Pick, Place, Podcast

In this episode we welcome back NCAB Group Field Application Engineer Ryan Miller. The first time we had him on the show he gave us a lesson on what impedance control is, in what situations is it necessary, and more. This time we recorded a video demo going through how he would create a stackup the requires controlled impedance. In order for this episode to make sense watch the video version: http...

What's been going on at the factory while we've been away? Chris catches up Melissa and all of you listeners on all of the new people, machines, and processes that have been introduced during our break.  pickplacepodcast.com

After a LONG hiatus, we're back! Our break was for a very good reason though. Listen to find out why! In this episode, we welcome SelecTech CEO and co-founder Tom Ricciardelli. Tom is a technical flooring expert on static control or ESD flooring. He is also chairman of the committee formed by the ESD Association ( www.esda.org ).  His company, SelecTech , is a leader in the manufacture of inn...

This week we're joined by fellow podcast host Aaron Moncur who runs the Being an  Engineer Podcast and is also the founder of Pipeline Design and Engineering .  We had a fun discussion on the soft skills of engineering, including how to have systems in place that align with/support your goals, time management, and productivity hacks you might find useful for managing yourself and your team. P...

How do smaller manufacturers like Worthington and CircuitHub manage larger volume orders? Recently we've seen a big increase in these types of orders so it only seemed fitting to have a discussion about it. We briefly touch on the financial and negotiation side of things before getting to the logistics of how we handle large-volume orders.  This includes how we decide if we're going to b...

We're back after a bit of a break! In this episode, we're excited to welcome David Shield from the Printed Circuit Board Associated of America (PCBAA) to talk about how their work is influencing the US Congress to bring electronics manufacturing back to America.  The Printed Circuit Board Association of America is the sole association of U.S. domestic printed circuit board manufacturers...

We're very excited to have Mike Konrad, founder of Aqueous Technologies as well as host of his own podcast, Reliability Matters , back on the show. We first had Mike on the show to discuss the history of board cleaning, the electronics the industry's transition to primarily using no-clean flux, and why more and more companies are reintroducing board cleaning back into their assembly proc...

This week we are joined by Valentina Ratner and Kyle Dumont, co-founders of AllSpice.io. Valentina and Kyle met while doing an MBA program at Harvard and realized they both shared a common frustration - the lack of asynchronous design review tools available for electrical engineers despite such tools being readily available for other engineering fields like mechanical and software.  Thus they join...

CircuitHub CAM engineer, Dave Wilcox is back on the show to teach us more about the PCB fabrication process. In our last episode with Dave, we went into the fine details of drilling a PCB. Today we move on to the next step Outer Layer Imaging.  pickplacepodcast.com

We apologize for our extended break! Chris has been hard at work from morning til late at night every day setting up Worthington's two new Fuji pick and place machines. Now that some of the dust has settled we hope to get back on a more regular recording schedule. We've had several requests from our listeners to have an episode on on impedance control, which is unfortunately a topic Chri...

In episode 19, we focused on the different types of depanelization methods that can be used during assembly. In this episode, we take a deeper dive into panelization, how we decide what panelization methods and sizes to use, and how this informs depanelization.  pickplacepodcast.com

In this episode, which might just be our nerdiest one yet, we are joined by Sam Feller, aka The Awkward Engineer.  First and foremost he would like everyone to know that he is the awkward one, the engineering is top notch. Sam is a long time Worthington/CircuitHub customer, product manager at Tulip , former engineer at Amazon, and founder of the Awkward Engineer where he works on quirky hardware p...

We're back! In this episode we talk about what we were busy doing on our "break", the different types and formats that solder comes in, and some unfortunate consequences that sometimes occur while eating chips.  pickplacepodcast.com

Last week Chris was a guest on the Coriolis Effect , a podcast hosted by Bil Herd and Ben Jordan. Since we are still on hiatus (and because the episode was so great) we decided to repost the conversation.  Don't worry, we expect to be back next episode with some new, fun and content and plenty of pet peeves!  pickplacepodcast.com

Sometimes things are difficult to build....enter the help of custom tooling! In this episode, we highlight some of the applications for which we might order custom tooling, how they can help us assemble boards more efficiently and accurately, and some things you might want to do if you'd like to avoid custom tooling becoming necesesary. Show Links: Stentech products pickplacepodcast.com

Intrusive soldering, also known as pin-in-paste,  is a method that uses solder paste to solder the thru-hole leads instead of hand soldering, wave soldering, or selective soldering. If designed properly, it's a great way to save time and money during pcb assembly. In this episode, we discuss how intrusive soldering is done,  challenges associated with this process, and design recommendations....

Flux is friend. Not foe. To create a solder joint, you have a lot working against you. Boards, parts, the air...it’s all very cold compared to the melting point of solder. Those are easily overcome with a good heat source in the way of a soldering iron, wave solder, or selective solder. However, none of this will do you a lick of good without flux because metal oxide is the biggest challenge you h...

It's a fact of life that defects and failed boards will sometimes occur, which is why it's so important to have a debugging procedure prepared to help your CM know how to move forward.  In this episode, we talk about best practices on how to work with your CM when these problems arise.   pickplacepodcast.com

We've finally managed to convince CircuitHub CAM Engineer, Dave Wilcox, to come back on the show to continue our series about the intricacies of PCB fabrication.  If you're just tuning in, we recommend you listen to our episodes about Inner Layer Production and PCB Drilling Basics before this one.  In this episode, we cover some of the finer details of PCB drilling including what the dri...

Similar to our discussion on ESD a few episodes back, moisture is also a "silent killer" for many electronic components. In this episode, we talk about what kind of damage moisture can cause in components, what precautions we take in the factory when working with moisture-sensitive devices, the different levels of moisture sensitivity, and measures you should take at home to protect your...

IPC is a global trade organization whose goal is to help OEMs, EMS, PCB manufacturers, and suppliers build electronics better. They provide numerous standards covering the electronics manufacturing supply chain as well as engineering education and training.  We're very grateful to have IPC employees Teresa Rowe, Sr. Director, Assembly & Standards Technology and Patrick Crawford,  Manager...

In today's episode, we are joined by Darren Beckwith, CTO of Barnacle Systems .  Barnacle Systems is a startup based in Victoria, Canada which provides security and monitoring products for boats and yachts. We chat with Darren about his many years working at Carmanah Technologies where he worked as a firmware engineer along with a larger engineering team and some of the struggles he encounter...

ESD (Electro Static Discharge) is an invisible, silent killer for PCBs. Protecting your boards from ESD damage while they're in the factory and being shipped to you is something we take very seriously.  In today's episode we talk about what ESD is,how it damages your boards, and measures that should be taken to prevent this damage from occurring including what you can do at home.    Epis...

Consigned material is material purchased and sent to the CM by you, the customer.  From your CMs point of view, managing consigned material can sometimes be tricky, especially if the material does not arrive how they were expecting it to. Here are our recommendations on how you can send your consigned material that will make the process go as smoothly as possible. http://docs.circuithub.com/en/art...

In this episode, we are joined by Duncan Lowder and Joe Selvik, co-founders of  FixturFab , to learn about how to develop a PCBA functional test system. FixturFab is a software design platform that uses generative Computer-Aided Design (CAD) technologies to automate the design process of PCBA Functional Test Fixtures.  They can assist with Mechanical Fixture, the Test Instrumentation, and Test Sof...