[ProllyInfamous]

I've been an early employee at two separate small-scale US manufacturing facilities, each making only a few hundred products annually ($x,xxx, each). Their PCBs contain several hundred components, mostly surface-mounted.

Making PCBs outside of SE Asia is not economical. You cannot afford to train labor on such a small scale, and would be foolish to manufacture more than a few of your own prototype boards.

>2. Squeegee: an old debit card

This works really well

>3. Pick and place

Even with a cheaper optical pick-&-place, you still need to examine every board thoroughly (the placements aren't optimal).

>4. Reflow: a toaster oven w/ mods

The problem with this approach is that the low thermal mass of a toaster oven results in inconsistent temperature profiles (e.g. sporadically burnt / un-soldered). I have used this setup and much prefer a larger reflow oven (with conveyer).

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A repeated problem with this in-house PCB manufacturing dream is that the EE designer the circuit board cannot work more profitably when he has to make all the PCBs himself — which he'll have to, because he also cannot afford most American training/labor to make reliable boards.

¢¢

[_moof]

Oh, I would never recommend my setup for assembly of actual products. I've spent enough time in avionics to know where that line is. :) My "lab" is strictly for side projects.