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+-- Forum: ROCKPRO64 (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=98)
+--- Forum: General Discussion on ROCKPRO64 (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=99)
+--- Thread: Production defects (/showthread.php?tid=6173)
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Production defects - mmatyas - 06-18-2018
I just got my ROCKPro64 (from the first batch) a week ago in the mail, and some capacitors have obviously shifted during production, and some soldering bridges are also present. Has anyone else had such issues?
I tried to take some photos with the microscope at our university lab, this didn't turn out too well, hopefully you can still see what I mean... Also, support wasn't really helpful in this issue
![[Image: 186792223777.jpg]](https://www.fs.ei.tum.de/~matyas/186792223777.jpg)
![[Image: 186792541940.jpg]](https://www.fs.ei.tum.de/~matyas/186792541940.jpg)
RE: Production defects - wis - 06-18-2018
It appears to be hand soldered, which carries these risks. It's often this way for low-cost prototypes, working out bugs before spending for production tooling.
RE: Production defects - lucho - 06-18-2018
It's not necessarily hand-soldered. Pick-and-place machines can be programmed to rotate the component at any angle. I don't think that either of these photos illustrates a problem. But it's interesting to know whether each produced board is tested and how it's done, including whether each interface is tested and how.
RE: Production defects - wis - 06-18-2018
The quality of the solder joints doesn't look like it was reflowed.
RE: Production defects - mmatyas - 06-19-2018
I do think that the board was reflow soldered, the components are just too small and tightly packed to be able to be soldered by hand easily. You need reflow soldering for the SoC and the RAM anyways, so it's at hand to program the machinery to also solder the 100s of tiny capacitors and resistors.
I managed to take a better shot at the microscope...
What I am asking is what quality management process is implemented where boards with such defects can slip through... Even at the prototype stage, production defects are one of the problems easiest to manage
RE: Production defects - pfeerick - 06-19-2018
tllim would be the one to answer that question.
As far as the first picture goes, that big blob of solder missed it's target... it was supposed to bond the microSD slot to the PCB via the copper pad... it obviously didn't take and latched onto the capacitor instead. My board has a similar 'defect' if you will as shown in the second picture around the RK808... one part is rotated, but in my case the capacitor it is bonded to on yours is missing. However, It doesn't seem to affect the board so far, so it may be a alignment glitch, or a last minute modification.
RE: Production defects - mmatyas - 06-19-2018
Hmm it would be good to know if the resistor was meant to be soldered this way or if this is in fact a defect... I would not want to accidentally fry my board because of an unwanted electric short
RE: Production defects - lucho - 06-19-2018
(06-19-2018, 05:22 AM)mmatyas Wrote: Hmm it would be good to know if the resistor was meant to be soldered this way or if this is in fact a defect...IMHO the rotation of the resistor isn't accidental but a quick way to patch something without changing the bare board design. That is, it was really meant to be soldered this way.
P.S. I wonder why PINE64 PCBs don't have component designations on the silkscreen. This would ease eventual exploration and repair immensely. For example, look how the silkscreen of the new NanoPi M4 looks like here. They've designated the components not only on the side where designators are, but also on the other side!
RE: Production defects - dkryder - 06-19-2018
the level of fabrication quality on this particular board is bad. i'd call it pretty near complete disregard by QC if there was a QC process for this board. my guess is there is no QC pass sticker [with initials] on this unit. any of the companies i have worked for in my life would have immediately offered refund or replacement with you keeping the pictured unit. i'm left wondering in pine64 used a new fab house. even though this was a pre-production first run it's pretty inexcusable work quality.
RE: Production defects - mmatyas - 06-19-2018
Well yeah, this did not happen yet. I admit I created some mess with the support team though as the university server first did not want to accept any emails from the support team, so I accidentally created two tickets. However, that was a week ago and I haven't gotten any reply yet, even though I created the second ticket with a hotmail address.
You are right, there was no QC sticker to find on the board at delivery