Electronics Design Show

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The only event exclusively designed for electronics design engineers

“Share our knowledge”

The Electronics Design Show in Coventry 2 – 3 October has established itself as one of the leading shows in the UK catering for the professional needs of electronics designers. This year it includes more than 80 exhibitors plus a Conference program and Workshop sessions. Eurocircuits will be there on stand K70 to demonstrate our new knowledge-based user interface and to answer your questions on all aspects of PCB fabrication. We will also be showing our bench-top SMD reflow equipment.

Show opening hours:

Wednesday 2 October: 10.00 – 17.00

Thursday 3 October: 10.00 – 15.00.

Show location:

Jaguar Exhibition Hall 2

Ricoh Arena

Phoenix Way

Foleshill

Coventry CV6 6GE

This is just off Junction 3 of the M6. There is plenty of free parking at the venue. Directions.

Register.

To register for a free VIP pass including free access to the Conference program email vip@electronicsdesignshow.co.uk quoting EUROCI2013.

For free registration go to: http://livebuzzreg.co.uk/2013/eds13/reg/?link=e68b5987fa797529c931

What will we show?

Our new user-interface has been specifically developed so that PCB designers can share our PCB fabrication knowledge and use it to bring their products to market quicker and at lower cost.

Smart menus

Busy designers may not have time to consider all the cost and manufacturability drivers in PCB fabrication technology, or to check that their Gerber output files are complete and correct to their CAD design. So we have developed easy-access smart menus that provide real-time guidance on the features that drive up costs or reduce manufacturability. The menus automatically flag more expensive technologies and incompatible process parameters, in each case with a clear explanation of the issues. You can immediately pick the combination of price and technology which best suits your requirements.

PCB Configurator

Our PCB Visualizer and PCB Checker visual analysis functions are now well-established among designers as the tools of choice to verify data-sets before placing an order and so avoiding delays to delivery caused by incomplete or incorrect data.

The new PCB Configurator tool takes the analysis one step further. You can now run your data through PCB Visualizer, confirm that it is correct, and then let PCB Configurator enter the process parameters into the pricing menu. That way you can be confident that the parameters are correct – and you don’t have to spend time digging them out of the CAD data.

See more information on PCB Configurator and smart menus; on the new material-based services and pricing/ordering menus; and on the new price structure.

Existing users can quickly see what has changed in the new interface and new users can see a full user guide.

How transport costs are calculated

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Shipping.

We have developed our user interface and our manufacturing technology to produce the right prototype or small batch PCB on the right day and at the right price. But we still need to ensure that it reaches you fast, reliably and cost-effectively.

How do we ship?

PCBs

PCBs are shipped by courier from our factories in Hungary and Germany or from our shipping hub in Belgium.

The new user interface offers two shipping options: Express for use when time is critical and Economy when price is critical. For most parts of Europe. Express shipment means that the boards are delivered during the next working day in accordance with the courier’s local arrangements. In more remote areas delivery may be on the second day after shipment. Economy delivery means that within Europe the boards reach you 3 working days after they leave our factory. Transport times outside Europe are dependent on local conditions and local customs procedures. Email euro@eurocircuits.com to for more information on shipping to your country.

Notes:

1. To track your shipment, go to Running orders, select the order you want to track and click Track your package.

2. The couriers do not offer a Saturday service. This means that boards which leave our factory on Friday by the Express service will be delivered on Monday (or Tuesday in remote areas).

3. In our terminology delivery date means the date we ship to you, not the date that the boards will arrive with you.

4. If no Economy service price is shown, this means that the Economy price is less than 5% different from the Express price.

Equipment.

Our equipment (eC-stencil-mate and eC-reflow-mate) is too heavy and too bulky to be shipped by courier. It is packed on a pallet and shipped by truck. The shipping costs are shown online at check-out. Please email us at euro@eurocircuits.com when you place your order to find out when the equipment will reach you. This will depend on your location. Within Europe about a week is average. We no longer offer these products outside Europe.

Shipping costs for PCBs.

Our users have told us that they need to know the shipping costs for their job when they place their orders. This is especially important for larger companies where the invoice price has to match the order price exactly. To achieve this we now calculate the shipping cost at the time of order, rather than at the time of shipment.

How does this work?

To order a single job, just proceed to checkout and the correct price will be shown.

If you want to order several boards at the same time for shipment to the same destination on the same day, make sure that they are all in your shopping basket. Select (tick) all the jobs you want to order together and proceed to checkout. Our system will calculate and display a single shipping cost for the whole order based on the total weight.

This will not change:

  1. If we ship the boards from different factories. Currently we charge separately for each shipment.
  2. If for internal reasons we decide to ship by Express although you have ordered Economy. You still pay the Economy price.
  3. If for internal reasons we ship the boards on different days, for example if one job is shipped early or, exceptionally, is delayed by our production. Currently we would charge per shipment. In the exceptional case that the boards are delayed by our production we will always ship by Express even if you ordered Economy. You would still pay the Economy price. This does not apply if the order is delayed by an exception, if the technical parameters of order are modified after check-out, or if you subsequently ask us to ship part of the order to a different address.
  4. If we have to ship a job in two batches as part has had to be remade. This is the same as today: we don’t charge shipment for remakes.

Notes:

1. You have up to midnight Central European Time to place your order for the next day to be manufacturing Day 1.

2. Stencils and eC-consumables (e.g. eC-stencil-fix) ordered at the same time as PCBs come under the same rules. We quote one price for the whole consignment, even if we ship the goods separately.

3. Elektor boards have special fixed transport prices and cannot be combined with PCBs.

4. Shipping costs for boards ordered separately will always be charged per order. They cannot be merged retrospectively with other orders.

5.If the technical specification of a job is modified after checkout or an exception is raised, the shipping cost will be recalculated as a separate order. This doesn’t apply if you just ask us to make an administrative change like adding a purchase reference.

NEW on the Road 2013

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NEW on the Road 2013. 25 – 26 September. The University of West England, Bristol

After successful shows in Manchester and Edinburgh, the NEW on the Road bandwagon comes to Bristol on 25 – 26 September. Patrick Martin and Uwe Doerr will be on the Eurocircuits stand (E23) to demonstrate the new user interface and to answer your questions on all aspects of PCB fabrication, as well as on the EAGLE CAD software (available from Eurocircuits) and SMD reflow soldering (see our bench-top reflow equipment).

Show opening hours:

Wednesday 25 September: 1.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Thursday 26 September: 9.30 am – 3.30 pm.

Show location:

University of the West of England
Exhibition and Conference Centre

North Entrance
Filton Road

Bristol BS34 8QZ

This is just off Junction 1 of the M32. There is plenty of free parking at the venue.

Register free here.

For a list of exhibitors and the free seminar program, see here.

What will we show?

“Share our knowledge”

We have launched a new user-interface, developed to help PCB designers complete their projects on time and on budget.

Smart menus

Busy designers may not have time to consider all the cost and manufacturability drivers in PCB fabrication technology, or to check that their Gerber output files are complete and correct to their CAD design. So we have developed easy-access smart menus that provide real-time guidance on the features that drive up costs or reduce manufacturability. The menus automatically flag more expensive technologies and incompatible process parameters, in each case with a clear explanation of the issues. You can immediately pick the combination of price and technology which best suits your requirements.

PCB Configurator

Our PCB Visualizer and PCB Checker visual analysis functions are now well-established among designers as the tools of choice to verify data-sets before placing an order and so avoiding delays to delivery caused by incomplete or incorrect data.

The new PCB Configurator tool takes the analysis one step further. You can now run your data through PCB Visualizer, confirm that it is correct, and then let PCB Configurator enter the process parameters into the pricing menu. That way you can be confident that the parameters are correct – and you don’t have to spend time digging them out of the CAD data.

See more information on PCB Configurator and smart menus; on the new material-based services and pricing/ordering menus; and on the new price structure.

Existing users can quickly see what has changed in the new interface and new users can see a full user guide.

Eurocircuits présent à ENOVA

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Après avoir participé avec succès à ENOVA Grand Ouest 2013 à Rennes, comme chaque année depuis sa création en avril 2005 Eurocircuits SARL exposera pour la dixième fois au salon de l’électronique ENOVA Paris Portes de Versailles les 8, 9 et 10 octobre 2013 hall 7.2 stand M53..

Vous pourrez y découvrir ou obtenir plus d’informations sur les dernières nouveautés dont les services STANDARD pool, RF pool et les outils PCB Visualizer, PCB Checker, PCB Configurator, sans oublier les équipements, accessoires et consommables que nous proposons pour le câblage ainsi que les licences EAGLE que nous distribuons.

C’est aussi l’occasion de mieux connaître les fonctionnalités d’un compte client qui vous ouvre une fenêtre sur notre système de gestion donnant accès à toute information relative à une commande et à tout document s’y rattachant.

Eurocircuits continue d’innover!

En exclusivité pour ENOVA Paris 2013: prochainement la possibilité de personnaliser ou de signer vos circuits imprimés qui seront reconnaissables entre tous !.

Badge gratuit ICI.

Renseignements sur ENOVA ici.

Eurocircuits SARL

Eurocircuits, environment and REACH regulation

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Eurocircuits and environment

Eurocircuits believe that we have an important duty to ensure good environmental practices in all business operations and to provide the necessary organization, commitment and training to fulfill this obligation. We aim to continuously improve our environmental performance, pollution prevention and environmental protection.

All employees are responsible for implementing our policy and contributing to its success through their actions.

Our company is committed to comply with all environmental laws and regulations, and all other requirements to which the organization subscribes.

We are reducing our impact on the environment by cutting our energy use. We started an energy saving project in 2008. From then on we have continuously monitored our energy usage. From 2009 we have used a web service based ION Enterprise monitoring system. In the first 2 years of our energy saving project we were able to decrease our water and electricity usage by more than 25 %.

We produce our printed circuits boards on pooling panels to reduce material, water and energy usage.

REACH

REACH is the European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The law came into force on 1 June 2007, with a phased implementation over the next ten years.

The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. The REACH Regulation places greater responsibility on industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances. Manufacturers and importers are required to gather information on the properties of their chemical substance, which will allow their safe handling, and to register the information in a central database run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki. REACH monitors and identifies potentially harmful chemical substances, not only as they are manufactured or imported but also as they occur in articles or products. Accordingly, REACH affects not only the producers of chemicals, but also all manufacturers of finished goods, distributors, retailers and importers working within the EU.

System of REACH

REACH establishes procedures for collecting and assessing information on the properties and hazards of substances.

Registration

Manufacturers and importers of substances have to submit a registration to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for each substance manufactured or imported in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year per company. Registration is based on the “one substance, one registration” principle, so the companies need to work together with other companies who are registering the same substance, and have to submit their registration together.

In the absence of registration the substance cannot be manufactured or imported.

Evaluation

ECHA and the Member States evaluate the information submitted by companies to clarify if a given substance constitutes a risk to human health or the environment.

Authorisation

The main objectives of the authorization are to ensure adequate control of the risks related to certain substances and to help replacement of the Substances of Very High Concern with safer alternatives.

Restrictions

Restriction is a tool to protect human health and the environment from unacceptable risks of chemicals. Authorities can decide to restrict the use of a particular substance or make its use subject to a prior authorisation. Restrictions can ban hazardous substances if their risks are unmanageable.

Our Reach declaration

Our declaration is available here.

Voor de 10de keer op het D&E event

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Eurocircuits voor de 10de keer op het D&E event.

Als actief lid binnen het FHI, de federatie van technologie branches in Nederland, en sinds dit jaar ook als bestuurslid van de FHI branche Industriële Elektronica, nemen wij reeds voor de 10de maal deel aan het D&E event.

D&E vond de voorbije jaren plaats in het Evoluon te Eindhoven maar is sinds dit jaar, vanwege het grotere succes, verhuisd naar het “1931 congrescentrum” in de Brabanthallen in “s Hertogenbosch.

Gratis registreren kan u hier doen: Eurocircuits link voor gratis toegang.

Op 9 oktober aanstaande zorgen 20 exposanten weer voor een nuttige dag vol met interessante lezingen en bieden er u de mogelijkheid hen persoonlijk te ontmoeten.

Het programma van de lezingen vindt u hier.

Wij zijn ook weer van de partij en tonen u onze nieuwste versie van de eC-reflow-mate en geven u een guided tour in onze wereld van visualisatie van uw PCB: PCB Visualizer, PCB Checker en PCB Configurator met al hun functies en mogelijkheden.

Tijdens onze lezing, van 15u00 tem 15u25, gaan wij dieper in op hoe een snelle visulaisatie van uw PCB data bijdraagt tot een snellere en probleemloze verwerking van uw print.

Wij hopen u 9 oktober aanstaande te mogen begroeten tijdens onze lezing en op onze stand. Vergeet niet te registreren aub. Dit kan hier.

RF pool – insights and details

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UPDATE 7 May 2014 : New options: materials I-Tera and RO4350B form the bases of the pooling service

Eurocircuits have been producing PCBs on RF materials for many years. At first we offered Rogers RO4000 series. More recently we have focussed on Isola’s I-Tera material. I-Tera offers significant cost-savings compared to the Rogers materials. This makes it a critical component in our drive to provide a low-cost solution for RF development using order pooling technology.

RF pool updated

Our RF customers have asked us two questions:

  1. Can Eurocircuits provide a low-cost solution for RF prototype and development PCBs?
  2. Can Eurocircuits offer standard materials and builds which we can use for our designs, rather than starting from scratch each time?

Over the last few months we have had extensive discussions with our customers and RF experts to find the best way to meet these requirements.

The answer is our updated RF pool service:

  • Isola’s I-Tera provides a lower-cost material but still with a high performance specification.
  • Order pooling, sharing production costs between a number of different orders on the same production panel, is the only way to cut process costs for prototype and development PCBs without sacrificing quality or delivery.
  • Order-pooling needs standard builds which enough customers will order to fill the production pooling panels.
  • The standard materials and builds, developed after wide-ranging sector consultation, make pooling possible but also help RF engineers complete their designs faster.

How can RF pool help you with your design?

Standard builds

We offer two materials in the pooling service to give a wider range of performance: Isola I-Tera and the somewhat more expensive Rogers RO4350B™.

Isola I-Tera is suitable for many of today’s high speed digital and RF/microwave applications. It has a dielectric constant of 3.38, stable between -55°C and +125°C up to 20 GHz. Tg is 200° and Td 360°. Its low dissipation factor (Df) of 0.0035 makes it a cost-effective alternative to PTFE and other commercial microwave and high-speed digital laminates.

Rogers RO4350B™ has a higher specification, making it an ideal material for broadband applications. It has excellent dimensional stability, including a Z-axis CTE comparable to that of copper. Tg is 280°.

Both materials have UL 94 V0 flammability certification.

Download the data sheet for I-Tera here and for Rogers RO4350B™ here.

For 4-layer boards we offer a standard build combining I-Tera or RO4350B™ with Isola PCL370HR high performance 180°Tg FR4 prepreg:

The next two pictures show the theoretical and the actual build-up of a 4-layer RF pool PCB.

Other specifications (1.55 mm thickness, 12 micron copper foil and 6-layer boards) are all available as non-poolable options (you need to order a full panel of these builds, rather than just a part of a standard pooling panel).

For 2-layer boards, RF pool offers the flexibility of two thicknesses of either I-Tera or RO4350B™ : 0.50 or 0.25 mm.

As we use standardised builds in RF pooling, we can provide the following tables for the impedance of a surface microstrip as a function of different track widths.

These are based on I-Tera using 35 micron outer layer finished copper thickness (18 micron foil plated up). For 4-layer boards the inner layer finished copper thickness remains at 18 microns as there is no plating up. However the inner layers are usually the reference layers in the impedance calculation for a surface microstrip, so their copper thickness is less important to the impedance calculation.

4 layer PCB with 0.254 mm core thickness

Impedance of Surface Microstrip

Track width (mm)

0.1

0.125

0.15

0.175

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

35 um
End Cu

106.92

100.28

94.55

89.53

85.04

77.31

70.8

65.17

60.22

55.8

51.8

48.16

44.81

2-layer PCB with 0.508 mm core thickness

Impedance of Surface Microstrip

Track width (mm)

0.1

0.125

0.15

0.175

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

35 um
End Cu

135.64

128.99

123.27

118.24

113.76

106.03

99.52

93.89

88.94

84.51

80.52

76.87

73.52

If you want to calculate the effect that the solder mask has on the circuit behaviour, we use SUN Chemicals XV501T-4 HV Semi Matt Clear Resist – CAWN 1331 green soldermask, dielectric constant of 3,9 – 4,0. Link to Sun Chemical

Special builds

Other materials (Rogers RO4003), other builds and other copper weights may be available as special builds. Use the “Launch inquiry” option in the price calculator, tick the “Special build” box and upload your data with a clear drawing showing what you require. Our engineers will evaluate your specification and report back whether we can build your board, and if so, what the price will be.