SOIC Dev Board / iTead experience - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: harnon
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 04:45:48 pm
content: A few weeks ago I postedthis, talking about a SOIC dev board. I received it today from iTead Studios, about 2.5 weeks after ordering. It took 10 days for them to make the boards (against quoted 4-6 which I assume is business days) and the rest was shipping.The boards look ok given the price, the finish is a bit rough in places and on one of the boards the solder mask on the back has not been pulled back (see the "defect.jpg" image, the top board) which pretty much ruins the through hole proto area. The packaging was very neat, a little box taped up and vacuum sealed bubble wrap to protect the boards. Overall in the budget price range I would give iTead 4 stars but I think I'll get them made at Seeeeeeeedstudios next time for comparison.I'm hopefully getting a Farnell order today as well with some stuff to solder to the board... my first SMD soldering attempt so could get ugly!

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 05:51:55 pm
content: I would LOVE to see one of , er SMD protoboard . ( No T-hole bullshit )I know there is , but it's rather expensive , i would prefer to design them myself , i can just order MANY multiples of that board and be able to just proto SMD whenever i want ! (Well , you must solder , but , what's not good about it ! IT's easier to desolder then through hole perf ( If you even did the TH job properly) Well. )

author: harnon
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 10:26:10 pm
content: The problem with a full SMD protoboard is that there are waaay too many footprints for SMDAnd also connecting components is a pain with SMD as you'll probably still need through hole jumper wires or a breadboard anyway...I've soldered a few SOIC parts on and some 0805 resistors / caps and it is pleasantly straightforward.There are some issues with the RevA design - the solder aren't working (the gap between the 0805 pads is too great even with the solder mask pulled back) but I'm just wiring across for the moment with my home made / budget 0R resistors. For RevB I think I'll put in a separate solder jumper for each pin on the back of the board, bypassing the 0805 footprint if soldered closed. The SOIC footprint could use some longer pads so that you can fit narrow SOIC parts on it the XTAL pins need a bit of jostling about.Other than that I'm pretty happy with the board! Hmmm... now to work out how to put on an LQFP footprint...

author: metalphreak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2012, 08:29:44 am
content: Was it just *one* board that had the soldermask error?Do itead still give you 12 boards when you order 10, or is that just Seeed Studios who do it.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2012, 01:34:32 pm
content: http://www.elecfreaks.com/2362.html

author: harnon
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2012, 06:45:42 pm
content: Quote from: metalphreak on March 08, 2012, 08:29:44 amIt was only one board but I just checked and they gave me 11 boards (including the slightly dodgy one) so it all works out.Quote from: BoredAtWork on March 08, 2012, 01:34:32 pmThat's quite a neat idea.