YOWZA!!! Race vehicles!!! Now you've touched upon a subject near and dear to
my heart!!!

Not that I've ever built anything that has been aboard a race vehicle, but
I'm a fan of anything and everything that has to do with racing.

I've served as a part of the safety crew for races at both Sears Point and
Laguna Seca race tracks in California (mostly FIM SuperBike races and Indy
Cars at Laguna, and NASCAR and AMA races at Sears Point)...worked as a track
worker in the turns... First guy there with a fire bottle, trying to help the
rider/driver out of his wreck so they don't get hurt further after a
incident...

Closest thing now is Texas, don't have much big-time racing here in
Oklahoma...I miss it.

But the thought that single-sided boards are used on race vehicles is
ludicrous!!! I'm serious!!!

Why in the world would one keep the boards single-sided without the
reliabilty of a plated through hole is beyond me!! Those that feel that way
should be put behind the wheel of a car that is depending on the electronics
to function properly, and drive in a race...might change their position, no?

-Steve Gregory-


> Steve,
>
> It is not a Class One product, the whole product range is of much the same
> technology.  I would make an assumption that it is a class two product as
> it is a complete series of Engine Management Computers, ranging from race
> applications to production vehicles.  On top of this, I would have thought
> that the Racing application with extreme vibration and temperature
> requirements would have already shown the need for a higher quality PCB,
> however, no.  So hence, you see my need for documentation to convince them
> otherwise.
>
> Cheers
>
> >> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: Tuesday, 9 April 2002 13:24
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [TN] Single-sided/Double-sided PCB Reliability
>>
>>
>> Hi Mike!
>>
>> Probably the first question would be; "What is the application?"
>>
>> If this is a class-1 product, then I would think that you're going to have
>> a hard time convincing your customer to add the cost of changing from a
>> single-sided PCB to double sided plated through hole...
>>
>> As an example, I was sitting home one weekend, on a Sunday, "vegging-out"
>> (as it were) flipping my TV back-and-forth from the NASCAR race to a
>> football game. When all of a sudden, my remote control quit working!!!
>>
>> EMERGENCY!!! EMERGENCY!!!
>>
>> Of course it was too late to go to a store and buy one of the "All in One"
>> replacement remotes, so I thinks to myself; "Self, you build this stuff,
>> you can fix it!".
>>
>> I open it up, and almost puked! I have never seen such poor workmanship!
>> Then again, I have never built class-1 stuff. Sure, it was a single-sided
>> assembly, but I have never seen such residues! and such marginal solder
>> joints! The residues looked like tar! But I guess that's what class-1 is
>> all about...throw away stuff...
>>
>> If it's single-sided, non-plated through-hole, I imagine it's
>> class-1...and you're going to have a hell of a time convincing the powers
>> that be to add any cost to the fab to improve reliability...the market is
>> very competitive for this stuff....
>>
>> BTW, I found a fractured solder joint on a component on the keypad and was
>> able to re-flow it with my BIC lighter (didn't have a solder station
>> laying around...hehehe). Was able to sit back and be a couch potatoe (or
>> potato, need to ask Al Gore to be sure) for the rest of the day!!!
>>
>> Necessity, is the mother of invention...hehehe
>>
>> -Steve Gregory-
>>
>>
>> >>> Hi there tech-netters,
>>> I am currently producing a product for a customer that is based on 100%
>>> T/H
>>> devices, and is loaded onto a single sided non-T/H plated PCB.  As for
>>> obvious reason's I am keen to switch this to a double-sided PCB (i.e. T/H
>>> plated barrels), however, it seems to take a lot of effort to try and
>>> convince the customer that this is the preferred type of PCB for his
>>> application.  Has anyone seen or know of any documentation/papers on the
>>> comparison of relibility of single-sided (non-plated Barrels) and
>>> Double-sided (plated barrels)????  Any information that I can use to
>>> convince my customer that the plated barrels are better would be greatly
>>> appreciated.
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Mike
>>>
>>
>