PCB Assembly

From the assembly point of view there are 3 basic types of PCB

• High volume low cost items
• Low volume high cost items
• Specials or one-off units

High Volume Low Cost Items

This sort of item may be a small single sided PCB with a cost of a few pence and has only a few components.

Generally the PCB's would arrive as large biscuits, Saeco would assemble the PCBs with the components and flow solder as a large batch.

The finished board may be required to be fitted into a plastic enclosure, or potted with electronic grade epoxy resin

Semi finished boards populated with surface mount components can have the through hole components fitted by Saeco.

Low Volume High Cost Items

A typical unit may be a large PCB say 700mm by 500mm with onboard microprocessor, industrial grade switched mode power supply and high power H bridge power transistors, designed to drive high speed solenoids.

Large toroid inductors, bolted on heat sinks, Faston type connectors, ribbon cables assemblies, point to point heavy duty wiring would all have to be fitted to each board, as well as the normal PCB components

Each board could be individually tested to a specification agreed by the customer.

Saeco could build suitable test rigs for each job, if required.

PCB on Test Rig

Specials

This could be some sort of prototype, such as this very low noise battery powered stereo microphone amplifier that was based on a design published last year on the sci.electronic.design news group by Win Hill, co-author of the Art of Electronics.

This double sided board was designed with Accel Tango CAD software and was produced from schematic to working prototype PCB in a couple of weeks.

Other Issues

Saeco can source components for assembly if required, or they can be free issued by the client