NextPCB

From Copper Foil to Precision Circuits: How We Use "Light" to Carve a Micron-Level City on a PCB Every electronic device you hold contains a miniature city. How are those traces, finer than a strand of hair, precisely "grown" onto the PCB? In this video, we'll take you straight into the core workshop of PCB outer layer fabrication, with an uncut, real-time recording: 🔬 The Mysterious "Photolithography": How is light used to transfer the design blueprint onto the copper board? ⚗️ Precise "Etching": How is the excess copper foil made to "vanish," leaving behind only the perfect circuit traces? Watch now and see the "skeleton" of tech products come to life! 👉Check out our past highlight videos on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g4pU2xEC #pcb #pcba #pcbmanufacture

🐾 Ultra-Low-Power Wildlife Acoustic Monitoring – Keeping Towns Safe! Misoji Engineer has introduced an innovative approach built on #Zephyr RTOS, running an ultra-low-power (ULP) acoustic monitoring system created with Edge Impulse to detect wildlife sounds. When a dangerous animal approaches, the system automatically recognizes its sound, plays a deterrent, and alerts residents in nearby urban areas. Btw, the PCB was designed in KiCad Services Corporation to look like an owl🦉 Project Highlights: ✔️ Used The Zephyr Project RTOS on the Seeed Studio XIAO #nRF54L15 Sense for scalability and an ultra-low-power ecosystem. ✔️ Enabled long-range, low-power communication via #Bluetooth® Low Energy. 📖 Want the full story? Check out the complete article on Hackster.io where he also shares his hands-on experience with the Nordic Semiconductor nRF Connect SDK and some seriously useful debugging tips!! https://lnkd.in/gHumPE-q #kicad #nextpcb #pcb #edgeai

Hi, this is 𝗻𝗼𝘁 SMT ❌ This video has been making the rounds in the past few months, with authors claiming this is an example of surface mount technology (SMT). It looks cool, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗦𝗠𝗧 🙅 The video is fuzzy (and not oriented correctly), but it clearly shows large through-hole components (what appears to be a mix of polypropylene and film capacitors, a connector and a big red LED) being inserted into a PCB board that has 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 been mounted with surface mount components (see the large black ICs). In fact, this video shows the insertion of components for 𝗧𝗛𝗧 - 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵-𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗹𝘆. This kind of machine is ideal when mass-producing a PCB design that has 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗸𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵-𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. The components are typically prepared specifically for mass production with preformed shorter leads. The operating principle and speed are similar to SMT, but there are some noticeable differences:  1. The PCB moves instead of the picker head, as with SMT pick and place machines.  2. The pick and place jobs have been separated, with the ‘pre-picked’ components being fed in on a conveyor system.  3. An arm under the machine bends the leads as each component is inserted This kind of machine was cutting-edge half a century ago, but modern insertion machines look a lot more like SMT machines. The PCB is stationary, components are fed in through separate channels and imaging systems use complex algorithms to inspect each part before insertion. There are many through-hole assembly methods suited for different quantities, component types and designs. Which method used depends on a number of factors, including: 🔢 The number and size of the through-hole components 📈 Production volume 🎯 Placement of other components For example, heat-sensitive components and boards with high component densities may not be suited for wave soldering. Manual insertion is still commonplace for small to mid batch production. See real PCB assembly from NextPCB 👇 https://lnkd.in/gEUGw5XX #knowyourstuff #PCB #PCBAssembly #ElectronicsManufacturing #THT not #SMT #NextPCB

🚀 NextPCB Environmental Sensing Challenge: Build a #SmarterHome that Thinks like You 🏡 Does your home truly understand you? Break away from limited smart devices. 🌐 We're launching the Challenge and selecting 5 groundbreaking projects to receive $500 in PCBA sponsorship each. Design the future with us!Home Assistant 👉 Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gC8vwyA8 📌 Apply here:https://lnkd.in/gQd6RY7v #environmentalsensing #pcbdesign #homeassistant

Stop illegal hunting in its tracks with tech. 🌳 Samuel Alexander built a cool solar-powered forest monitor. At its heart is a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 board, which listens for sounds like gunshots, cars, and chainsaws. (This PCB was designed using KiCad Services Corporation.） He used Edge Impulse Studio to train the sound model and programmed everything in Arduino. The system is smart and simple: 🎙️ A microphone captures sound 🔄 A small buffer helps avoid false repeats ⏲️ Everything gets a timestamp for logging 📡 Results are sent to Adafruit Industries IO for tracking Best of all—it's low-cost, easy to build, and ready to be scaled for wider use. Learn more on Hackster.io:https://lnkd.in/gSee32eU But there's one tricky part: accurately identifying and locating gunshots. Got any smart ideas to improve that? 🧐

Watch out, litterbugs! 🚯🤖 Meet the LitterWatch station, designed by Attila Tőkés to catch littering in the act. This clever device is built using a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 and a camera, and it's powered by an #edgeAI model that spots littering and other suspicious activity. This board was designed using KiCad Services Corporation. When it detects someone tossing trash, it sends an alert to the cloud via low-bandwidth networks like #LoRaWAN, #Meshstastic, or LTE-M. And don't worry — video evidence is stored locally. So next time you think about dropping something… think again! Learn more on Hackster.io:https://lnkd.in/gd6ifUBR #PCB #pcbdesign #kicad

Today, let's dive into the PTH (Plated Through-Hole) process—a critical step that determines whether a #PCB can conduct electricity. 👨🔧 👩🔧 Why do we perform electroless copper deposition before electroplating copper? How do these processes work? Join #NextPCB and explore the essentials together! 👉Check out our past highlight videos on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g4pU2xEC Step1 De-oiling 00:53 Step 2 Counterflow Rinsing 01:16 Step 3 Micro-etching 01:32 Step4 Pre-dipping 01:44 Step5 Activation 01:58 Step6 De-colloidizing 02:16 Step7 Electroless Copper Plating 02:23 #pcbmanufacture #pcblayout

Today, we are pleased to introduce TerraSono – a sustainable, modular acoustic intelligence system developed by Rishabh Jain. Using low-power #EdgeAI , it captures and analyzes sounds to detect threats such as illegal logging and poaching. The system employs a two-node architecture: an acoustic sensing node (slave) with an INMP441 microphone (for forests 🌳 ) or a planned hydrophone (for marine use 🐳 ), and a gateway node (master). Achieving acoustic classification through Edge Impulse Studio. The ESP32-S3 processor runs an on-device TinyML classifier in low-power mode, identifying sounds like chainsaws, gunshots, or unusual audio patterns. 👉 Explore the full project on Hackster.io: https://lnkd.in/eh98Pf_i

💥 We are proud to announce that Cyao has published an ultra-slim split Bluetooth keyboard in the #KicadProject community and contributed $10 to KiCad Services Corporation The keyboard features a remarkably thin profile of ~7.5mm and a compact miryoku layout. It uses an onboard Nordic Semiconductor #nrf52 MCU for exceptional battery life. If you're interested, please check out the full project details! https://lnkd.in/gUkESnD5

We truly enjoyed having Robert Feranec at our factory. We look forward to connecting with you at Kicon Asia. ✨