Epec's Blog | Electronics Manufacturing Solutions

The need to protect your keypad from the ever-present threat of wear-and-tear is crucial for all applications. If your control panel is going to be used in marine environments, medical devices, or other consumer electronics, the threat of water or liquid exposure is ever present. In wet situations, it is critical that all electronic components are completely sealed off from any outside substances that could damage the device.

It is not recommended to bake boards with an organic solderability preserve (OSP) surface finish. Although baking a printed circuit board with an organic solderability preserve finish can have negative consequences, the process itself can have positive performance in specific applications. OSP is a very thin protective layer of material placed over exposed copper, typically using a conveyorized process to protect the copper from tarnish.

The shelf life of a rechargeable nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery will vary depending on the storage temperature and the size of any attached load. The battery shelf life will also vary by manufacturer. Panasonic recommends the following for their NiMH battery cells.

In the flexible printed circuit board manufacturing process, a flex circuit coverlay (aka coverfilm) is used to encapsulate and protect the external circuitry of a flexible circuit board.

A flexible circuit coverlay serves the exact same function as solder mask that is used on a rigid printed circuit board. The difference with a flex coverlay is the needed element of flexibility and durability it provides to the flex PCB design.

Many applications would be better suited using a membrane switch (low profile, flat surface keypad assembly) along with a rigid printed circuit board (PCB), replacing screen-printed silver conductors on polyester sheets.

Printed circuit boards with gold plated switch contact pads and gold-plated dome switches greatly improve the reliability of your application, offering longer operating life with lower switch resistance and contact bounce.

Determining the cost of a battery pack with fuel gauge technology will vary depending on the accuracy of the battery fuel gauge required. The overall size of the battery pack will also have an effect on the final cost. For example, if a high-accuracy gauge is required on a small multi-cell battery, it could potentially double the cost. The good news is that the cost of battery cells becomes relatively small when factoring in the added value received from implementing a fuel gauge.

Within the printed circuit board industry the term "tenting" originally indicated that the mask would fully enclose the via at one end by forming a skin or tent over the opening. While dry film solder mask is more expensive, it is capable of forming a reliable tent, while liquid photoimageable solder mask (LPI) generally will not.

The smallest bend radius that can be used on a membrane switch tail will depend on the type of design. Deciding factors will depend on whether or not the user interface is constructed with one tail/circuit layer or dual tail/circuit layers, and where the bend is located.

Selecting the optimal heavy copper thickness to apply to the plated through hole (PTH) plays a critical factor towards the overall reliability of the printed circuit board. There are two key elements to consider when determining optimal PCB copper thickness. The first is the current capacity of the barrel for acceptable heat rise. The second is the mechanical strength determined by the copper thickness, hole-size and whether or not there are any support vias.

Overmolded cables are full assemblies that seamlessly combine the wire and the connector into a single part. The process of overmolding a cable involves injecting a molten material into a mold cavity, which conforms to the desired shape when cooled. The mold cavity can be built as a simple design with no markings or as a more complex design if you wanted to include a company name, corporate logo, flanges to be used as attachment points, or an extended strain relief area.