EEVblog #552 - DFM Automated PCB Panel Testing
Why Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange recommends it
Electronics Stack Exchange answerers point people to it for a concrete look at panel-level test stubs and breakaway-tab test points in design-for-manufacture questions.
Recommended by 3 people across 3 different months, 2015 to 2017.
What it is
Dave Jones of EEVblog shows how to add test features to a PCB panel so boards can be tested automatically before they are broken apart. He uses his own uCurrent redesign and a commercial product built for ATE testing as examples. It is part 3 of his PCB Design for Manufacture series.
What people said
Recommends Daniel · 2015-10 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “What are these small stubs on the USB data pins of this device?”
This question is already answered, but my guess is that they're for testing the PCB while it is still panelized. Check out this episode of EEV Blog [this video] where Dave talks about mass production testing using this method.
Recommends DerStrom8 · 2016-09 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “What are some circuit design rules of thumb for mass production?”
Dave Jones of the EEVblog actually did a few video blog segments on this exact topic: [LINK] [LINK] [this video] In each of those videos, Dave offers some very helpful pointers and insight into the DFM (Design for Manufacture) process. You may find them incredibly useful, as I have.
Recommends Jesus Castane · 2016-11 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “Basics about pick & place PCB design”
Design For Manufacturing (DFM) aims to design a PCB which is reliable and feasible at minimum cost. This means you need to know how the PCB manufacturing process and PCB assembly process are, steps involved, limitations of each PCB maker or assembler and how much you are willing to spend. As many say this is a really big topic that can´t be covered in a single answer. I would suggested the DFM videos of EEVBLOG as introduction Part1 [LINK] Part2 [LINK] Part3 [this video]
Cites Spehro 'speff' Pefhany · 2017-04 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “Breakaway PCB Design”
Here is an example from Dave Jones' vblog [this video] showing a similar requirement to yours- passing a couple conductors across a snap-off bit on a set of panelized PCBs. [LINK] I'm not a big fan of this in general because the conductors can peel back over some uncontrolled length (I'd rather have individual test pads or a connector on each board) but he has done an okay job on this one- there is excess trace length to allow for some peel back, and he needs to finish the corners anyway to get them to fit into the case so they will get the human attention they need to make sure nothing is sticking out to short or otherwise get into trouble. They are also well separated. The part outside the boar