Teensy pcb color

Ecco

Member
..hi guys..this question is out of pure curiosity...is there any way to get Teensy ordered in any different PCB color but green ?
 
..thank you very much..i was after black pcb color actually...small matter really, but it will be nice to have choices other than green..
 
We made Teensy 3.0 in black, at least initially in 2012 & early-2013.

Turns out good quality black solder mask is uncommon. With most PCB vendors, when you order black you get a lower quality solder mask than with green. For through hole and low density surface mount, it's fine. But for the BGA & QFN chips we're using today on newer Teensy models, good quality solder mask is essential. Obviously very good black solder mask does exist, since some PC motherboards boards use it. But PJRC doesn't have good experience with PCB vendors using different colors. PJRC just doesn't have a lot of pull with PCB vendors. Even when we buy a large number of boards, because Teensy is so small, to the PCB vendor it's a relatively small order.

We gave up on black with Teensy 3.1, and then the last batches of Teensy 3.0 were also made in green.

Green also works best with the automated optical inspection (AOI) process which is used right after the boards are soldered. The fundamental nature of AOI is it flags all sorts of things. Even slight surface finish on the solder can trip it up. AOI is always used together with human inspection, where the person has fewer boards to inspect if the AOI was able to confirm good solder joints at all locations. Theoretically, any color should be able to work with AOI. But as a practical matter, the optics and software are all optimized for the common green color. The workers who operate those machines generally don't mess with the settings. The net result is the AOI software flags more locations needing human inspection, which drives up cost.

These are solvable technical issues, but not without substantial investment in both time & money. PJRC is small and we have limited resources. Pretty unlikely we'll ever try a non-green color. It's a conscious choice to invest the limited resources into other areas, mostly keeping up with the latest powerful chips and developing the software side.
 
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