What's the best way to create solder test coupons on tooling strips for my Panels?
S
Simon Garrison
started a topic
over 1 year ago
I recently started experimenting with solder test coupons on tooling strips, as it allows us to test the solderability of the board, without sacrificing the board. Soldering on the panel means it will still be able to go through our standard process, printing etc still works as there is no paste on the PCB itself. These need two top copper objects and solder mask per pad (so very object expensive in the Panel Setup - Add Objects ).
There are several suggestions. Use either a Matrix file or Job file to construct your coupons. If you look at the FAB3000 example matrix files, you will see the usage of many unique FAB3000 features: <FAB64_INSTALLED>/Examples/CreatePanelEmbeddedMatrixandJob.fm6
You could create coupons as a matrix file (which can be nested inside other matrix files)
You could also design or import the perfect test coupons in FAB3000, and then save it as a job file. Both Job files and Matrix files can be easily inserted into any panel - Panel Setup | Coupons/Inserts...
Simon Garrison
I recently started experimenting with solder test coupons on tooling strips, as it allows us to test the solderability of the board, without sacrificing the board. Soldering on the panel means it will still be able to go through our standard process, printing etc still works as there is no paste on the PCB itself. These need two top copper objects and solder mask per pad (so very object expensive in the Panel Setup - Add Objects ).
There are several suggestions. Use either a Matrix file or Job file to construct your coupons. If you look at the FAB3000 example matrix files, you will see the usage of many unique FAB3000 features: <FAB64_INSTALLED>/Examples/CreatePanelEmbeddedMatrixandJob.fm6