Re: gEDA-user: OT: Search for good SMD and IC prober

[Torsten Wagner]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestion and ideas.

I really liked the idea with the #30 cable. I never used it because I
thought it should be more temporary solution. However, I really got
tired of the fact then whenever I move the set-up a  few centimetres
(this are about an inch ;) ) I hear all this "clip clip clip" and have
to restart to rewire my debugging set-up since all the probes fall
off.

And using thin wire wrap cables allows me to make tiny solid
connections and even keep them over days if necessary (as everyone
know, sometimes a "lets quickly check this lines before lunch" end up
with a week of debugging) without bulky clamps which for the reason of
Murphy law always cover the next contact point :)

Thanks again

Torsten


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Re: gEDA-user: OT: Search for good SMD and IC prober

[John Griessen]

John Doty wrote:

There's nothing that can compete with #30 wire and a matching soldering 
iron tip. Even a quick and dirty solder joint is mechanically and 
electrically better than any practical pressure contact. And with wire, 
you can make twisted pairs for signal integrity.


Yes.

If you just have to make a temporary connection, and the signal integrity
is OK with macro sized things, gold pointy pogo pins are a way.

You can buy off ebay.  I'll mail you a couple.

After that, it's "IC probe card" development time...

John
--
Ecosensory   Austin TX


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Re: gEDA-user: OT: Search for good SMD and IC prober

[Gabriel Paubert]

On Fri, Feb 05, 2010 at 09:06:34PM +0900, Torsten Wagner wrote:
> Dear geda users,
> 
> I know it is off topic but I guess it is somehow related to PCB and
> many of you face the same problem or found already a solution.
> I am looking for a good set of micro probes to address single pins of
> ICs or other SMD components on a PCB. I saw some kit which looks very
> promising but a bit pricey [1] however, 

Down to 0.2mm (8mil pitch)? That's half the smallest pitch I've seen.
Can such a pitch be soldered, even with paste printing and reflow?

> I'm still unsure about which
> kind of systems exist and what might be considered as good and what is
> actually not worse the money. Actually, I am looking for something to
> contact single legs of SMD-packed ICs for debugging and testing
> purpose. I tried a very cheap clamps [2], however, they are not really
> good for my purpose and the clamps are weak and inaccurate. Most
> probably o.k. for the price but I am looking for something more
> reliable and precise.

It also depends on what you want to measure, only a voltage or do
you want to look at the signal with a scope, up to which frequency?

If it's for debugging, you probably want the connection to be reliable,
and in this case nothing beats soldering a wire (the clips of my 
LeCroy scope work down to 0.5mm pitch, but they are fragile and they 
easilsy snap off when moving something around).

However, at high frequencies, even a fairly short wire can cause
significant distortion.

For testing/verification after production, when you only need the
contact for a short time, you can find very thin tungsten probes 
that give good contact (either for multimeters or for scopes).

Gabriel


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Re: gEDA-user: OT: Search for good SMD and IC prober

[Thomas Weber]

Dear Torsten,

if you don't want to use a soldered wire which is really the best,
try the following clips part number 6800 and the set 6800-12 at:
http://www.electro-pjp.com/index.php?pagination=1&id=62&page=3
they looks like a copy of your reference [1]. You will be able
to contact pins of SMD package like LQFP64 with a 0.5mm pitch
without any problems.

Thomas

Torsten Wagner schrieb:
> Dear geda users,
> 
> I know it is off topic but I guess it is somehow related to PCB and
> many of you face the same problem or found already a solution.
> I am looking for a good set of micro probes to address single pins of
> ICs or other SMD components on a PCB. I saw some kit which looks very
> promising but a bit pricey [1] however, I'm still unsure about which
> kind of systems exist and what might be considered as good and what is
> actually not worse the money. Actually, I am looking for something to
> contact single legs of SMD-packed ICs for debugging and testing
> purpose. I tried a very cheap clamps [2], however, they are not really
> good for my purpose and the clamps are weak and inaccurate. Most
> probably o.k. for the price but I am looking for something more
> reliable and precise.
> 
> I would welcome any suggestions or ideas. Please consider that I have
> to order them maybe from a vendor with an international delivery
> service or even better a Japanese branch or reseller.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Torsten
> 
> [1] http://www.pomonaelectronics.com/pdf/D72902_1_19_06.pdf
> [2] 
> http://jp.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=0142915
> 
> 
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Re: gEDA-user: OT: Search for good SMD and IC prober

[Steven Michalske]

On Feb 5, 2010, at 6:30 AM, John Doty wrote:



On Feb 5, 2010, at 5:06 AM, Torsten Wagner wrote:


I know it is off topic but I guess it is somehow related to PCB and
many of you face the same problem or found already a solution.
I am looking for a good set of micro probes to address single pins of
ICs or other SMD components on a PCB.


There's nothing that can compete with #30 wire and a matching  
soldering iron tip. Even a quick and dirty solder joint is  
mechanically and electrically better than any practical pressure  
contact. And with wire, you can make twisted pairs for signal  
integrity.




strong agreement here!

For probing I like using a sharp spring loaded test probe.  The spring  
absorbs your shakes.




But when I need to monitor something more that a quick look, its a a  
short piece of wire wrap wire soldered onto the part I want to monitor.




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Re: gEDA-user: OT: Search for good SMD and IC prober

[John Doty]

On Feb 5, 2010, at 5:06 AM, Torsten Wagner wrote:


I know it is off topic but I guess it is somehow related to PCB and
many of you face the same problem or found already a solution.
I am looking for a good set of micro probes to address single pins of
ICs or other SMD components on a PCB.


There's nothing that can compete with #30 wire and a matching  
soldering iron tip. Even a quick and dirty solder joint is  
mechanically and electrically better than any practical pressure  
contact. And with wire, you can make twisted pairs for signal integrity.


John Doty  Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.
http://www.noqsi.com/
j...@noqsi.com




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