| June 22, 2010
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A ground plane that should have served as a return path for signals was missing between plated through holes in a section of the circuit board in this project. Thousands of boards were in the assembly pipeline, and thousands in the field, when this subtle disruption in the electronic operation of the final product became clear to the customer.
This problem existed between pads on a long row of closely spaced, plated through holes. Correcting the missing connection using a surface jumper wire was not an option. Was there a reliable modification that would work?
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A routing miscommunication resulted in a significant problem for a customer. The circuit traces for connectors on the left side of their circuit board were supposed to route to the connectors on the right side and vice versa.
If the circuit board connectors were not rewired and the mating daughter board was plugged in sparks would fly! Do to time considerations re-manufacture was not viable options. There were 256 wires needed to correct the error. How can you add so many wires to a circuit board and connect them properly and do it neatly?
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Quite often a rework department is confronted with the task of cutting, rather than establishing, connections. Often called etch cuts or circuit cuts, such procedures involve breaking connections both on the surface of the circuit board and internally.
Tools used for these procedures can include very precise knives, micro drills with ball mills, precision drill systems with end mills and customized tools. Here we review the simple, and complex, aspects of cutting circuits and conductors.
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Trivia
See the answer below.
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Quote of the Week
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