Seeking recommendations for very small-quantity assembly in UK - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2021, 03:20:12 pm
content: An acquaintance of mine is developing an electronic product and is at the first prototype stage and needs to get some boards assembled. I was going to offer to help him with the assembly, but given the nature of the design, I think it requires some professional skill and equipment that I don't have, so I advised him to try and get an assembly contractor to do it.It's a 4 layer design that is mostly nothing too special (0603 passives, etc) but has some very fine-pitch QFN chips (0.4mm and 0.5mm), a TFT LCD that needs the flat-flex connector hot-bar soldered, and is a double-sided placement.So, looking for recommendations for a UK small-scale/prototype assembly contractor, preferably midlands area, that can assemble a very small quantity of these boards (about five, I think). He already has and will supply PCBs, all parts and stencils.

author: jc101
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2021, 06:42:50 pm
content: Whilst not in the Midlands give SOUMAC a call/mail (https://www.soumac.co.uk), they are based in Portsmouth but are very helpful. I've not used them for hot-bar soldering (they may do it, I've not needed it), but everything else on that list isn't a problem. They would probably need to get a stencil done from the gerbers to fit their machines, but that is part of the initial tooling cost anyway.I've been using them for years.

author: SMTech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2021, 08:53:28 pm
content: There are two sets of alarm bells in this request (to me at least). One is the hot-bar soldering requirement, which might be harder to find offered in the UK as its not a common requirement and the other is " He already has and will supply PCBs, all parts and stencils."As to the first, there seem to be be routes to take, you can solder the TFT on using a T-Bar soldering iron attachment such as you might find on eBay, it would be a poorly controlled process which makes it a bad thing for a contracted service provider to use as if it went badly, they could damage your TFT or it could fail and it would be their fault. The proper way involves a dedicated machine that costs £5-10K, but you obviously have to have a reason to posses such a thing, and the odd small batch of prototypes obviously doesn't do that. I haven't stumbled across a generic affordable tool that strikes some kind of midground between these two; I'd have to assume one exists. It could be an idea if it proves an obstacle to do that bit yourself with the eBay tools.Buying and supplying parts and stencil without first having asked the contractor what they need is a mistake. There's a good chance they don't want or need your little strips of generic parts and as @jc101 points out, they may need a stencil in a specific size or format and to have checked its specification.I work for a contract assembler, "the midlands" is just over there ... we do stuff on this scale, we have never done or been asked to do hot-bar soldering and thus do not have the tools, in different times we might offer to give it a go. However I don't use this profile to pimp our services, and like many other contract providers, we're quite busy.I have become aware of another much smaller start-up via LinkedIn, like Soumac they/she is "down south" and seem pretty determined to make a go of things you could try her or perhaps someone in her networkhttps://www.skelectronixukltd.co.uk/what-can-we-do

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2021, 10:14:23 am
content: Quote from: SMTech on August 30, 2021, 08:53:28 pmYeah, I've seen those T-bar iron tips - to be honest I didn't have any expectations that prototype batch assembly would be doing it any other way.I don't think these TFTs are anything special - just off-the-shelf cheapo 3" things, so if there is some attrition it's probably not the end of the world.Quote from: SMTech on August 30, 2021, 08:53:28 pmI think the attitude he was taking was "get the parts in now while they're actually available, and worry about assembly concerns later", and given current component shortages, I don't blame him. I mentioned that an assembly contractor may not be thrilled about using customer-provided parts, and may not want to use the stencils at all, but I believe they were cheap, so I don't think anyone's going to be crying if they go unused.Quote from: SMTech on August 30, 2021, 08:53:28 pmThanks.Down south not ideal (I think he wants somewhere reasonably local so he can drop-off/collect in-person) but will put on the list.

author: maverickf15
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 01, 2021, 11:20:14 am
content: If you are still looking for someone to to this or have other small projects in mind drop me an email adame@totalengineeringservices.co.uk i would be more than happy to discuss.