PCB Design

At Define Instruments, our design team is experienced in designing a wide variety of electronic instruments, and can offer you assistance with everything from hardware design to EMC compliance and embedded software design.

PCB layout and placement of components can have a significant impact on manufacturing efficiency. For example, PCBs can be panelised too large to wave, or through hole components can be placed in such a way that they need to be hand soldered. By working with our PCB design engineers, you can eliminate potential manufacturing problems in the design stages.

We are happy to develop your PCB layout with you, or assist you in refining your own design. We can also recommend a third party layout consultant if you require this service.

  • Designed for Manufacturability

    As part of our service, we’ll review your design to make sure that it has reached the highest possible level of manufacturability – reducing both your manufacturing costs and the time taken to complete the job.

Printing

Our PCB stencils are laser cut from stainless steel, mechanically printed, and framed to fit our automated machinery. An investment in one of our durable, high-quality stencils will result in consistent, precise adhesion of your components throughout the production run.

To create your stencil you must supply either a gerber, altium PCB or PADS file for PCB fabrication.
 
All of our PCBs are screen printed and quality checked on site at our modern facility, for a high quality, precise finish.

Our screen printer is equipped with 2D post print inspection, to automatically check for insufficient solder and bridge solder print errors.

  • FAQ
What is a stencil used for?
A stencil is used to apply the solder paste that adheres the SMT parts to the PCB. A high-quality stencil ensures that the correct amount of paste is applied to the correct surface area for each component. This is important because excessive or insufficient levels of paste can cause components to move or not adhere to the board.
How do I create a stencil file if I’ve never done it before?
Don’t panic. Just send us your PADS PCB file and we’ll take care of the rest.
Can I supply my own stencil?
For small runs we can accommodate most stencil types, however for medium to large runs we prefer to source stencils to fit our automated machinery.