  Our results confirmed that we were well within the IPC standards but by increasing the preheat section of the profile we would drive off more solvents before reflow (voiding is caused by trapped pockets of solvents from the flux in the solder paste) and we adjusted our time above liquidus (which causes smaller voids to disperse and form a larger void in their place) to improve upon our result.  We are working to good practice for example keeping BGA's in vacuum sealed packaging or prebaking them prior to use if they are not from a sealed package. 

4) What is the maximum board size you can handle? 

470mm x 470mm

5) Can you help us develop our design? 

Yes, however we do not have any circuit engineers in house.  We can take a design from schematic stage and produce PCB layouts and mechanical design of enclosures etc.  We can produce a prototype and assist with the creation of a technical file for submission to your chosen test house.

6) Is there anything we can do to reduce production costs?  

• Schedule in larger batch quantities.
• Design boards so that they are optimised for assembly i.e. if possible put all SMT components on one side and put all the conventional components on one side.  If it is not possible keep all the chips on one side and only put resistors and capacitors on side 2.
• Try to minimise number of types of components used i.e. not using 10k 1% 0805 resistor and a 10K 1% 0603 resistor.
• Try and reduce the number of layers within the board.
• Sign up to G&B's MRP controlled database for consolidated buying.
• Allow areas on profile for 'breakout' to assist with panelisation enabling multiple board to be built simultaneously.
• Do not use tighter design rules than necessary.  This will improve manufacturing yields for the PCB and assembly.
• Consider automatic testing methods i.e. boundary scan, or bed-on-nails ATE to speed up testing of assembled boards.

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