New E-Mag/X-Mag board!!!!!!

[splat15k]

We're all wondering this I'm sure; is Lacey hott?

[p8ntbal4me]

This,.. I am not sure of!!! (When Im done with the order I will ask)

[p8ntbal4me]

UPDATE

I received an e-mail from Lacey yesterday.
She says that the assembly will be completed and READY for shipping between April 3rd & April 15th 2014.

After they are delivered here and I am satisfied with the electrical testing, the boards move to the final state: Programming! :-)

That process will take up to late June.

After that, we will ship (obviously pending no delays :-)


Another UPDATE: I found a small and annoying issue with the HES spec'ed out for the new board.
Seems the new Hall Effect Sensors on the market these days have a fail safe feature when it comes to magnetic polarity sensing range and sensor shape (the cone) based on the level to horizon you orientate the HES.

Long and short: move the gun barrel up or down past something of a 45 degree angle and the HES wont activate at all..... its weird.....

So I ordered a few different samples from my supplier and have found one that I like very much. Its wired in and works perfectly without elevation issues.

Those new replacement HES are in stock, ordered, and should be here next week.

[splat15k]

Jai,

That is all great news! I'm glad you proactively sniffed out that HES issue and found a solution so quickly; well done, sir.

If the boards are completed, why are they waiting several weeks to ship them out? Even if they are doing basic continuity checks, it shouldn't take that long.

[p8ntbal4me]

I think there was a miscommunication somewhere:

The boards are completed as far as: all footprints and traces connected, tested, etc....

There was a small delay in getting the boards BACK on assembly after they were completed due to everything listed in post #630

It was short, but my guess they put everything on hold and let other projects pass us by (i have no idea if thats true,.. but as far as assembly lines go,... im reading that is a common practice)

The board house ALSO runs tests at every station on the fabrication and assembly process (i was told this). I dont do this for a living so I can not provide much insight on its truth,..... maybe someone in here can help out????

That error in post #630 also generated a completely different issue when they went to correct it as well. The CPL file that tells the machine where everything is located on the board was missing that R18 part as well as another,.. they also (Lacey) said that there was no polarity marking for the voltage regulator (PIN 1) so no way of knowing which was was "UP". Once they said this,... I knew something wasnt right with the CPL file. My assembly layout was checked so many times before I gave them the OK to re-make the boards,....

In the process of the 3 hours to fix the 3 small issues,.. it generated a hold on the order because they said that the original CPL file contained in the Gerber files didnt match the BOM. Which is 100% true,..... so they said "well we have to charge you for that, re-work the settings, etc",... which by them,.. is 100% correct.

The problem with that whole scenario: I paid THEM to make the CPL file months ago, there was no CPL with the original Gerber files,.... and they used an BOM that had a typo on the assembly side of the process. When we sat down an opened up the new files I made for the boards to be re-done,..... there was a completed BOM in a PDF with my signature on in contained in the Gerber files.
They were using a Excel document to generate the CPL,..... so,... they had errors on their end,... not ours.

Also: we were slated a 4 week turn around. If you add the 4 weeks to the dates for the delays, and check all that against my email dates,... they are 2 days behind. That would not include weekends. So by my WAAAAAAAY over due project book,.. they are on track to ship.

[splat15k]

Ah, I see now; that does indeed make sense. Thank you for the clarification.

To explain my curiosity: I work for a small company that designs test equipment and we design a few dozen boards a year, but we always tackle the assembly here in-house...all manual, no machine.

[p8ntbal4me]

Originally we were goin with our engineer company to assembly the boards,.... But the price was double and they were as unprofessional as they come once we asked to end our business with them.

If I had 3k to spare , I would drag them to court over a simple file and contract breach.

At this point, I want these boards in your hands.....

[splat15k]

Originally we were goin with our engineer company to assembly the boards,.... But the price was double and they were as unprofessional as they come once we asked to end our business with them.

If I had 3k to spare , I would drag them to court over a simple file and contract breach.

Wow, that's unfortunate! Lot's of turmoil behind the scenes.

[p8ntbal4me]

UPDATE

Just chiming in here..... Not much to report.
I'm sick,... Again.....

The boards are still slated to ship the 3rd of April.
I have not heard otherwise.

[splat15k]

I hope you feel better soon, Jai. Thank you very much for the update.

[p8ntbal4me]

If anyone is wondering.......

Yes the boards were shipping today......

No,.... They didn't ship.

I got a bull **** email from the floor manager on the assembly line about missing parts.....

.... That resulted in me sending a very colorful email back in response..... And then a very nice call to the customer rep for our project.

I will elaborate on the details later tonight when I get in front of the computer rather than my phone.

But I called them out on a key factor of "why are we waiting till the day of shipment to inform me of this issue?"

Our customer rep is siding with us at the moment..... And I let him know that my customers are pissed..... (Petty sure that isn't an exaggeration at this point),.... And they will be making it right.

More later.......

/End rant

[p8ntbal4me]

I was at a concert tonight when the board house called me back about the issues at hand.

(Pardon my lack of involvement here: a few drinks and a late night are working against me)

The voice mail says they have solved the issue and are shipping the boards out next day air at their expense.

I am hoping that the board will be in my hands no later than Sunday morning.....

Fingers crossed.

[splat15k]

All-in-all it sounds like excellent progress has been made in the past couple of months; thanks again for the updates.

What is the plan for testing them out before distributing them out to us AOers? Full functional test for each board?

[p8ntbal4me]

UPDATE!!!!

As of right now,... The boards are completed and are in route to my house.....

[p8ntbal4me]

Each board will be pre-programmed and tested prior to shipping.

I will not be:
Installing each board into a gun and testing it.
The board will be powered on using a regulated power supply, a solenoid coil and plunger plugged in, a HES, and a multimeter with read outs on each port for each component will be used to test for polarity and connectivity.

None of your components will be plugged in and shipped as such.

You will have to assemble your marker and board as outlined.... And yes,... There will be photographic instructions posted so everyone can complete the job.

I am working on a manual as we speak.