Electronic engineering equipment: The jetter machine
The engineering equipment that keeps the designs tip top
Why we invested in a jetter machine to improve our bespoke electronic design solutions
We invested in our jetter machine to significantly improve the speed of our response to customers’ requirements whilst ensuring the quality of products from EMP remains at the highest levels that our clients have come to expect. It is also considerably reducing the waste and pollution of transportation needs of which we are very conscious.
We undertake a lot of product work in the fast-moving film and television sectors, creating bespoke lighting controllers for specific needs. So we have very rapid turn-around times for many of our clients. And as a company, we are continuously striving to further improve the quality and the efficiency of what we produce.
We design a varied range of electronic products often creating multiple prototype designs in the same day or in quick succession. This involves prototyping a variety of different circuit board designs. The jetter machine responds both in speed and quality to our design and product development needs.
How it has improved the prototype process
Previously we used a stencil system to apply the solder paste but this quickly became inefficient. We ended up with a huge volume of stencils some of which would only be used once. We were aware of the impact of the shipping, the packaging and the sheer volume of ‘stuff’ coming through.
Setting up each stencil separately also affected the quality of print. If we re-used a stencil a couple of times it would require painstaking cleaning around the apertures. It was time consuming, had variable accuracy and huge cleaning and shipping issues.
At EMP, we don’t shirk from investing in the equipment that helps us deliver better. The solder jetting system allows us to put multiple designs through one after the other without any clean up or labour intensity of changing stencils. It’s as simple as loading a file and pressing print.
The benefits for our bespoke electronic designs
The important thing for us is that the quality of our solder pasting has increased greatly. Every board that goes through this machine gets pasted in the same way. There is also a photo inspection by the machine afterwards which maintains that the paste has been dosed correctly. It will correct any faults made during the process of putting the paste down. So, this has improved the speed of which we can respond to small orders but also the quality of which we tackle those orders.
EMP Designs is a design house, not a company that manufactures PCBs. We tackle solutions, mostly electronic, to solve a range of customer issues and requirements. We’ve expanded our pick and place line so that we can respond rapidly. The rough lead times for sending boards out to be assembled by other companies ranges from 4 weeks to up to 12 weeks plus. But for many of our clients, the expectation is to get boards back the same week, if not in a few days. Having this print capability in-house with the MY700 Mychronic jetter means that we can actually turn boards around within half an hour. Faster. Better. Stronger!
