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by fxtentacle
1868 days ago
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I'd argue completely differently: PCB assembly shops are usually unwilling to work with externally-produced PCBs, so there's no point in making the PCB yourself. Unless, of course, you are really good at soldering. But for me, 0.5mm pitch ICs or 0.4mm pitch connectors are way out of my motor skill league. Of course, at that level, it's mostly down to using a pick&place robot, which could easily be shared by multiple people. So I imagine that in a few years, there'll be P&P centers where you can rent such a robot by the hour, similar to how there are 3D printing communities nowadays. |
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I think these PCB processes and machines are all really designed for prototypes and experiments, it's the aspect that they're great for. If you find that you need to send them to an external PCB assembly shop, you probably shouldn't make your own board to begin with. Same for externally-produced professional PCBs - I order a raw board rather than a fully-assembled prototype because my chip is an uncommon part and they don't offer this chip for prototype assembly.
> Unless, of course, you are really good at soldering. But for me, 0.5mm pitch ICs or 0.4mm pitch connectors are way out of my motor skill league.
Speaking of soldering, I have no problem with 0.5mm pitch LQFP ICs with a good stereo microscope - for me I can just use brute force. However, my own problem is 0.5mm QFN - I have to use stencil printing and reflow soldering since I'm not good enough to hand solder that. I find a high quality board with accurate solder mask between the pin (no bridging), and with ENIG surface finishing (maximum flatness) are extremely helpful. I don't think a simple DIY PCB can handle these applications (but I'd be glad to find otherwise). But again, this was a 1 Gbps+ board.
Conclusion: I still believe DIY PCBs have their places for prototypes and experiments, but if one argues it's not useful because it cannot be assembled by a PCB shop or it cannot reach 1 Gbps, it would be demanding too much and not really fair for these simple boards.