Makar News

 We are very happy to announce – as part of our growth plans – we are opening our second factory, increasing capacity by over 50%.

The new Forres facility will become our system build and service centre to support our ongoing customer programmes. In addition, the extensive office space becomes the new home to our office staff and design engineers, offering additional room for our expanding team.

As we open the doors to 3 Enterprise Court, it reinforces our commitment to developing technology in the local area. Our new site is situated on the same business park as our existing manufacturing facility (3 Innovation Way). As a result, we are increasing capacity by over 50% which supports our developing customer base.

Marc Smith, Customer Programme Manager added:

“High Quality is Always at the Top of our Agenda” – Continuous Improvement Drives Makar’s Manufacturing Quality & Reliability

As part of our PCB assembly process, we operate in-line Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) on all of our production lines. AOI enables fast and accurate inspection of electronic assemblies, in particular PCBA’s, therefore ensuring optimum workmanship quality.

What is AOI and what does it inspect?

These advanced inspection machines can fully inspect a densely populated PCB Assembly in a matter of seconds, carrying out:

Component Inspection Tests

• Checking for missing, reversed, shifted, damaged, skewed, and tomb stoned components.
• Checking polarity and marking of components (identifications, signs, colour etc)

Solder Inspection Tests

• Checking for no solder, insufficient/extra solder, solder bridging and flux deposits.

It’s an extremely powerful solution to quickly identify defects and ensure the highest quality of our manufacturing process. Our In-line AOI systems are placed just after our reflow process on our surface mount lines.

One of the key elements of an Automated Optical Inspection system is the image capture. The high resolution camera system takes an image of every component. This is then analysed by complex algorithms searching for the defects mentioned above.

Before processing all boards through the AOI, we pass a “Golden Board” through so that the system can learn the relevant attributes. This “Golden Board” is a known working board which has passed functional testing and a First Article Inspection.

Based on the golden board, differences, abnormalities or even errors can then be clearly indicated by the AOI’s built in processing software. We record all results for PCBs in a database, which we can then analyse in-depth.

So,  how does this benefit our customers?

• Zero/extremely low defect quantity, resulting in high quality, consistent output for our customers
• High pass rate for functional testing, therefore improving efficiencies and reducing customers testing downtime.

Please take a look at our PCB assembly and product assembly pages for more information on our capabilities.

Our team are always here to support any queries you may have. Please send any RFQ’s or questions through to enquiries@makartechnologies.com or get in touch on our contact page.

Supporting our surface mount pick & place machines, we operate in-line hand assembly conveyors ahead of the wave soldering process.

Our hand assembly team can fit all PTH (Thru Hole) components at high speed. We have an automated masking process to protect the areas which don’t require solder. Any open thru-hole via’s will also be spot masked before processing the populated PCB’s through wave soldering.

How does this benefit our customers?

• Very competitive pricing as a result of high production efficiencies
• High quality and consistent solder joints
• High volume production capability
• Fast turnaround assembly

So, how does the wave soldering process work?

Wave soldering is an in-line process that follows surface mount, reflow and AOI.  The underside of the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is treated with flux before being preheated and then immersed in liquid solder.

The 5 Steps of the Wave Soldering Process

Step 1 – Set Up

The wave soldering machine combines a tightly controlled flux application, pre-heating and heated solder bath process. The bath holds between 300-500kg of solder which is kept at the required level by our trained operators. Once the machine reaches the pre-set solder profile levels, then the automated process can commence.

Step 2 – Placement of the PCB

Once the machine is ready, the PCBA can be processed from the hand assembly station through the machine. There are metal clasps on the conveyor which hold the board firmly in place as it goes through the following stages.

Step 3 – Cleaning the Components (Fluxing)

During this crucial step, the machine thoroughly cleans components to remove any metal oxide layers which may have formed using the flux application process. Flux is a chemical cleaning agent and is sprayed on the PCBA before the solder is applied.

Step 4 – Application of Solder

The PCBA is passed over a bath in which a pump produces an upwelling of solder, which resembles a standing “wave”. Our team pre-set the timing/speed of the conveyor, ensuring that sufficient time is allowed for the solder to settle on the joints and ensure strong joints are formed.

Step 5 – Cleaning

This is the final step in the wave soldering process. We wash and clean our circuit boards through our chemical wash plant, as well as hand cleaning with the help of deionised water and IPA. Flux residues can form on the PCB during the machine process and will be removed during this step.

Please take a look at our PCB assembly and product assembly pages for more information on our capabilities.

Our team are always here to support any queries you may have. Please send any RFQ’s or questions through to enquiries@makartechnologies.com or get in touch on our contact page.

Conformal coating is a thin polymeric film applied to a printed circuit board (PCB) which protects the board and its components from the environment and corrosion.

Our latest showcase, as part of our growth and investment plan, is our new High Performance 4 Axis Selective Coating Machine with a UV Curing Oven.

This allows us to coat PCB Assemblies at high volume, while maintaining a repeatable accuracy of 0.05mm.

Features include:

• Tilt able valves with ±180 degree rotation, allowing side coating for components
• A mix of high precision valves for coating in tight/shadowed spaces
• Rapid UV curing (less than 1 minute to cure a PCB)

So, how does this work?

We program the automated conformal coating robot for each product we are coating. This removes the time consuming, manual process of masking non-coated components. In turn, we are able to offer competitive pricing and fast turnarounds on coated PCB Assemblies.

Our team can offer conformal coating as part of our PCB assembly service, or as a service in it’s own right.

Please take a look at our PCB assembly and product assembly pages for more information on our capabilities.

Our team are always here to support any queries you may have. Please send any RFQ’s or questions through to enquiries@makartechnologies.com or get in touch on our contact page.