mhoulroyd
Junior Member level 3

- Joined
- Aug 11, 2016
- Messages
- 26
- Helped
- 0
- Reputation
- 0
- Reaction score
- 1
- Trophy points
- 23
- Location
- Levittown,NY
- Activity points
- 289
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.
I can't describe how many times I sat across from an engineer describing his exotic approach to an interconnect challenge, only to show him that there is a much simpler, easier and cost effective approach to achieving the same result. It's not the fault of the engineer, he was unaware that a simple solution existed. Again, i suspect that most college engineering programs do not cover interconnect technology.
Hmmmm, why?? perhaps the professors have no interconnect background either. LOL. Well, I've been doing this for 35 years, so if anyone reading this wants to create an online engineering
program for interconnect technology, I'd have fun participating.
Back to being serious....
Nailhead pins are of simple geometry, but they can serve many purposes. Below is my video presentation.
To summarize its content:
Nailhead Pins make natural mating surfaces for spring pin contacts: Gold plated PCB lands are typical mating surfaces for SLCs, but what happens if the engineer
is faced with an application that the spring pin cannot reach the PCB? Well, one solution is to elevate the gold plated connection off the surface of the PCB through
the use of nailhead pins. Another important usage is in high-cycle applications, you would not want to plate heavy gold on all the PCB pads, but you can insert
a single nailhead pin plated with heavy gold for durability. This is a tremendous cost savings tip.
**broken link removed**
Another practical application that most engineers do not consider is, the nailhead pin can be easily designed to become a low cost, precision distance
mechanical spacer. If used creatively, it can be a board to board conductive spacer.
**broken link removed** **broken link removed**
These are just two of the applications I demonstrate in the video below. Please let me know if I can help you
understand this topic in further detail. Regards, Marty
I hope my video works once again...if not, put the URL in your browser
[video=youtube_share;5jv4TyG-ELQ]http://youtu.be/5jv4TyG-ELQ[/video]
I can't describe how many times I sat across from an engineer describing his exotic approach to an interconnect challenge, only to show him that there is a much simpler, easier and cost effective approach to achieving the same result. It's not the fault of the engineer, he was unaware that a simple solution existed. Again, i suspect that most college engineering programs do not cover interconnect technology.
Hmmmm, why?? perhaps the professors have no interconnect background either. LOL. Well, I've been doing this for 35 years, so if anyone reading this wants to create an online engineering
program for interconnect technology, I'd have fun participating.
Back to being serious....
Nailhead pins are of simple geometry, but they can serve many purposes. Below is my video presentation.
To summarize its content:
Nailhead Pins make natural mating surfaces for spring pin contacts: Gold plated PCB lands are typical mating surfaces for SLCs, but what happens if the engineer
is faced with an application that the spring pin cannot reach the PCB? Well, one solution is to elevate the gold plated connection off the surface of the PCB through
the use of nailhead pins. Another important usage is in high-cycle applications, you would not want to plate heavy gold on all the PCB pads, but you can insert
a single nailhead pin plated with heavy gold for durability. This is a tremendous cost savings tip.
**broken link removed**
Another practical application that most engineers do not consider is, the nailhead pin can be easily designed to become a low cost, precision distance
mechanical spacer. If used creatively, it can be a board to board conductive spacer.
**broken link removed** **broken link removed**
These are just two of the applications I demonstrate in the video below. Please let me know if I can help you
understand this topic in further detail. Regards, Marty
I hope my video works once again...if not, put the URL in your browser
[video=youtube_share;5jv4TyG-ELQ]http://youtu.be/5jv4TyG-ELQ[/video]