Newbury Electronics invests in laser drilling system

Printed circuit board (PCB) designer and manufacturer Newbury Electronics (Newbury, Berkshire, England) has invested £500,000 (over $646,000) in three new pieces of manufacturing equipment: a laser drilling and milling machine, a selective soldering machine, and the company's tenth surface-mount device (SMD) pick-and-place machine.

"Electronics and electrical engineering is becoming increasingly complex, and the continual development of smart mobile technology is requiring ever-smaller boards," says Philip King, managing director of Newbury Electronics. "We are particularly excited about the laser drilling machine, the first of its type to be installed in the UK. It will ensure shorter lead times for customers, but still at a very realistic and reasonable cost."

The LPKF 5120 laser drilling and milling machine will be used to manufacture next-generation PCBs with holes around 60µm (compared to the existing 300µm, which is typically the smallest hole that can be drilled mechanically). The Ecoselect 1 selective soldering machine, which will robotically solder advanced PCBs at four times the speed of a skilled human technician, is the second of its type to be installed at the company. And the Yamaha I-Pulse M20 SMD pick-and-place machine (its eighth installation) adds capacity to process many different PCB assembly orders simultaneously with on-time deliveries in short lead times.

In addition to the new equipment, since January 2017, the company has appointed 11 additional staff who will receive training across the entire PCB manufacturing process.

For more information, please visit www.newburyelectronics.co.uk.