Sparweb
Aerospace
- May 21, 2003
- 5,174
Hi,
We've been looking for a source that can build custom circuit cards for us. The board layout is actually very simple, it's the details that we have to be picky about. This may go beyond what you're typically used to specifying because it's an aerospace application. We usually plug in the black boxes, not fill their guts. We are now exploring opportunities to do the other part.
We can easily identify suppliers like DigiKey (DK Red) that can make custom boards. The boards they make are OK and we can get configurations to suit our needs. However: The data they supply with the boards doesn't work for us. There's a understanding gap between us and these suppliers as we try to explain what we need. It's probably because they don't supply aircraft quality standards. So who does?
Here are some of the questions that we need to ask of all of our suppliers when buying finished products:
[ul]
[li]Proof of origin[/li]
[li]Proof of test[/li]
[li]serialized with date of manufacture[/li]
[li](probably more, this is just off the top of my head)[/li]
[/ul]
Another way of looking at it: We require a certificate from the supplier that attests that they actually used FR4 substrate, and links that material to a source, their batch, and the test that demonstrated its resistance to fire and any other property defined by the UL spec such as strength and insulation.
This is the standard we uphold for all other materials (seats, airframe, panels, everything).
We've been looking for a source that can build custom circuit cards for us. The board layout is actually very simple, it's the details that we have to be picky about. This may go beyond what you're typically used to specifying because it's an aerospace application. We usually plug in the black boxes, not fill their guts. We are now exploring opportunities to do the other part.
We can easily identify suppliers like DigiKey (DK Red) that can make custom boards. The boards they make are OK and we can get configurations to suit our needs. However: The data they supply with the boards doesn't work for us. There's a understanding gap between us and these suppliers as we try to explain what we need. It's probably because they don't supply aircraft quality standards. So who does?
Here are some of the questions that we need to ask of all of our suppliers when buying finished products:
[ul]
[li]Proof of origin[/li]
[li]Proof of test[/li]
[li]serialized with date of manufacture[/li]
[li](probably more, this is just off the top of my head)[/li]
[/ul]
Another way of looking at it: We require a certificate from the supplier that attests that they actually used FR4 substrate, and links that material to a source, their batch, and the test that demonstrated its resistance to fire and any other property defined by the UL spec such as strength and insulation.
This is the standard we uphold for all other materials (seats, airframe, panels, everything).
