SMT rework shops near Sacramento or Bay Area?

These guys do good assembly, despite the ghastly web site,

but I don't think they do rework.

John

Thanks, John. Always good to know, especially if someone has used them. I'll keep that on file. The web site is ok, they simply list what they can do. Wish there was a regular email contact other than webmaster on there.

I have used these folks in the past and was very pleased:

Support during the prototype phase is a real problem these days. Burch did it for us but that might be because we were regular customers. They even did some "hairball lash-ups" for us when we needed something pretty much right now.

I believe there would be a market for a technician if he or she would equip themselves with nice solder/desolder equipment. Sometimes it can be bought on the cheap when a company goes belly up. Like when BenQ went under in Europe. The list from the liquidator read like a list of fine wines. You name it, they had it.

We do it as a service for even non-existing customers, but it does cost a bit, mostly because of handling and shipping.

Got your company in the address file for next time. What would be nice is a crude price list. Then people could peruse it and decide "I better let the pros handles this one".

Hi, Yes, I know what you are talking about. The prototyping phase can sometimes be frustrating because if you can find a good company to outsource the loading to, you still have to suffer the delays / time and the cost. Also, if you outsource it is not really practical to do partial loading & power up, which is sometimes nice when prototyping a design for the first time.

Seriously, depending on your board, it may be possilbe to D.I.Y. load the board using low cost tools. You don't need to buy a hot-air rework station, unless you need to pop off chips / swap them. Or unless you are doing BGA. Just to solder prototypes you can use the techniques at

I produced all the videos for Super Soldering Secrets. My intention was to fully reveal as much of the techniques as possible. It's geared for small companies / start-ups and also advanced hobbyists (enthusiasts on a budget). The techniques are low-cost and give high quality results for SMT (fine pitch & chip component) & through hole prototyping. Also for small batch production.

Check it out and decide if in-sourcing looks like an attractive option for you, for your current project (or maybe your next one).

Kind regards, Anthony Burch

Sorry, can't view flash player stuff here :-(

But usually it does involve popping a dead chip off the board first. Long turn-around times are not much of an issue in the US. For example, the company above turns around really fast. You aren't related to the owners of WD Burch, are ya? :-)

How about the 3rd party test companies. They usually do rework too.

There are a few Test Houses in the Bay Area (dunno about Sacto).

I know Datest does rework, I don't know if TH does too. Last I heard both of them are in Fremont.

Carl

Hi Joerg, Yes, if you need to pop off the dead chip first then hot air rework is definitely the easiest.

Just for interest, there's a nice article on low cost DIY hot air rework, written by Tom Mathews and Timothy Toroni at National Semiconductor. It's called "Rework within your reach"

I was going to mention that I didn't think that I was related to WD Burch, but who knows, maybe distantly. Maybe a keen interest in soldering runs in the family:)

Wising you happy prototyping! Kind regards, Anthony Burch

Thanks, Carl. Both in the Wiki file now.

One thing he doesn't mention is a screen. Sometimes it helps to cut a little screen and place it over the part so only the chip that you want to remove sticks out. This avoids blowing away 0402 resistors and such.

Who knows. They sure do a fine assembly job.