Nils Faerber wrote: > This would be one of the details I am interested in, i.e. would OpenMoko > Inc. help in making (read as "producing") this new design? With its part > stock, manufacturing capabilities, etc.?
Access to components is currently under discussion, yes. There are at least some logistical issues, i.e., the GTA02 components seem to be at a place where it's difficult to move them. But we're working on it ... The idea is indeed that we can get most of the components from Openmoko. It's not only about the cost of the material but also the difficulty of sourcing certain parts and the errors that could be introduced in the process. > Many of the parts in the GTA02 cannot be reasonably placed by hand. > There are almost a dozen (or more?) BGA chips which are extremely hard > to handle (you do not see if the balls match the pads). Hehe, this reminds me of the usual "SMT sucks, where can I get this chip in DIP ?" discussion. This question is usually followed by someone suggesting some more or less crazy scheme that actually does yield a DIP component, and a number of people explaining their techniques for soldering SOIC and even SSOP. Then usually someone chimes in describing how to solder QFN and the like with often grossly inadequate equipment. And often enough, this ends with hints for how BGAs can be done with kitchen utensils :) I'm not sure where exactly the line between "unusual skills and know-how" and "(not very hard) science fiction" lies. There's scary stuff out there, though, e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdqVt0jCBHk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__dEMKzkLYc Anyway, back to reality. I agree that this needs a real SMT production line. There are some parts that can be difficult to SMT (buttons, connectors) that are better hand-soldered, but for most of the items, you want a properly quality-controlled and automated process. Please bear in mind that the objective of gta02-core is not to make a design that's immediately ready for mass-production but to set up the process and make a small number of prototypes. If some company should find the result appealing enough to turn this into a real product and make the corresponding inventments, that would of course be very welcome. But we can't count on this happening so far. If you have contacts with companies that make prototype SMT runs, it would be interesting if you could get rough cost estimates from them. Let's assume the following parameters: - 150-200 different components, all of them in reasonably common packages, on tape. - most difficult component is a 332-FBGA with 0.5 mm pitch (the S3C2442B MCP) - 500-600 components in total. - 10-20 units produced. > Then there are > almost microscopic parts like resistors and capacitors - which pitch? > 0402 at least if not even 0201 or smaller. 0402 is the smallest. For manual soldering (e.g., rework), size is less of a problem than density. - Werner _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community