Electronics Production

Electronics Production

• Group assignment:
  • Characterize the design rules for your in-house PCB production process: document feeds, speeds, plunge rate, depth of cut (traces and outline) and tooling.
  • Document your work (in a group or individually)
  • Document your work to the group work page and reflect on your individual page what you learned
• Individual assignments:
  • Make an in-circuit programmer that includes a microcontroller by milling and stuffing the PCB, test it to verify that it works.

FabISP: Programming

1. To program the FabISP, you first need to install the necessary software for your operating system and download the firmware.
2. Then you edit the Makefile
3. Set the fuses / program the board
4. Verify that the board is working properly
5. Then you need to open up the jumpers to make it a programmer

During this week, I learned the entire workflow for professional PCB production, from design to milling and soldering. We used the Roland SRM-20 milling machine, which provides high precision for small components.

I used mods to generate the toolpaths for the traces (1/64" end mill) and the outline (1/32" end mill). The settings were critical to avoid breaking the thin traces.

The soldering process (stuffing) required a lot of focus. I used a fine-tip soldering iron and solder wick to ensure no bridges between the microcontroller pins.

Finally, I verified the board using a multimeter to check for continuity and short circuits before connecting it to the computer. The board was recognized immediately as a USB device!