Ok, I’ve prepared a couple more Stencil Jigs for applying solder paste:
Here’s one in more detail:
Basic idea is that a couple of scrap PCB pieces are hot-glued to an A5-sized piece of foam board to keep the panel in a fixed spot. Then add the stencil and fix it to the jig in exactly the right spot.
The placement of components is still a manual task, and quite a precision job for some of the latest boards, but by now my daughter and I are starting to get quite good at it – yep, it’s become a family thing :)
The new jigs will speed up production of the ever-growing Jee Labs collection of JeePlugs and other boards!
Just out of curiosity: why don’t you outsource the board assembly ? (e.g. order PCB’s with at least all SMD’s preassembled)
If you have suggestions on where to do so, I’d be interested to hear them. I can’t afford Q1000 runs…
What are you doing for reflow ? Are you using Pb free solder or just the normal stuff ? Congrats on getting the daughter involved. I’ve got a few kids I’d love to get doing SMT, but I’m not quite there yet. Best regards.
Yes, lead-free – I’m using my own reflow grill setup, see http://jeelabs.org/2009/07/13/my-first-reflow/ and http://jeelabs.org/tag/reflow/
Re daughter (of 20), heh … she does the P&P by just looking in plain daylight, whereas I need my reading glasses, plus a magnifier with built-in light! That’s when I feel old!!! :)
Hm, my second comment seems to have vanished.
Anyways: Seeed Studio has a small scale manufacturing service, see: http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Open_source_Kit and: http://www.seeedstudio.com/Home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=44
But there might be more out there ;-)