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- December 5, 2022
- PCB, PCB knowledge
- (0)
- 05 mins
A comprehensive approach to PCB printing
Electronic devices have become essential part of our daily life and these devices has improved the standard of living of the people. It has effected on our life from basic things to smart alternate solution such as from digital alarm clock to self driving car. Although these devices seems simple but the process of making them is quite lengthy and detailed.
What is PCB printing?
Printed circuit board are found in all electronics devices and serves as a basic building block for electronics components. In old times circuits were basic and didn’t has many component due to there big and bulky size.
So the circuit board design was simple and had less electrical connections. After the invention of transistor and advancement of technology the size of electronic components have decrease drastically.
So complex circuits uses large quantity of electronic components i.e. the PCB printing process comes useful by designing the circuit board to ensure proper electrical connection between the electronics components before starting the manufacturing process.
What is the role of PCB printing?
The PCB printing provide the layout for the electronic components to make a functional electric circuit. The layout is called schematic which is made by computer software. The schematic is printed on the board by ink jet printer which covers the copper surface to prevent it to etching process. Etching is the process by which unwanted copper is remove the use of chemical.
Thus, PCB printing is an important part of PCB manufacturing due to which circuit can perform according it desired purpose. The main purpose of PCB printing is to provide electrical connection to all electronic components present on the board and makes it soldering process smoother. After soldering is done, in circuit inspection check any broken or open traces.
What is PCB printer?
A PCB printer is device which works same as printer to print schematic design on a PCB board. The schematic design is first made on software and all the editing is done before it is ready for manufacturing.
The design make sure all the electronic components are place in order to minimize the PCB size, placement of heatsink and sensitive components whose performance can be effected by electromagnetic radiation. For large scale manufacturing fast PCB printers are used to meet the desire target of the production.
How is PCB printed?
PCB manufacturing process starts from PCB designing. A PCB design is made by dedicated software for PCB designing which provide the user to edit and change anything through the designing process.
After the design is simulated, it is then printed by ink jet printer. An ink jet printer printout a mirror image of the PCB. This printout is place over the PCB board and temperature is applied on it by the electrical design is transferred on the board.
Then chemical is use to remove extra copper from the board in order to avoid any short circuit or malfunctioning, this is called etching. After etching is done drilling is done for the through hole technology components to get fixed.
How do you design and print a PCB?
The circuit design has become a completely separate skill which requires a person to design the PCB on a computer software by making sure that all electronics components gets fix on a single board of desire size in order to meet the packaging size.
While designing the PCB it must be kept sure that electronics components and heat sink placement must be decided carefully for the circuit to work properly. Most common software use for PCB designing are altium, PCB eagle, KiCAD, etc.
After PCB designing the software provide auto routing option which automatically changed the traces to use the optimal space of the board. The designing is simulated for checking and then printing process starts by making a schematic of the circuit and export it to gerber format which is then print by ink jet printer.
Can you 3D print your own PCB?
A 3D printer is a device use to construct 3D model of objects by material being deposited, solidified or joined with the help of computer control. In recent years 3D printers have gain huge popularity by manufacturers, hobbyist and professionals. A 3D printer can also be use to make PCB due to its ability to work in all 3 dimensions.How do you 3D print a PCB board?
The process of making PCB board by 3D printer is simple but slow compare to other methods. It uses a copper clad board and engrave the PCB circuit on it by the help of drilling. When schematic is design and uploaded to the 3D printer it uses drilling to remove extra copper surface from board which may cause short circuit.
What PCB printing service can a PCBA factory provide you?
Printed circuit board assembly(PCBA) is the final process of PCB manufacturing. After the PCB is made, the PCBA deals with the component placing and soldering. PCBA factory takes a schematic design and delivers a complete circuit board. The PCBA factory uses a many manufacturing processes before finally making a functional circuit board. After the design is received from the client, the vendor makes print of the design by ink jet printer which is then printed on the board. A blade moves across the board which fills PCB utensils holes and finally makes paste print on the board, electronic components are placed on these paste print which is later heated to control temperature to electrical connection.
The PCB print provide the layout for the electronic components to make a functional electric circuit. The layout is called schematic which is made by computer software.
A PCB printer is device which works same as printer to print schematic design on a PCB board. The schematic design is first made on software and all the editing is done before it is ready for manufacturing.
A PCB design is made by dedicated software for PCB designing which provide the user to edit and change anything through the designing process. After the design is simulated, it is then printed by ink jet printer.
Conclusion
Electronic devices depends upon the PCB circuit board. These PCB board decides the functionality of the electronic devices. The electronic devices which are being used in medical, industrial, consumer areas all uses PCB board. The PCB board is the end product of a number of different processes which involves PCB schematic, PCB board manufacture, PCB printing, component fixing, soldering, circuit inspection, etc.
After the design process is completed printing process start which is important for large scale manufacturing and prototyping. If the printing gets wrong then the final product also gets wrong. Printing has great importance in all processes.
