I can't talk actual costs but I know from my experience that
ridge-flex boards cost about 1-1/2 as much as a ridge board (10
layer) from our suppliers.
I often order one panel, 18x24, and sometimes 12x18. I have never
seen a 10x cost increase.
Now my boards are high reliability, high temperature, high shock,
high vibration, which makes them very expensive to begin with.
If you are ordering from a vender that does little or no flex then
maybe you are paying for their learning curve.
The way you design your ridge-flex board will affect the cost. Edge
to copper keep-outs, spacing around PTHs, bend radius, over-lays,
copper weight, dielectric thickness..
You don't say what your volume is only that it is commercial low
volume production.
I order in low volume, one or two panels in engineering and 3 or 4
panels in production at a time.
If you are ordering tens or hundreds of panels say of ridge FR4 then
you can't compare it with ridge-flex unless you are ordering the same quantity.
If you need a U.S. supplier for high reliability boards I can offer
you a few off-line. If you are looking for commercial class 1 or 2
these suppliers are probably not for you.
As far as ribbon cables go, I have used many jumpers from Tyco
Electronics and Thomas & Bettts Company. They are Kapton base wire
jumpers on .100" centers. They're low cost and are
flexible. However, these jumpers are intended to be flexed only a
few times during assembly and test not flexed over and over again as
in a printer head.
Best regards,
Donald Kyle
At 11:49 AM 11/1/2006, you wrote:
>I'm curious as to how folks can justify going to Flex circuits with the
>enormous costs involved in making them... (suffering from sticker shock)
>
>The costs going from rigid to rigid-flex seem to be about 10:1.
>
>Is that typical?
>
>Any comments on making the transition to flex that someone with the 'scars'
>can share?
>
>P.S. - Please call me if you have some idea of how to keep flex costs down
>and make this technology a viable option in a commercial low volume product.
>Otherwise I think a ribbon cable and connector are much cheaper alternatives
>to building the cable into a rigid-flex board.
>
>Best regards,
>
>
>Bill Brooks
>PCB Design Engineer, C.I.D.+
>Tel: (760)597-1500 Fax: (760)597-1510
>Datron World Communications, Inc.
>Vista, California
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using
>LISTSERV 1.8d
>To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
>the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil.
>To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET
>DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL)
>Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources &
>Databases > E-mail Archives
>Please visit IPC web site
>http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional
>information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or
>847-615-7100 ext.2815
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donald Kyle C.I.D.+
281-285-7528 voice
281-285-8593 fax
[log in to unmask]
Schlumberger
Sugar Land Product Center (SPC)
Mail Drop MD155-1
155 Industrial Boulevard
Sugar Land, Texas 77478
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil.
To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL)
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
