Raspberry Pi: Manufacturing Hiccup
raspberrypi.org
raspberrypi.org
It's nice to see the real side of how things are made, and to develop an understanding that usually nothing ever works out on the first go. It really enforces the lesson of "don't be afraid to fail, and don't get discouraged" As I know many people who have tried, do.
But your point basically stands.
Can't wait to do cool things with mine!
It reminded me a bit of these guys:
Different problem, but same kind of "small-company" response.
Since the author didn't mention it in the article, the "magnetics" are actually small transformers that filter noise, DC and make it harder to fry your board via the network port.
Alternatively these can be mounted as as separate component[1] on the board in conjunction with the "plain" type of connector that the Raspberry manufacturers used by accident.
[1] Looks like this: http://www.alliedcomponents.com/lan.php
This is a pretty standard 'hiccup' in manufacturing. Sadly its more common when your factory is 'remote'[1] than it is when your factory is local. If you read Bunnie's blog [2] about the Chumby he's got a number of fascinating stories about how things can go sideways.
Take notes you budding product designers that requires manufacturing actual widgets, its a whole lot uglier than you might think :-)
[1] yes that is code for 'outsourced to China.'
As time wears on and numbers increase, you'll find all sorts of tweaks to save a penny or two showing up on your latest batches. They don't try to make your product non-functional, but they might make a mistake on a substitution going after that 1/10th of a penny.
8 legs to desolder, on a 6 layer board, where the pads are going to be small (because of pin density) and where the component shape means you can't just cut the thing off and take the pins out individually. The click-through legs of the socket make it harder to apply heat to the pads and wobble the component out (which you shouldn't do anyway, but people do.)
And then the new connectors need to be soldered back on.
Would it be difficult even if they had some equipment to precisely maintain temps and suck out the solder? Does such equipment even exist?
(http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/soldering-stations/0165396/)
For a small quantity of items you can get "solder suckers" which are spring loaded pumps with a high temp nozzle. You have that in one with the iron in the other hand. You'd clean the pads with solder wick afterwards.
If this thing was surface mount, or had a hidden heat-sink pad in the center of the die, that would be way tricker. Nothing an assembly shop couldn't handle, but kind of getting beyond typical DIY work.
For sure. It gently depends on how many layers the boards are; if any of the pins is on a large ground plane (heatsinking) or if the solder side pads are flimsy.
But I'm grateful for the correction! I have some horror stories about rework, so maybe they've tinged everything since.
It weighs slightly over a (metric) ton, and despite being marketed as "low cost" model, it's not something the average hobbyist can afford. Or even needs :)
And yes, it's lead-lined, completely enclosed and safe to use as long as you don't put your hamster in it.
This was a mistake by their manufacturers, and could have happened no matter how long they took.
Could someone explain, for a non-hardware guy, why the magnetics are necessary?
If they are necessary, why do jacks without them exist?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impedance_matching)
You can use a component on the PCB, or a component built into the socket.
If this was my vendor and something like this happened, believe me, this would not be "Shit Happens" and a shrug all around from my management.
It would be really nice if they now link to some good quality electronic engineering page to explain what "magnetics" are, and how they work, and why they're used in network connectors. Teaching people about computing is great. Teaching people about electronic engineering would also be great.