Hey,

You're right...it can be a right royal pain....

There are labs where you can send stuff to be vibrated.  Might be less $$ to
do that then to buy the equipment

A good one that I've used is www.garwoodlabs.com .  I don't know if you're
in the area, but I'm sure they can work something out.

Regards,

Bob
Electro-Mechanical Designer, CID
SpectraSensors, Inc.
972 N. Amelia Ave.
San Dimas, CA 91773
800-619-2861 x239
www.spectrasensors.com




-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wayne Thayer
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 10:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Vibration testing


Hi Martin!

Its a pain.

First you need specifications.  The most sensible specs now involve random
vibration to a controlled frequency distribution.  The result sounds like
wind buffeting, but includes lower frequency (sub-audio) content too.  A 6 G
rms profile is common for high end consumer equipment.  Meeting this is
usually not a problem for circuit boards--its the connecting harnesses and
mounting screws which are problematic.

The old standard was a swept profile, where you deliberately looked for
resonances, and tried to excite them.  This is no longer considered to be
meaningful to the reliability of the device.

In any case, you will need a shaker table capable of putting out defined
waveforms.  These are priced by how much force they'll need to exert (# of
G's of acceleration x weight(mass) of the Device Under Test).  The lowest
end stuff can do the 6 G profile on a couple of pounds for on the order of
$20K.  Vibration Test Systems makes these.

Normally multiple axis vibration testing on PWAs is not called out, at least
not multiple axes at once.  But if you need to test this, the cost is much
higher.

Wayne Thayer

>>> [log in to unmask] 7/28/2006 11:56:11 am >>>
Good morning,

I have been asked by our sales team if we have the capability to perform
vibration testing on PCBs we assemble.

Unfortunately my knowledge of this process is very limited and I have some
questions.

How difficult is a process like this to set up?

Is there a standard test regarding duration, frequency and amplitude of the
vibration or should the client provide that detail?

Are there manufacturers of equipment for this purpose?

I am not sure of the exact quantities of product but it is likely in the
development stage so numbers would be limited.

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