What does the PCB board edge do

In the PCB production process, there is another important process, that is, the process edge, and the reservation of the process edge is of great significance for the subsequent SMT patch processing.

The process edge is the part added on both sides or four sides of the PCB board, mainly to assist the SMT plug-in welding and moving the board, that is, it is convenient for the track of the SMT placement machine to clamp the PCB board and flow through the placement machine. If the element is too close to the track edge When the device is picked up by the nozzle of the SMT placement machine and mounted on the PCB, collisions may occur, resulting in failure to complete the production. Therefore, a certain process edge must be reserved, generally with a width of 2-5mm. This method is also applicable to some plug-in components to prevent similar phenomena during wave soldering.

The process edge is not part of the PCB board and can be removed after the PCBA manufacturing is completed.

How the craft edge is made

1. V-CUT: A process connection between the process edge and the board, a little cutting on both sides of the PCB board, but not cutting!

2. Connecting ribs: Use several ribs to connect the PCB boards, and punch some stamp holes in the middle, so that they can be broken by hand or washed by machine.

Not all PCB boards need to be processed. If there is a large space on the PCB, leave no SMD components within 5mm on both sides of the PCB. In this case, there is no need to add a process edge. There is another The situation is that there are no SMD components within 5mm on one side of the pcb board, as long as the process edge is processed on the other side, these require the attention of PCB engineers.

The board consumed by the process side will increase the overall cost of the PCB. Therefore, when designing the PCB process side, it is necessary to balance economy and manufacturability.

For some special-shaped PCB boards, the original PCB board with 2 or 4 process sides can be greatly simplified by means of jigsaw puzzles.

When designing the jigsaw method in SMT processing, it is necessary to fully consider the track width of the SMT placement machine. For jigsaw panels with a width exceeding 350mm, it is necessary to communicate with the process engineer of the SMT supplier.