This is my PCB of a product that I want to sell online. That means I want to make a lot
of them so I don’t want to waste time soldering the components one by one, otherwise I will
get crazy. If you remember, I’ve made this reflow hot plate project a few days ago and
I’ve made it because I want to solder a lot of components fast and easy. I found a
good design for a circuit, I’ve made tests to make sure it works and once I was sure,
I’ve made the PCB layout. Using the services of PCBWAY I’ve ordered the panelized board
where you have the same design repeating in various columns and rows. Together with the
panel I’ve ordered for a few more dollars, the SMD stencil. I can use this to apply paste,
then add the components in a systematic manner and reflow all the modules at once. In this
video I’ll show you how to prepare the design, how to order the panel board service from
PCBWAY, how to use the SMD stencil, add the components, reflow the PCB and give a proper
test to each PCB and make sure they are ready for sale. So, let’s get started.
What’s up my friends, welcome back. This video will have a few steps. SLOW. Step one
is to show you my circuit and design. Second step is to show you how to order the panelized
boards from PCBWAY together with the SMD stencil. Third step is to show you how to prepare all
the components and the stencil and apply paste to the boards and just after that, add the
components for the entire panel. For the fort step, we reflow the PCBs using my reflow hot
plate project from a previous video. And final step is to show you how to make a proper testing
bench in order to test each PCB fast and not lose any extra time. So guys, let’s get
started. I’ve selected this circuit for my project. First thing you must do before
toy start with a product design are tests. So, first test the circuit on a breadboard.
This step is very important. After that you could make the PCB design and order just a
few PCB for prototypes and solder them by hand. If that design works, you are ready
for mass production. One method would also be to use the PCB assembly service from PCBWAY
where you send them the boom file with the full list of components, the pick and place
file with the coordinates for each component and the GERBER files for the PCB manufacture.
With these files, PCB WAY will give to a quote and manufacture and solder all the components
for you so you receive the finished product. But today, I’ll solder the PCBs myself.
Ok so now that I know my circuit is working, I make the final circuit. This is the circuit
I’ll use for my product and this will be a fixed output buck converter with multiple
selections for values from 1.8V up to 12V with all the most common values used in electronics.
I pass from circuit to PCB layout. I want my PCB to be as small as possible so pretty
much the width is given by the size of the components. I’m using 0603 size SMD resistors
and capacitors because 0402 would be to small and might be difficult to add the components
later. I also wanted to have Castellated holes for the input and output. Castellated holes
are normal holes but cut in half. In this way is easier to solder to other PCBs or to
SMD pads. To select between the output values, you have to solder and join together a pair
of pads on the back of the PCB. The coil I’m using is made to withstand 2 amps. The design
is ready so I export the GERBER files just as always. I now go to PCBWAY.com and click
quote now. In thew standard PCB section, on the first row I select panel by PCBWAY. New
setting will appear. I select YES for break away rails which are these rails here that
are used to accommodate the panel. In this text box you have to fill the details of how
you want the panel to be, in my case I write for example that I want that I want 5 columns
and 5 rows so a panel of 20 PCBs. But after I submit the order, their engineer got back
to me and told me that for the same price I can make a panel of 7 by 4 PCBs so each
panel would have 28 PCBs. As for the route process I select “Tab route” and that
will leave all PCBs merged together but with a small groove in between and with simple
push, you can snap and separate them. I select 1 design in panel since I only have one type
of PCB design and I select a quantity of 10 panels, so 10 by 28 PCBs o 280 PCBs in total.
I select black color for the silklayer. Finally at the bottom I select additional options
and here I also mark this case for the Castellated holes since my design has that type of holes.
I also want the stencil for this panel so I can easily apply paste. So below the PCB
order, just check this case here for SMD stencil. I don’t want the frame only the stencil
and I only want the top side since all my components are on the top side of the PCB.
280PCBs will cost me 43 dollars and then we add 10 more dollars for the stencil and 17
dollars for shipping to Spain. Click save to cart and that will take to the next page.
Here you have to upload the GERBER files for your design so click the button and select
the ZIP file with the GEREBERs of your design. Now the order will be evaluated of one of
the PCBWAY engineers in order to make sure everything is ok. Then you will get a confirmation
mail, and if everything is ok, you can make the payment and wait for the PCBs to arrive.
I’ve also received a ZIP file with a PDF where I can see all the layers of my panel.
The order arrived to Spain in around 12 days. Inside the box we have protection and the
PCBs are wrapped in some vacuumed plastic film for more protection. The stencil is also
here kept secure between two wood plates. First, I give a quick inspection, and the
panel looks great. So, is time to add the components. If we want to repeat the same
process over an over again with the stencil, we need to fix the PCB to be always in the
same spot. So I get some old PCBs with the same thickness and I will sue the wood board
that comes with the stencil. I place some PCBs around the panel and using some scotch
tape, I fix in place those PCBs. Now I put the stencil on top and I move it around till
the pads on the PCBs are exactly below the holes of the stencil. At that moment, I add
another scotch tape on the left side of the stencil. Now we can easily remove one PCB
when is ready, add the next PCB, apply paste, and repeat this process over and over again.
So, with the PCB in place and the stencil aligned, I add some solder paste. You can
use paste from a syringe or a small cup like this one. I add paste along the top side of
the panel. Then I sue a spatula and while pressing downwards, I fill all the holes with
paste. Make sure the stencil won’t move during this process. Carefully remove the
stencil and there we have it, the perfect amount of solder paste for each pad. So is
time to add components. Actually, it would be great to have the components prepared before
you add the paste, because if you take too long to arrange the components, the paste
might get too dry. So make sure you prepare the components before you add paste. This
is the list with the components for each PCB and remember that we need to repeat each component
28 times components for each panel. Also make sure you have the design and schematic in
front of you so you can make sure what value is each component. All components arrive in
some sort of strip. To make this quick, I arrange the strips one next to each other
with some scotch tape at the top and bottom so they won’t move. I stick them to some
wood panel. Remove the top transparent film so now we can take each component with some
tweezers. The idea is to add the first component to all the PCBs, then the second component
to all the PCBS and so on, I think that will be faster than adding all the components one
PCB at a time. This might take a while. I start with the 47UF capacitor. Then the 22uF
one. Then the coil. Then I add the buck converter IC. Finally, I add the 0603 resistors and
capacitors. This took me around XX minutes, while I was recording and changing the camera
angle at the same time so have that in mind. Is time to reflow the PCB. I get my homemade
reflow hot plate and turn it on. It has a mode where it tries to follow this temperature
curve. I place the PCB in the middle, select the mode and press ok. The PCB starts heating
up and after a while, we can see the solder paste melting and each component getting in
place. This looks like magic. And just like that we have our modules, all we have to do
is to repeat this process for the rest of the panels. So I think this is a way better
and faster way to make your panels then soldering each PCB one by one. All is left to do is
to test if each module works and once again, you might want to make some sort of system
that will help you test the PCBs faster. I need to apply 15V at the input and measure
the output. Then I have to short-circuit each of the pads pairs on the back and see if the
output goes from, 1.8V to 12V. What I’ve made is to solder 4 male pins to some wires
and I’ll apply 15V to them and the other two wires will be connected to a multimeter.
Then using this tool, I make connection between the pads and check the voltage at the output
on the multimeter. In this way, It will only take me a few seconds for each PCB since the
process could repeat very easy. So, once I’ve checked all the modules and the output is
ok, we can now say that we have a working product. I won’t separate them from the
panel yet, since maybe some clients will buy more than one and I can send them merged together.
By the time I’ll post this video I will try to have all of them soldered and tested
and place the board on my shop. If you would like to have a module made by ELECTRONOOBS,
feel free to check the links below a and order a few of these modules. They are quite useful
for your everyday electronics projects since all you have to do is to solder the connection
for the desired output, let’s say 3.3V, and then solder the module to your project
and have a pretty stable supply. I’ve also ordered some ELECTRONOOBS stickers to place
in each order but they haven’t arrived yet. I hope they will by the time I’ll send the
packages. So guys, that’s one way to get your product on the market. Get your ides,
make je design, order the panel, add the paste with the stencil, place each component by
hand which is the long process and then reflow the PCB at once with a homemade or a commercial
hot plate or maybe a reflow oven. Finally, test each module and prepare your product
for shipping. I hope this video will help you and maybe you have learned something new.
If so, give me a like or comment below in order to help my channel.
Thanks again and see you later guys.