In this video I look at some new PCBs that just arrived from PCBWay (who sponsored and paid for these circuit boards). There are two different designs. The first is a development board for the IS31FL3236A, which is a 36x LED driver. I plan to use this part in some upcoming builds, so I wanted to test the circuit out and make sure it works how I need it to.
The second PCB is actually four different, yet similar boards. They are each 40x40mm squares with arrays of vias and pads of different sizes. The intent here is that a board with vias can be aligned over a board with pads and they can then be soldered together! You could theoretically connect and infinite number of PCBs together using this method. This is a proof-of-concept and the idea worked out perfectly! I was able to solder them together with both an iron & solder wire, and also with solder paste and hot air. The iron seemed to work better because it could go into the hole and heat the pad on the bottom PCB very quickly to make a solid bond. The hot air needed to first heat up all of the paste, which would then heat up the pad underneath, so it took a bit longer and didn't seem to work as nice. I'm sure that paste would work great in a reflow oven though! I don't have one to test that out though (yet!).
If you are interested on what the numbers on the boards mean, they are denoting the drill size, or the size of the hole on the via board, and the size of the hole on the pad board. I didn't try it, but I think that a fine tip soldering iron would work great for the much smaller holes, but everything on these boards was able to be soldered. The smallest hole was a 1mm via with 0.5mm drill, for example. On the pad boards, I have grid of copper traces connecting them together. I have had pads pulled up from PCBs in the past, so the idea behind the grid is to help keep the smaller pads stuck in place. I would recommend something similar if you plan to use these in a design, at least for the smaller ones.
This won't be the last of this that you see from me! I have very big plans for these vias and pads! :)
Wanna see some cool stuff? Check out my instagram account!
/ evilmonkeyzdesignz \
Wanna see more cool stuff? Check out my website!
www.evilmonkey...