Many designers can’t get their board fast enough after sending their PCB design files to their PCB assembly vendors.
But the surprising thing is some customers do not provide sufficient and necessary information to their contract manufacturers (CM) – causing problems, delays, and increased cost.
By focusing on 5 simple steps, you can ensure a smooth PCB assembly process and help your CM deliver your boards to you on-time and on-budget.
Let’s walk through these action items:
- Panelize your PCBs Correctly
- Make Sure Silkscreen is Legible
- Indicate Component Polarity
- Include PCB Fabrication and PCB Assembly Drawings
- Send a Complete BOM that includes Manufacturers’ Part Numbers
1. Panelize Your PCBs Correctly
Panelization is the placement of smaller boards into multi-board arrays to gain manufacturing efficiency.Panelization plays a vital role in the PCB assembly process. And to progress through the PCB assembly process without complications requires using correctly panelized PCBs.
Generally, it is best to leave the PCB panel design to your PCB manufacturer since they know all the requirements and how to implement them. However, should you decide to do the PCB panelization yourself, make sure you follow the design guidelines. Particularly, if your PCB has overhanging components, there needs to be enough spacing between the individual PCBs in the panel so that overhanging components do not overlap adjacent PCBs.
2. Make Sure Your PCB Silkscreen Is Legible
The silkscreen resides on the top layer of a PCB, and it displays useful and necessary information for anyone assembling, testing, or troubleshooting a circuit board. Silkscreen markings are used to indicate component placement locations, component values, reference designators, warning symbols, component polarity, test points, board name & revision, and more. It follows that the non-readability of the silkscreen could create bumps in the assembly process and sabotage the completion date. So, what is a good size for the silkscreen text? In many cases, a line width of about 0.2 mm works well.
Read more: HOW TO PREVENT MISTAKES THAT DELAY YOUR PCB ASSEMBLY (AND COULD COST YOU)
About The Author
Muhammad Bilal
I am a highly skilled and motivated individual with a Master's degree in Computer Science. I have extensive experience in technical writing and a deep understanding of SEO practices.