5 ms·

Breaking PCBs for Science

80 points by zdw 5y ago

genmud 5y ago
Can I just say how refreshing it is when people post links to their PDF whitepapers without having to sign up for a newsletter or other marketing BS? I <3 sparkfun and adafruit.
bodangly 5y ago
Simple and useful. I’m working on some PCBs which will need mouse bites and had no idea what the standard was.
- buescher 5y ago
  It's a good article. TLDR: you can use even smaller holes than IPC recommendations (large) or internet consensus (somewhat smaller than IPC) for a more consistent break and nicer finished edge. Also keep the tabs small enough for a manual depanelizing tool like Hakko sells. For production your assembler's opinion should come first though. Differences in panelization can make a big difference in throughput and yield and they are the experts on their machines and processes. Some really good assembly houses will want to control the panelization themselves and will just ask for unpanelized board files.
kingabc 5y ago
[flagged]
ray__ 5y ago
Nice article, but that's a chinchilla! To be fair, way cuter than a mouse.
peterbraden 5y ago
Bleh, Imperial measurements (and how confusing is it to refer to ‘mils’) and the conclusions are hidden away in a PDF. Not a great read.
- testermelon 5y ago
  To be fair, this post seem to be a way to tell a story about how the white paper came about. The white paper itself is actually a separate publication, which should be read with a more rigorous approach.
- terom 5y ago
  PCB design is unfortunately a confusing mix of metric and imperial measurements, and mils are a very common measurement in the field.
- ajford 5y ago
  Unfortunately, imperial measurements are a pretty common thing in the EE field when it comes to boards. A lot of parts are standardized on the 0.1 inch grid that was relatively common for a good 40yrs or so. I think the commonly understood root is the Dual Inline Package (or DIP) that most early ICs used, which was on a 0.1in pitch for a fair time. Many of the more common packages under JEDEC [0] are all defined on imperial measurements. Some package footprints can be approximated or closely matched with round metric measurements, but when the part itself is designed to an imperial measurement you "go with the flow". The "mil" is one one-thousandth of an inch (0.001) and is thought to have originated from it being a "milli"-inch. I think it's an artifact of decimalizing the inch, from what I've read in the past anyways. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JEDEC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JEDEC
agumonkey 5y ago
Nice little story, full with a cohen's brothers quote :)
adhoc_slime 5y ago
This is great! I love when its discovered that such a small yet fundamental part of a process is just done "by feel" and no one has a reasonable answer to the question "but what's the best way". kudos to Nick and Sparkfun for taking that opportunity to explore!
unwind 5y ago
The results are in the freely available PDF, since Sparkfun are nice. I started to wonder where the numbers went, before I came to the very end and the link to the whitepaper. :) To summarize, here are the findings how to design mouse bites according to their research: - Hole Diameter: 0.015" - Hole Center-to-Center Spacing: 0.025" - Maximum Tab Width: 0.118" - Holes should extend into the corners of the tab.
- contingencies 5y ago
  - Hole Diameter: 0.381mm - Hole Center-to-Center Spacing: 0.635mm - Maximum Tab Width: 2.9972mm
  - myself248 5y ago
    > 2.9972mm Le sigh.
KSPAtlas 5y ago
Isn't this the same company that stopped selling a developer tool for Chromebooks that was required to debug them?
- anoonmoose 5y ago
  I mean, I see a retired ChromeOS debug cable on their website- https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/14746 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/14746 But, why do you phrase this as some sort of negative? They sold a product, and probably retired it because of lack of sales? Is there more to this story?
- nrclark 5y ago
  Sparkfun doesn't sell Chromebooks, and has no special affiliation with Google. They run a store and sell things to customers that want them. They're also really cool folks - I've met a few of them over the years. No store can be expected to carry everything that anybody might want for anything, and Sparkfun has no obligation to support ChomeOS.

80 points by zdw 5y ago

Can I just say how refreshing it is when people post links to their PDF whitepapers without having to sign up for a newsletter or other marketing BS? I <3 sparkfun and adafruit.

bodangly 5y ago

Simple and useful. I’m working on some PCBs which will need mouse bites and had no idea what the standard was.

buescher 5y ago
It's a good article. TLDR: you can use even smaller holes than IPC recommendations (large) or internet consensus (somewhat smaller than IPC) for a more consistent break and nicer finished edge. Also keep the tabs small enough for a manual depanelizing tool like Hakko sells. For production your assembler's opinion should come first though. Differences in panelization can make a big difference in throughput and yield and they are the experts on their machines and processes. Some really good assembly houses will want to control the panelization themselves and will just ask for unpanelized board files.

kingabc 5y ago

[flagged]

ray__ 5y ago

Nice article, but that's a chinchilla! To be fair, way cuter than a mouse.

peterbraden 5y ago

Bleh, Imperial measurements (and how confusing is it to refer to ‘mils’) and the conclusions are hidden away in a PDF. Not a great read.

testermelon 5y ago
To be fair, this post seem to be a way to tell a story about how the white paper came about. The white paper itself is actually a separate publication, which should be read with a more rigorous approach.
terom 5y ago
PCB design is unfortunately a confusing mix of metric and imperial measurements, and mils are a very common measurement in the field.
ajford 5y ago
Unfortunately, imperial measurements are a pretty common thing in the EE field when it comes to boards. A lot of parts are standardized on the 0.1 inch grid that was relatively common for a good 40yrs or so. I think the commonly understood root is the Dual Inline Package (or DIP) that most early ICs used, which was on a 0.1in pitch for a fair time. Many of the more common packages under JEDEC [0] are all defined on imperial measurements. Some package footprints can be approximated or closely matched with round metric measurements, but when the part itself is designed to an imperial measurement you "go with the flow". The "mil" is one one-thousandth of an inch (0.001) and is thought to have originated from it being a "milli"-inch. I think it's an artifact of decimalizing the inch, from what I've read in the past anyways. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JEDEC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JEDEC

agumonkey 5y ago

Nice little story, full with a cohen's brothers quote :)

adhoc_slime 5y ago

This is great! I love when its discovered that such a small yet fundamental part of a process is just done "by feel" and no one has a reasonable answer to the question "but what's the best way". kudos to Nick and Sparkfun for taking that opportunity to explore!

unwind 5y ago

The results are in the freely available PDF, since Sparkfun are nice. I started to wonder where the numbers went, before I came to the very end and the link to the whitepaper. :) To summarize, here are the findings how to design mouse bites according to their research: - Hole Diameter: 0.015" - Hole Center-to-Center Spacing: 0.025" - Maximum Tab Width: 0.118" - Holes should extend into the corners of the tab.

contingencies 5y ago
- Hole Diameter: 0.381mm - Hole Center-to-Center Spacing: 0.635mm - Maximum Tab Width: 2.9972mm
- myself248 5y ago
  > 2.9972mm Le sigh.

KSPAtlas 5y ago

Isn't this the same company that stopped selling a developer tool for Chromebooks that was required to debug them?

anoonmoose 5y ago
I mean, I see a retired ChromeOS debug cable on their website- https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/14746 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/14746 But, why do you phrase this as some sort of negative? They sold a product, and probably retired it because of lack of sales? Is there more to this story?
nrclark 5y ago
Sparkfun doesn't sell Chromebooks, and has no special affiliation with Google. They run a store and sell things to customers that want them. They're also really cool folks - I've met a few of them over the years. No store can be expected to carry everything that anybody might want for anything, and Sparkfun has no obligation to support ChomeOS.