ESP8266 Community Forum

- Sat Sep 13, 2014 7:54 am #510 Nice

One thing : how about thermal reliefs on the top layer groundplane? A solid groundplane can cause trouble when reflowing the pcb
e.g. http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0168_tomb/

Also placing components so close to the board outline makes the pcb assembley guy (and the pick&place machine) go nuts , I would do the pcb a little bit bigger . Just to push cost down on assembly and to get a better yield.

Edit : ohh and i see vias in pads , I wouldn't do that. The vias ,unless they are tented (cheap but bad) or plugged (expensive but good) will suck away the solder

- Sat Sep 13, 2014 10:16 am #512 To be FCC'able they need a shield, a local regulator, a fixed antenna, and proper labeling.... and a better layout I am sure some chinese company is working on it and will make $0.50 profit from them, so just keep patient.

I am working on one, but its more than just a module like everyone is looking for.... and my company is in North America and we need more than $0.50 to live....

Thanks.

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- Sat Sep 13, 2014 10:38 am #513

Nice
A solid groundplane can cause trouble when reflowing the pcb

this is < 2cm² PCB only, hmm

Also placing components so close to the board outline makes the pcb assembley guy (and the pick&place machine) go nuts , I would do the pcb a little bit bigger . Just to push cost down on assembly and to get a better yield.

well, the module size (just ignore Eagle dimensions layer size) is 11.8x15mm. One can make it always bigger.

will suck away the solder

originally they used plugged 10mil vias.

I forgot to mention, original designn is 0.8mm FR4

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- Sat Sep 13, 2014 1:05 pm #524

One thing : how about thermal reliefs on the top layer groundplane? A solid groundplane can cause trouble when reflowing the pcb
e.g. http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0168_tomb/

No, it won't, at least on such a small PCB. Thermal relief are helpful on much bigger PCBs with large copper areas, and when using TH components. All Chinese manufacturers I know of are not using thermal relief for SMT, especially on small PCBs, I was even asked to remove them!

Also placing components so close to the board outline makes the pcb assembley guy (and the pick&place machine) go nuts , I would do the pcb a little bit bigger . Just to push cost down on assembly and to get a better yield.

No, it won't: these PCBs will be panelized anyway, so it doesn't matter if the components are close to the board edge. It won't cost a dime more, actually.

Edit : ohh and i see vias in pads , I wouldn't do that. The vias ,unless they are tented (cheap but bad) or plugged (expensive but good) will suck away the solder[/quote]
They ware probably plugged. If you do 4-layer PCB, they are not that expensive.