-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Tips & Tricks: What to Do if You Can't Have Reference Designators on Your Board
December 5, 2017 | Duane Benson, Screaming CircuitsEstimated reading time: 1 minute
The logical response to the question "What do you do if you can't have reference designators" is "Put them on the PC board." But the truth is, sometimes you can't have reference designators on your board. Perhaps it's because it's too densely populated and there isn't room. Or maybe, for aesthetic reasons, you've chosen to leave them off.
And with some products like development boards, it's sometimes necessary to use the space for instruction or functional identification, and reference designators would confuse your customers.
It's always best to put reference designators as close to the part as possible, and on the same side as the part, but if that's not possible, you can still create an assembly drawing. When laying out the board, put the reference designators in a different layer than the text you want in silk screen.
Then, create a PDF that has all of the component outlines in their place, with reference designators. Make one for the top and one for the bottom. You can call this document your "assembly drawing" and include it in the files you send in to be manufactured.
You might ask why PCB assemblers need reference designators when all the surface mount parts are machine assembled. First, any through-hole parts are hand assembled. Their locations and board side needs to be clear for the people stuffing them. Second, CAD systems don't always have 100 percent accurate information. If the center point of the footprint is off, surface mount machines will center the part where file says to put it, which could be the wrong spot.
The reference designators are also part of quality control. It's another opportunity to remove ambiguity. Ambiguity is bad. Certainty is good.
Suggested Items
IMAPS & IPC to Host Onshoring Workshop
04/16/2024 | IPCThe International Microelectronics Assembly and Packaging Society (IMAPS) and IPC will host an Onshoring Workshop to discuss ongoing progress and forward-looking strategies to drive the Onshoring Advanced Packaging and Assembly, April 29 – May 1, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia.
IPC WinterCom 2024 Through the Eyes of One Dedicated Student
04/12/2024 | Sanjay Huprikar, IPCLauriane Testuz stands as a testament to the power of curiosity, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge. Her story serves as a reminder that the path to success is often paved by an unwavering commitment to one's dreams.
2023: Year of Extremes for VDL Groep
04/08/2024 | VDL GroepThe year 2023 showed us two sides, with highs and lows. Low points were the passing of Wim van der Leegte in November, the reduction in the number of employees at VDL Nedcar and headwind in the Buses & Coaches division.
IPC, First and Only Organization in the Electronics Industry to Earn ANSI/ANAB Accreditation for Its Workforce Training
04/02/2024 | IPCIPC, the global leader in electronics education, announces a landmark achievement in professional education and training. Ten of IPC’s critical workforce training programs have been accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) under the stringent requirements of ANSI/ASTM E2659-18, Standard Practice for Certificate Programs.
Nolan’s Notes: Do More, Get More
04/02/2024 | Nolan Johnson -- Column: Nolan's NotesThis month in SMT007 Magazine, we’re investigating box build, a manufacturing sector so closely adjacent to board assembly that some OEM customers they’re the same thing. To those of us doing this work, we know they’re very different. Traditional electronic assembly work is typically concerned only with attaching the components to the circuit board. That’s our idea of a “finished good.”