Chris,
You can't avoid dealing with challenging chip packages today. It's impossible to do a competent modern design and not have to deal with packages like QFN and BGA and worse, like it or not. We do small lots from time to time and we do a lot of prototyping and I can't ever imagine bringing in such capability in-house even if I could afford it.
I would never hogtie myself and my engineers by telling them "you can't use that part; we can't assemble it on a board".
Why? Because it takes a lot of experience to do surface mount assembly with consistently good quality, especially thanks to RoHS. If all you do is small lots then you won't have the experience needed when a new part throws you a nasty curve. You see what is discussed here on TechNET.
There are plenty of good small contract manufacturers who will do small lots.
As a business owner and chief engineer of my company for 31+ years, my advice is based on a lot of manufacturing experience at my company and before that at companies I worked for (HP, Tektronix, DuPont). When hand soldering was the norm, my company manufactured mostly in-house (outsourced large jobs).
When SMT became the norm, we outsourced 100%. Do I wish we had the ability to rush a job and not have to get in line at the assembly house for a quick turn? Sure. But I very much appreciate that we don't have to spend our resources learning the intricacies of modern SMT manufacturing.
Don't go there. You'll regret it and it will cost you a bloody fortune in people, space and MONEY.
Bob Landman
H&L Instruments, LLC
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris Knudsen
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 10:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Suppose for a moment...
...you work for a small, albeit successful OEM. You produce short-run, custom electronics. A 'production run' may be 10-50 units.
_Everything_ is a prototype.
Suppose you have this potentially irrational desire to solder all your pcb's in-house.
Assuming:
-- Dealing with component placement and paste/screening is not an issue.
-- You tend to (sadly) avoid challenging chip packages. However, due to availability of the more colorful components, this becomes more difficult every year.
-- The economics are "manageable".
-- Inspection and QA are in place.
-- Damn the torpedoes.
**What type of low-volume soldering solutions would you recommend?
I've tested one name-brand, IR convection, batch, reflow-oven and found unacceptable hot/cold spots (manufacturer will go unnamed).
**Is Vapor-phase on this scale an option?
**Typical hardware costs/concerns/safety issues?
**Required infrastructure?
Any suggestions from technet-nation would be most appreciated.
Offline responses would be fine (especially if naming names). However, perhaps others may benefit from from your experience and recommendations.
Best regards to all,
Chris Knudsen
New England Research, Inc.
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