FCD Pro ordering begins 19 Dec 2010 12:00UTC

Folks,

The units we’ve built so far for the first production batch are working perfectly, and also we’re now consistently hitting 100% yield without any defect rework – very satisfying!

As we’re having to hand make this first batch, and units will be released in smaller batches, it’s currently limited to one device per purchase.

Ordering will start on 19 Dec 2010 12:00UTC and you can order yours by following this link.

I have set it up so that is says “Sold out” if we’re out of units and it won’t let you purchase. The alternative is to accept payments anyway and then back fill the orders, however although Paypal knows the inventory is empty, it does not inform the buyer of this directly of this prior to taking funds. I’ll look into seeing if there’s a way to automatically inform that we’re out of stock before committing to purchase.

The process and timing of building ten boards is this:

o Paste up boards – 20 mins
o Place the the three QFNs – 45 mins
o Place the other active devices – 45 mins
o Place the passive devices – 6 hours
o Oven – 5 mins
o Visual inspection – 30 mins
o Place the crystal and RF ESD diode (underside) – 1 hour
o Place the SMA connector – 30 mins
o Place the USB connector – 30 mins
o Program and initial test with the bootloader – 10 mins
o Program firmware – 5 mins
o RF test – 15 mins
o HPF rework – 45 mins
o Post HPF RF test – 15 mins
o Drill SMA hole in enclosures – 5 mins
o Label – 30 mins

Total for ten boards (without defects): 12 hours 30 minutes.

Defect rework per board can be anywhere from 1 minute for a missing part (discovered during visual inspection) to a couple of hours if I need to get the in circuit debugger out, so taking care to get 100% yield is important!

Howard