PSAS/ news/ 2011-05-15 - Build of node5 prototyping boards

Building out the GFE's

The front of a finished GFE board

K, Tim, Cere, Nathan, Naga, Jeremy, Tim and Andrew spent a long day (1:00pm until 10:00pm) building up 7 out of the remaining 9 node5 "generic front end" boards. One board was already built up, one board was slightly damaged by some desoldering operations to remove HASL residue, and one we left for later/testing/hacking.

  1. Building out the GFE's
    1. Finding the parts
      1. Solder paste jig
      2. Placing parts
      3. In the oven
    2. Results:
    3. Notes:
      1. Soldering Profile in toaster oven.

Finding the parts

We printed out pictures of the top and bottom of the board (bottom was mirrored) and then placed each component on the printouts, one per board. This allowed us to get all the components ready before we stenciled the boards.

Paper with parts on it

Dave CNC'd out two board + stencil holders which worked out just great, so we were able to quickly put solder cream on the boards, and begin placing parts.

Solder paste jig

The solder paste jig A board in the jig Pointing out a finer point of solder paste

Placing parts

Carefully placing parts on the board Carefully placing more parts on the board

In the oven

Parts in the oven

Results:

Finished Board

Everyone did really well, and the boards came out "OK, not great". We had some chips snap to different lands on the PCB and some shorts on the LPC... all of which are very fixable. Boards also need the MAX5209 we're missing, connectors, and "bring up", plus the clock sync hack. It'll probably be another week or two before we're there.

The Finished Board, front

The Finished Board, back

Notes:

Soldering Profile in toaster oven.

  1. 60 C (140 F) for 300s.
  2. 120 C (250 F) for 300s.
  3. 232 C (430 F) until when solder melts, then hold 10s.

  4. Off, then open door a crack and let cool until at least 50 C (110 F).