What are MacroFab's Assembly Capabilities

We are more than a prototype shop. MacroFab offers full turnkey services that take you from prototyping PCBs to drop shipping fully complete products to your customer's door.

Engineers can use our self-service platform to get quickly started with prototyping. When you are ready to scale your product, our project managers and network of partners are here to make it happen. Our team will help you scale through high volume production while our industry leading customer service team makes sure your experience is as smooth as possible.

MacroFab's Standard Manufacturing Process

The typical assembly process for an order at MacroFab is the following.

1. Your Order is submitted via our website
2. Your order is reviewed by our engineering team to identify any potential issues
3. Your design is automatically panelized
4. MacroFab orders Parts and PCBs
5. Once all the materials have arrived, paste gets applied to your PCB panel
6. SMT Parts are placed on the PCB inside the Pick and Place Machine
7. Hand placement occurs if needed for SMT parts that are not machine placeable
8. The panel then goes through the reflow oven
9. The panel is then analyzed with Automated Optical Inspection, if the design supports doing so
10. Through hole parts are installed and soldered, if needed
11. The panel is then analyzed with Automated Optical Inspection, if the design supports doing so
12. If needed the PCBs are then washed
13. Final Quality Assurance reviews the assemblies to ensure they meet all requirements
14. The PCBAs are depanelized
15. The PCBAs are packaged for shipment

Component/Part Types

We support through hole, SMD, both leaded and leadless, BGA, LGA, PTH, hybrid, SoP, and daughter-board style components.  We do not currently support chip-on-board components. Inquire about support for stacked packages and flip-chip, which can be done on a case-by-case basis.

Mechanical Limits on Part Package Size for Assembly

The parts to be assembled onto a PCB must be equal to or larger then the following specifications.

For information about PCB manufacturing limits and Design Rule Checks (DRC) check out the knowledge base article PCB Specifications and DRC.

Double Sided Assembly

We support double-sided assembly.

IPC Quality Criteria for Assemblies

Unless otherwise requested, all assemblies are built to meet IPC-A-610H Class 2 acceptance criteria.

ESD Safety

We follow all ESD safety procedures as documented in IPC-A-610. All of our work benches are grounded, and our floor is coated with a conductive sealant. Operators wear wrist straps at work stations, and heel straps for moving around the facility and moving product. All circuit boards are packaged in ESD bags prior to shipping.

RoHS/Lead-Free Solder Only

All assembly processes at MacroFab are designed to be RoHS compatible. We use SAC305 solder paste for surface mount components and SN100 solder for touch-up and through-hole soldering. Solder paste mesh is determined based on specific requirements of the design, stencil, process, and assembly equipment.

We are unable to use leaded, non-RoHS, or HMP solder in our processes.

No-Clean and Water-Soluble Flux

We currently use water-soluble fluxes and no-clean fluxes in our assemblies. All boards are water-washed during the assembly process, but small amounts of no-clean flux will remain after washing.

If you have a board component that is water-sensitive, please see the knowledge base article on The Parts Placement Screen about adding a note to the part for our Manufacturing Technicians.

Programming and Electrical Verification

All PCBs are 100% E-tested at the board house to ensure electrical verification. We can implement all customer established PCB assembly programming and testing procedures. All that's required is a list of your needed equipment and documentation of your instructions. If you don't yet have a procedure or need assistance in creating one, MacroFab can help put you in touch with the right resources through one of our many 3rd party vendor relationships. Let our sales team know of your specific requirements!

Conformal Coating

We can implement conformal coating on orders of any quantities. Our typical procedures involve masking and then coating the PCBs with a specified conformal coating. If you require conformal coating for your PCB assemblies, please contact our sales team to get a proper quote.

Certifications and Registrations

Our growing network of factories have the following certifications or registrations:

• ISO9001
• AS9100
• UL Registered
• ISO13485
• ISO/IATF 16949
• ITAR Registered

Warranty and the MacroFab Manufacturing Guarantee

If your order has workmanship issues, we’ll do whatever it takes to get it right - for free. Our service team will provide transparent communication every at every step. As always, your information is 100% confidential and your intellectual property is secure. Our Manufacturing Services Agreement can be found here.

With MacroFab’s Manufacturing Guarantee we will make sure your order is correct, delivered promptly and on time, and with unrivaled manufacturing quality. Our network of global factories enable us to have competitive pricing at each stage of your products life cycle. These partners are held to the same strict quality standards that MacroFab is known for. With our transparent manufacturing model and suburb customer service you will always know what to expect.

More information about how start the RMA process can be found here Managing and Creating Returns.

Our goal is always to ensure that you have great, working products that exceed your specifications at a great price. We stand behind our work and will resolve any issues that arise. Please don’t hesitate to contact our support team if you run into any problems.

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