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PCBs from OSH Park

A project log for SCPI-over-Ethernet Foot Controller

A microcontroller-based solution to foot-controlling test equipment.

john-wJohn W. 06/30/2016 at 20:410 Comments

I received my set of 3 boards from OSH Park today! I did the schematic capture and board layout in KiCAD (also known as everyone's favorite board design program to POOP ON.)

The drills are probably a mil off, but they're within my via pads, so I'm okay with that. The soldermask, however... Yikes. For most purposes (0603 passives, things with big chunky pads) the soldermask is completely serviceable. For my 100TQFP microcontroller footprint, it's pretty significantly off.

My chosen PIC32 part, the 12x12mm 100-TQFP PIC32MX795F512L, should have a layout with pads nominally 0.23mm wide. If that's how wide these pads are, then that means we're looking at probably 0.1mm (slightly less than 4 mils) alignment error in both x and y axes. Luckily the soldermask is also fairly thin, which makes it a trivial task to scrape off the offending misaligned soldermask with a well-applied hobby knife.

I'd say that Meoworkshop.org's review of OSH Park PCBs is still on-point. If you read and understand the tolerances outlined on the OSH Park website, you should be in fine shape. Through-holes and vias appear well-plated, holes designated as non-plated aren't plated, and silkscreen text is crisp and legible.

So far as solderability is concerned, I attached the 1A 3.3V LDO I selected to see how solder flows on the pad.

Verdict: It's good! The ENIG finish solders excellently. I've soldered on some (presumably?) tin-plated PCB Express boards which just did not want to flow, even with copious liquid flux.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the quality. I wouldn't dare expect to take these boards as-is and send them to a CM to have them machine-populated due to the alignment issues, but for quick prototyping or low-volume hand-built boards, they're a great value proposition. Hopefully in the next week I can get my parts ordered so I can begin building these up and programming them! I'm pretty excited! :D

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