Author Archives: Erin

Made in CA

PCB Assembly: Domestic VS Foreign

Domestic PCB assembly houses are a much better alternative to foreign contract manufacturers. Domestic PCB assembly firms have a multitude of benefits.

• Key advantages include better quality assurance as well as the confidentiality of your intellectual property. Quality comes into question when outsourcing printed circuit board assembly as the firms located overseas may not have proper qualifications to handle your product. There is a growing problem of IPs being appropriated by non-legitimate organizations overseas, and one surefire way to minimize that risk is to find a trustworthy, reliable, and IPC A-610 certified company like ACME PCB Assembly to build your products.

• By outsourcing work overseas, one is typically trying to lower the cost of labor. However, lowering the cost of labor by outsourcing overseas can incur higher transportation costs. Outsourcing PCB assembly overseas is only viable in very few situations. A firm would need a product that has high volume runs with longer lead times and repeat jobs to even consider this method. Any other job, from prototyping to batch production, are better off done domestically as quality would remain the focus.

• Another advantage is that it would be significantly easier to communicate domestically as opposed to abroad. There are twenty-four time zones across the globe, and keeping track of which vendor or customer is in working hours could be a hassle to deal with. Language barriers are also an obstacle while outsourcing to businesses. Although many countries around the globe speak English, people with lower proficiencies could cause issues in communication and result in misunderstandings.

Call 310-715-1898 or email steve@acme-pcbassembly.com for a free quote.

Go to https://boardassembly.com for more information about ACME PCB Assembly and the services we provide.

Box Build

ACME Provides Quick Turnaround Service Time on Prototype Assembly Service

ACME PCB Assembly provides a quick turnaround time on all PCB prototype assembly service. There is no order too small, we offer 1-piece board with 1-day assembly lead time. ACME guarantees an on-time delivery of rapid PCB assembly service.

ACME PCB Assembly does not involve itself with ITAR project, therefore, we are more flexible on PCB Assembly for prototyping, small run productions, and medium quantity sets of PCB assembly with much affordable assembly cost. We can process several dozens of different products weekly. ACME PCB Assembly is aimed on small to medium volume assembly and specializes on low volume high mix boards.

Our technical capabilities can cover machine placed SMT components as small as 01005, fine-pitch BGA, QFN board.  We have earned the good recommendations from our customers through the excellent services we have provided.

Wesley Dwelly – Dec. 2019

Printed Circuit Board FabricationI am the CTO at VAWD APPLIED SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. We have worked with ACME PCB on several projects. The PCB’s include, thru-hole and surface mount components ranging from power connectors to high density FPGAs with large pin count BGAs along with very fine pitch connectors and QFN’s. Their work has always been high quality and flawless. ACME is more like a design partner than an assembly house. ACME performs a detailed pre-assembly inspection that has saved us lots of money and time by finding footprint and part number issues that would have created costly rework or even scraping the PCB’s. This partnership is critical for efficient circuit board development and we highly recommend ACME PCB for even the most complex designs.

Timothy Jones – Oct. 2019

ACME recently built 25 sets of 3 different board designs for me. All were lead free. One had surface mount components on both sides. Some components were fine pitch QFN packages. ACME also supplied the PCBs from our original design files. This was our first post prototype production. The result was zero defects and zero problems of any note. On top of that, Stephen, Alice, and others at ACME were pleasant to deal with, timely, and very responsive. I sincerely appreciate your high-quality service. Thank you very much.

Reid Harrison – July 2019

I have used Acme for over four years, and they have done outstanding work for us on challenging projects. Their technical ability and quality control are top notch, and they really take the time to respond to customers’ needs. Very professional, and high-quality work with no missed deadlines, in my experience.

pcb assemby turnkey

ACME PCB Board Assembly can do all Types of Assembly & Turnkey Projects

ACME PCB Board Assembly can do all Types of Assembly & Turnkey Projects

If you need help with your idea to create a new turn-key product, Board Assembly can help accomplish this task.

ACME PCB Board Assembly can do all types of assembly work!  With Many years of expertise to give you the best quality products for your business.

During the COVID19 Pandemic, ACME is able to provide the best  & safe care and service for their customers. With years of service and an amazing assembly team, ACME is capable of handling all kinds of projects with short lead times. I’ll have them bring my product to life.

Credits: Sound Effects, Background music, Illustration, and animation by: Dana Yun Voice over by: Chase Yun Script: Chase Yun & Dana Yun ACME PCB Assembly

For more information for your next project click here to contact us.

Is Through-Hole Assembly Still Important to Use?

Is Through-Hole Assembly Still Important to Use?

Before the 1960s, the through-hole assembly process for mounting components onto printed circuit boards was the only game in town. It was labor-intensive and required a lot of space, but it was the only option. That all changed with the rise of surface mount technology (SMT), which allows for components to be mounted directly onto a printed circuit board’s surface. Since SMT doesn’t require drilling holes through a PCB, its components are much smaller and can be mounted on each side of the board. The result is a denser, smaller PCB that can perform much better than a PCB using through-hole technology.

When SMT came on the scene, many engineers believed it would harken the death of through-hole PCBs. However, while SMT does reign supreme, through-hole is still with us today. In very specific circumstances, through-hole PCBs are a better choice than their SMT counterparts.

A Few Important Uses for Through-Hole PCBs

Through-hole PCBs may be bigger and clunkier than SMT PCBs, but they do offer up one important advantage. Through-hole components are attached far more securely than SMT, which gives them a much stronger connection between layers. SMT connections are strong enough for the vast majority of products that people use in their day-to-day lives, but for machines that must operate in extreme environments, through-hole is the more reliable and stable option.

For example, through-hole PCBs can be commonly found in machines in the military and aerospace industries. Oftentimes, these machines must survive extreme temperatures, forceful collisions, and rapid accelerations. Through-hole is the ideal reliable and resilient mounting option for these types of products.

Prototypes

The other area where you are most likely to find through-hole mounting is in product prototypes. Through-hole is often preferred in prototyping, because it is much easier to adjust and replace components as the prototype undergoes testing and design alterations. If you are dreaming up an exciting new product, you’ll want to reach out to a printed circuit board vendor that is adept at through-hole mounting. This will give you more flexibility as you put the prototype through its paces.

Find Your SMT and Through-Hole Vendor

No matter what your industry or product line, it is smart to look for a printed circuit board manufacturer with both SMT and through-hole experience. This will allow you more choice and more control over your final product. At ACME PCB Assembly, we offer extensive experience in both SMT assembly and through-hole assembly.

Contact Us Today!

Processor with ball BGA pins

Ball Grid Array (BGA) Assembly Inspections

ACME PCB Assembly has provided (Ball Grid Array) BGA assembly, BGA rework, and BGA reballing service for Printed Circuit Boards since 1994. Having 20+ years experience behind us, we have extensive knowledge on how to assemble high quality (Ball Grid Array) BGAs. We have experience with everything from Micro BGAs to large size BGAs (55 mm), and ceramic BGAs to plastic BGAs.

BGA-boardsBGA assembly is a type of SMT process, which is used for Printed Circuit Boards. It allows for the customer to have more room for the PCB layout.  Ball Grid Array (BGA) packaging is a method for reducing package size and integrating a greater number of functions on a single chip module. BGA (Ball Grid Array) also replaces solder balls on the component underside for SMT mounting.

ACME PCB Assembly has a quality system for BGA assembly, the BGA will be received and inspected, and kept in a 40-degree Celsius storage with a 1% humility baking oven to make sure the BGA is good condition before assembly.  We inspect the BGA with a 3D X-ray, and make sure the void is under 25% of the total solder ball diameter. By using the X-Ray inspection process, we can eliminate the soldering problem on the board, such as solder bridging and insufficient ball melting.

We also add an additional layer inspection after the X-Ray inspection is done; using the ERSA scope to inspect the solder ball on the underside of the BGA so that we are sure the profile is correct; we assure you excellent quality during the BGA assembly process.  Some BGA assembly boards have VIA connect to the BGA pad, the best condition for that is have a VIA epoxy plug, and have the solder mask on the trace, so that solder is not wicked to the VIA and cause the solder to function insufficiently during the BGA assembly process.

By having ACME PCB Assembly do the BGA assembly prototype with or without Stencil will save you as the customer on assembly costs.

Please call us at 310-715-1898 for get more information or Assembly quotation.