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Electronics DFM is one of those things that's really, really hard to learn. Most of the resources out there are lacking; they're either really basic stuff, real
by exmadscientist 8y ago
Electronics DFM is one of those things that's really, really hard to learn. Most of the resources out there are lacking; they're either really basic stuff, really advanced stuff, or just plain incomprehensible. I am only aware of two ways to learn it that actually work:
1. In-person reviews with an expert. Offline reviews can be useful for getting a design out, but to understand the problem space, you need a back-and-forth conversation. Sample conversation that's easy in person but very hard over email: "Why not do it this way?" "Well, that would work, and it's a good solution a lot of the time, but you have this thing over here which makes this other approach a lot better...."
2. The hard way: sometimes there's just no substitute for experience.
At quantity 200, I think contract assemblers make a lot of sense (but do shop around: the economics of this particular supply chain can get weird), but factory-programmed parts really don't. Maybe if your firmware is final final I'd advise a client of mine to do it, but in any case where you're going to want a later firmware update, the best ROI is going to come from getting the debug port hardware perfect. That means the right connector (standard pinout, standard part, from a good quality manufacturer), level shifters where appropriate, pull-up and pull-down resistors, and all the rest. (Making sure this stuff was all explicitly spelled out on our review checklist was one of the first things I did when arriving at my current employer, and it's saved us and our clients a lot of money!)
- mch82 8y agoAre there any GitLab/GitHub repos or wikis our there people can help edit to document design for electronics manufacturing?
- lnsru 8y agoSimple things do not need to be documented. And heavy ones are something like trade secrets. There is low probability, that somebody might share their trade secrets with you. There are checklists from fpga vendors for pcb design: https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug483_7Series_PCB.pdf https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug4... Chance, that you will produce the boards for systems with fpga by yourself, is very low.
- henrikeh 8y agoPlugging my own thing: It is not a lot, but I have been compiling a design checklist for electronics design since summer. Right now it is a tool for myself and my work, which puts a priority on being comprehensive; but the licensing is liberal and I’m open to input. http://pcbchecklist.com http://pcbchecklist.com
- gdfasfklshg4 8y agoMaybe Arduino?
- Animats 8y agoElectronics DFM is one of those things that's really, really hard to learn Seeed Studio guide to DFM.[1] https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2017/05/03/pcb-dfm/ https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2017/05/03/pcb-dfm/
- karthikb 8y agoIt’s a great guide - but there are two main limitations. First, this is the DFM guide specifically for Seeed. Every factory will have a different set of specs depending on equipment (assembly, test, and inspection, and familiarity of operating personnel), throughout requirements, yield requirements and price points, rework allowance, and so on. Second, these typically assume for wide tolerances. Operating environment or design may necessitate relaxing some parameters in order to allow others to tighten (aka the tolerance stack up). Dealing with both cases effectively in volume production is what requires experience beyond the manufacturer provided DFM guide. Someone who learns this guide inside and out will be able to DFM with Seeed but not necessarily anyone else. More generally, the DFM guidelines for ceramic RF materials would be wildly different than for Kapton flex connectors or for standard FR4 material.
- crispyambulance 8y agoThe guide is pretty solid, kudos to Seeed, I've used them for a 4-layer PCB and was very happy with the result. Even if some things are different across CM's, the guide at least provides an awareness of the main issues for the target audience (amateurs or people getting their feet wet) for which these things are "unknown unknowns." If someone were to follow Seeed's guidelines, they would be in a good position to adapt their stuff for a different CM as long as they're receptive to feedback and the CM is willing to review it.
- karthikb 8y agoAbsolutely true!
- Animats 8y agoIt's not hard if you're doing some Arduino-level IoT thing where the signals are slow and the density isn't that high. If you're designing fast electronics with RF components, you need to be an EE anyway.