PCB manufacturing demonstrated at show

A National Electronics Week product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team May 5, 2008

National Electronics Week has revealed more details about the two live production lines set to run at the show, taking place at London's Earls Court 2 over June 17th - 19th.

National Electronics Week has revealed more details about the two live production lines set to run at the show, taking place at London's Earls Court 2 from June 17th to 19th.

Showcasing a diverse range of assembly, soldering and testing processes, the exhibit will run several times a day on Stand A80.

Comprising two distinct production lines, the exhibit will produce two different types of six-layer PCBs.

Every board will be processed against a choice of different parameters including surface finish, stencils, solder paste and reflow processes.

Such a broad range of process variables will ensure that every participant can view experiments relevant to their own manufacturing experience, witnessing and analysing tests that it would be impossible to conduct in-house due to time and cost limitations.

Following production, all boards will be tested by sophisticated X-ray and AOI technologies to determine whether solder joints meet with industrial IPC standards.

Results will be displayed on a large screen in a dynamic open forum environment where visitors are invited to listen to feedback and analysis from a panel featuring bare board suppliers, solder paste suppliers and independent experts.

Machines in operation on the production lines include a MyData jet printer, DEK Horizion, Speedline MPM125 and Ekrax and screen printers, Cooper Rason conveyors and loaders, Europlacer, Panasonic and Universal pick and place machines and Vitronics Soltec and Heller reflow platforms, plus Asscon VP800 vapour phase equipment .

The lines will be running a variety of laser-cut, etched and electroformed stencils from companies including Aqueous, DEK, Tecan, Electrolube, SMT Technical, while companies such as Balver Zinn, Hereaus, MultiCore, Kester and Almit will be supplying solder pastes.

Test equipment present will incorporate both AOI and X-ray inspection techniques from Zen Production, Goepel, TestGroup, Dage CT and Vtech-SMT.