Effect of moon phase on tombstoning

Description

Many factors play a role in the overall outcome of PCB assembly, especially when very small components are involved. Broadly speaking, tombstoning is a problem with very small 2-pin components (0201 caps and such) and we've filtered out the following challenges:
- proper paste application
- component placement
- designing for "good" thermal properties of the PCB with regard to tombstoning
- moon phase
It seems that the effect of moon phase is least understood and researched, so I'm now designing a small PCB that is cheap, not useless (if the assembly process was successful), and - most importantly - contains some 0201 components.

Details

"Something" to be found in these logs:

Nr. 1 (pictures! and how it's used)
About the stencil jig
Nr. 4 (had to add paste for one resistor that didn't get any paste at all)
Nr. 7 (major breakthrough!!!)
Nr. 12 (some problems here!)
Nr. 19 (paste was a bit runny on the 360 Ohm resistor)
First results after 19 boards

Full TOC:

Nr. 1 (pictures! and how it's used)
About the stencil jig
Nr. 2
Nr. 3
Nr. 4 (had to add paste for one resistor that didn't get any paste at all)
Nr. 5
Nr. 6
Nr. 7 (major breakthrough!!!)
Nr. 8 (swapped two resistors, had to rework)
Nr. 9 (slightly bad paste job)
Nr. 10
Nr. 11
Nr. 12 (some problems here!)
Nr. 13
Nr. 14
Nr. 15
Nr. 16
Nr. 17
Nr. 18
Nr. 19 (paste was a bit runny on the 360 Ohm resistor)
First results after 19 boards
Nr. 20
Nr. 21
Nr. 22
Nr. 23
Nr. 24
Nr. 25
Nr. 26 (some pictures!)
Nr. 27
Nr. 28
Nr. 29
Nr. 30
Nr. 31
Nr. 32
Nr. 33 (picture)
Nr. 34
Nr. 35
Nr. 36
Nr. 37
Nr. 38
Nr. 39 (one short on the USB connector)
Nr. 40 (pictures!)
Nr. 41
Nr. 42
Nr. 43
Nr. 44
Nr. 45
Nr. 46

Files

C_0201_0603Metric_mod.kicad_mod

0201 footprint used in this project

kicad_mod - 2.47 kB - 05/31/2023 at 07:22

Download

Project Logs

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Nr. 46
Christoph • 05/05/2023 at 20:44 • 0 comments

20230505 - 22:36 - no tombstones.
Nr. 45
Christoph • 04/16/2023 at 18:13 • 0 comments

20230416 - 20:05 - no tombstones.
Nr. 44
Christoph • 03/27/2023 at 08:17 • 0 comments

20230327 - 10:11 - no tombstones.
Nr. 43
Christoph • 02/23/2023 at 19:36 • 0 comments

20230223 - 11:16 - no tombstones.
Nr. 42
Christoph • 02/10/2023 at 08:27 • 0 comments

20230210 - 09:06 - no tombstones.
Nr. 41
Christoph • 01/31/2023 at 10:37 • 0 comments

20230131 - 11:22 - no tombstones.
Nr. 40
Christoph • 01/18/2023 at 10:42 • 0 comments

20230117 - 11:38 - no tombstones.
It's been a while since I assembled the last one, sorry for that, but other things (like christmas and all that) got in the way. Here are two pictures of today's board:
Nr. 39
Christoph • 12/09/2022 at 21:40 • 0 comments

20221209 - 22:34 - no tombstones.
One short on the USB connector.
Nr. 38
Christoph • 12/02/2022 at 10:20 • 0 comments

20221202 - 10:54 - no tombstones.
Nr. 37
Christoph • 11/26/2022 at 08:20 • 0 comments

20221125 - 23:18 - no tombstones.

View all 51 project logs

Discussions

MagicWolfi wrote 06/14/2022 at 11:31

Your project got mentioned in the Macrofab Engineering Podcast #331. They took it almost serious, made me smile.

https://macrofab.com/blog/mep-ep331-the-pcb-plague/

Are you sure? yes | no

Christoph wrote 06/14/2022 at 11:48

lol thanks for the tip, I'll check it out!

Are you sure? yes | no

Bharbour wrote 12/31/2021 at 21:07

Maybe you need a rubber chicken on your bench? :)

Are you sure? yes | no

Christoph wrote 12/31/2021 at 22:18

I can add various arcane helpers along the way and see if they have any effect! Thanks for the suggestion

Are you sure? yes | no

Dan Maloney wrote 10/19/2020 at 21:04

First thing that comes to mind is the SMD Challenge kit on Tindie: https://www.tindie.com/products/makersbox/smd-challenge/

That goes down to 0201, but starts at 1206 so you can get warmed up. Little pricey, but they do have volume discounts.

Good luck, interested to see your results.

Are you sure? yes | no

Christoph wrote 10/19/2020 at 21:49

Well it doesn't have to be a design that's already done. Designing a custom PCB for this project wouldn't be a problem. I'd then simply order a batch of 25 or so (that would already be enough for half a year)

Are you sure? yes | no

Dan Maloney wrote 10/19/2020 at 22:08

True, like I said, just what popped into my head. The other thought I had was to pass the boards around to various people who can do the test at various times of the month. Could help get better statistics and possibly control for skill level.

Are you sure? yes | no

Christoph wrote 10/20/2020 at 18:08

Replying to your top level comment because I can't reply to the other one.

Passing the boards around might be fun, otoh if I just publish the design everyone can add their results to the pile.

I'm now leaning towards a PCB with no actual function that just has some 0201 footprints in two different styles (more and less prone to tombstoning) and with different thermal surroundings. I'd place a mix of caps and resistors, maybe 16 per PCB. That's plenty to get me dizzy for a week until the next is due.

Are you sure? yes | no

Effect of moon phase on tombstoning

Description

Details

Files

C_0201_0603Metric_mod.kicad_mod

Project Logs

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Nr. 46

Nr. 45

Nr. 44

Nr. 43

Nr. 42

Nr. 41

Nr. 40

Nr. 39

Nr. 38

Nr. 37

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Effect of moon phase on tombstoning

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