Laser Depaneling / Routing

My my my, where do I go with this?!?!? SMT Guru Expert Superior Process God, I agree with you about "thinking outside the box". We do that at my facility everyday. But there are times when you need to "jump thru hoops". It's a fine balance in contract manufacturing. The one thing I cannot risk is the quality of product, my reputation, and business in general on far fetched ideas like yours.

A board that breaks away by itself just from heat? That is a great idea that many of us have had years ago. OK, you say I should go in this direction. The only flaw here is there is no such thing. Now, I still need to build product and use a router cut off breakaways TODAY. I could agree with you if your product were indeed true, available, and accepted in the industry; and if I continued to use the primitive FR-4 material and a router. Unfortunately, I cannot place components on an idea. Call me old fashion, but I still need a board or flex circuit to mount parts on. Until you actually invent this "flubber board", please keep your little insults to yourself. Didn't you say good bye last week?

Back to reality: Sorry forum folk, I apologize for my little rant. Ask a simple question and I get Fantasy Island. Besides cost, does anyone know if this really works successfully? I�ve used laser in the past for selective solder and know that they can be a beast to tame. I just wonder is a laser on FR-4 would create a lot of ozone?

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Hey guru, Whats your version of an IPO? (Idiotic Process Options)Sounds like your head got stuck in that reflow oven when your company suggested that you keep an eye on those newfangled materials

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OMG! I have to admit that you are awesome in your replies! I've shared your wisdom with my peers and we've decided to turn your coments into a game where we bet on the next very interesting thing that you post. Some of your posts have put my buddies on the ground laughing their guts out! Please post more as I've actually won a couple of bucks! I've got to admit it is good to win. Keep up the posts. Jay

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Thanks Pete,

I wish every video for each piece of I bought went as smooth right after recieving it. That's why I always try and ask current users about things to avoid or options to buy. I'm sure their sales guy will tell me everything (add joke here), but it never hurts to ask others about their experiences.

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As R&D project leader I have worked at FICO on this issue the last years. Maybe you have found the info you are looking for but for laser cutting are more companies involved than the three you found, the experience I have with laser cutting for PCB panels is: As already mentioned the savings on the board material are very interesting; in the same panel our customer could place 20 components instead of 12 as for the depaneling router, due the fact of the small cutting line. It is a dry process and the output and accuracy are higher. For this process we achieve a product quality within � 50 �m and no pollution on the cutting edge.

tonny.hennekes@trim-form.fico.nl

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