In the PCBA circuit board production process, a wide range of machinery and equipment is essential for assembling the boards. The quality of a factory’s machinery often directly influences its manufacturing capacity.

The fundamental equipment required for PCBA production includes a solder paste printer, placement machine, reflow soldering oven, AOI (Automated Optical Inspection) system, component angle cutter, wave soldering machine, tin furnace, washing machine, ICT (In-Circuit Test) fixture, FCT (Functional Test) fixture, and aging test racks. The specific equipment found in PCBA processing plants varies depending on their size.

PCBA Production Equipment for Electronics Factories:

1. Solder Paste Printer



1. Modern solder paste printers typically consist of plate loading, solder paste application, imprinting, and circuit board transfer. The working principle involves first securing the circuit board on the positioning table, followed by applying solder paste or adhesive onto the corresponding pads via the printer’s left and right scrapers using a stencil. The transfer station then feeds the board to the placement machine for automatic component placement. The cleaning processes associated with solder paste printers include wiping the printer’s bottom with a water-based cleaning agent (W2000) and off-line cleaning of the solder paste stencil using W1000/EC-200.

2. The mounting machine, also known as the “Surface Mount System,” is situated on the production line immediately after the solder paste printer. It accurately positions surface-mounted components onto the PCB pads by moving the placement head. These machines can be categorized into manual and automatic types.

3. Reflow soldering features a heating circuit that heats air or nitrogen to a sufficiently high temperature, which is then directed onto the circuit board where components have been placed. This process melts the solder on either side of the components, bonding them to the motherboard. The advantages include easy temperature control, reduced oxidation during soldering, and improved manufacturing cost management.

4. AOI, or Automatic Optical Inspection, employs optical principles to identify common defects in the soldering production process. Although a relatively new testing technology, AOI is advancing rapidly, with many manufacturers introducing their own automatic optical inspection equipment. During inspection, the machine scans the PCB with a camera, captures images, and compares the tested solder joints against established parameters in a database. After image processing, defects are identified and displayed or marked for repair by maintenance personnel.

5. Component trimming machines.

6. Wave soldering.

7. Tin furnaces are welding tools commonly used in electronic soldering. For discrete component circuit boards, they offer consistent welding quality, convenient operation, rapid processing, and high efficiency, making them valuable tools for production and processing.

8. Washing machines, whether ultrasonic or spray cleaning types, are utilized to clean PCBA circuit boards, effectively removing contaminants and residues after soldering. This enhances the reliability of PCBA circuit boards. They are particularly effective at removing various no-clean solder paste residues, flux remnants, oil stains, fingerprints, metal oxide layers, and dust. The ultrasonic cleaning process is suitable for high-precision, high-density components like microBGAs, Flip-Chips, and advanced technologies such as camera modules.

9. ICT testing primarily focuses on assessing the PCBA circuit for open circuits, short circuits, and the soldering condition of all components by contacting the PCB layout test points with probes.