[hpsdr] Type of kits forthcoming?...

[Bob Tracy]

Lyle,

I purchased my Atlas parts directly from Mouser so I can't comment on any
kitting problems.  The Atlas is a fairly simple board from the SMT aspect.

My personal preference on something like Janus would be to (at a minimum)
have the multi-pin packages placed and reflowed by the supplier.  SMD
discretes might as well be placed and soldered since there is no real
difference in stencil costs with or without them, and only a small cost
penalty for any additional pick and place programming (depends on how the
shop manages its programming).

The big advantage, other than it saves me the frustration of soldering
things I can't see, is the safe (ESD and mechanical) handling where you go
directly from tape and reel or waffle pack to the PCB.  That leaves the
thruhole stuff for the user to add, which is a real cost driver in a
build-to-print shop but fairly simple (familiar) from the user point of
view.

The cost adders are the assembly house material handling, overhead, and
profit.

That would certainly help with your kitting concerns.  All the really
delicate stuff would be secured on the PCB and all you would have to do is
package the thruhole items.

Thanks for all you and the others have done for these projects,

Bob, K5KDN


-----Original Message-----
From: hpsdr-bounces at hpsdr.org [mailto:hpsdr-bounces at hpsdr.org]On Behalf
Of Lyle Johnson
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 9:05 AM
To: Thompson_Peter at emc.com
Cc: hpsdr at hpsdr.org
Subject: Re: [hpsdr] Type of kits forthcoming?...


***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****

> Was a decision ever reached on how the kits (e.g. Janus & Ozy) will be
> offered in terms of:
>
> a) board and components (full kit) or
> b) board and chips mounted + remaining components (partial kit) or
> c) all components pre mounted (assembled board)

Still working on it, but we need some information from all of you who
purchased ATLAS boards.

a) easy to buy, but hard to kit.  Some of the parts have a lot of leads
which bend easily, so repackaging for kitting is labor intensive (costly).

b) By remaining components do you mean the through-hole parts, such as
connectors?  This is fairly easy to package, and minimizes the assembly
labor.  Unless a special test fixture is created (unlikely), it means
the partially assembled boards will not have been tested.

Or do you mean that the buyer also attaches the SMT resistors and
capacitors?  Resistor networks?

c) The most expensive option, due to the different manufacturing process
required for attaching the through-hole parts.  I can;t tel youoffhand
how much more this would add, but it is probably between $10 and 415 to
the purchase price.

This also makes it easiest to test, if a simple test regime were created
(possible, even practical, not sure how likely).

Given the three options above, which type would you prefer to see, and why?

73,

Lyle KK7P

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