Test Your Know How: PCB Separation

We typically use v-groove and a "pizza" cutter to separate.

This requires components to be spaced away from the edge, we have seen components damaged if too close.

For our high volume designs, (100K +) we use a dedicated fixture to hold the panel and route the boards for singulation. 

This allows components near the board edges.

We have never used mouse-bites or laser cutting.

We typically use v-groove and a "pizza" cutter to separate.

This requires components to be spaced away from the edge, we have seen components damaged if too close.

For our high volume designs, (100K +) we use a dedicated fixture to hold the panel and route the boards for singulation. 

This allows components near the board edges.

We have never used mouse-bites or laser cutting.

Thanks for the insight Avant. Interesting to hear your typical use cases! The mouse-bite approach appears to be used for small samples only. The idea is that pcbs can be manually broken apart. Where I came from, this was heavily frowned upon by the Quality Engineers due to stresses. It was not allowed  for series production.  

I would be very interested to hear of anyone who has witnessed lazer separation / singulation . This seems to be reserved for flex designs. Lazer equipment suppliers promote that pcbs can be placed closer together and can possibly enable an extra row of pcbs in the panel, reducing the individual pcb cost.

We use all these methods. They all have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Most often we use Mouse bites and v-scores on the same design.

Laser singulation is great for rigid-flex or very small boards but is a separate and slow machine process that adds cost and time. It doesn't often save board area on an array as it is preferable to route the PCB in conjunction with laser cutting to save time on the laser. There is also a requirement to hold the boards steady during singulation so consideration of the laser cutters requirements is necessary during the PCB design phase.