The jigsaw puzzle refers to making a piece of small PCB board directly into a whole piece by the manufacturer.
Why puzzle, that is to say, what are the benefits of puzzle?
● In order to meet the needs of production. Some PCB boards are too small to meet the requirements of fixtures, so they need to be assembled together for production.
● Improve the welding efficiency of SMT patch. It only needs one SMT to complete the welding of multiple PCBs.
● Improve cost utilization. Some PCB boards are special-shaped, and jigsaw panels can use the PCB board area more efficiently, reduce waste and improve cost utilization.
What are the types of jigsaw design?
● V-CUT
V-CUT is to draw a slot at the connection of the two boards, as long as the two boards are put together, leaving a gap between them (usually 0.4mm), but the connection of the boards in this place is relatively thin and easy to break , the edges of the two boards need to be merged together.
V-CUT is generally a straight line, and there will be no complicated routing such as curved arcs. Try to be on a straight line when assembling the board.
● Stamp hole
For irregular PCB boards, such as round ones, V-CUT cannot do it. At this time, stamp holes need to be used for panel connection. Therefore, stamp holes are generally used in special-shaped boards.
The edge of the two boards is connected by a small piece of board, and there are many small holes at the connection between this small piece of board and the two boards, which is easy to break. After breaking, the edge of the board resembles the edge of a stamp, so this way of assembling is called a stamp hole.
● Hollow connecting strip
Hollow connecting strips are mostly used in boards with half-hole technology. They are connected using very narrow plates, which are similar to stamp holes. The difference is that the connecting part of the connecting strip is narrower, and there are no vias on both sides.
There is a disadvantage in the way of assembling the hollow connecting strip: there will be a very obvious bump after the board is broken. The stamp holes also have bumps, which are less noticeable because they are separated by vias.
Some people may think that it is not good to use stamp holes directly, why use hollow connecting strips? This is because the stamp hole and V-CUT cannot be used when making half-hole modules all around, and can only be connected at the four corners of the module through hollow connecting strips.
What are the principles of jigsaw puzzles?
In order to facilitate production, keep the board as square as possible after assembling. In short, don’t make the aspect ratio too big.
Spacing requirements:
● For the PCB whose outermost component is less than 3mm from the edge of the board, a process edge must be added, usually the longer edge is used as the process edge;
● A space of >0.5mm should be reserved between the components and the V-CUT to ensure the normal operation of the tool.
