Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1069358
54 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2019 the panel. For most users, the time it takes to plate an acceptable thickness of copper is 40- 60 minutes. If you do the math, to achieve a process speed of half a meter per minute when the plating time is one hour, the continuous plating cell needs to be 30 meters long. This length does not include the pre-clean and rinse tanks that are required for the process. If you want to pattern plate, then the machine is longer still due to the additional process stages such as tin plate after the copper process. Some of the VCP machines made for Asia are more than 100 meters long, which is unlikely to suit smaller factories. The copper cell in the VCP is usually split into a series of sections, each of which is controlled by an individual rectifier to produce the electroplating current. Often, these sections will be between two to five meters long, which adds a problem for small batch sizes. If you want to produce a single panel on the standard VCP line, then you will need to run dummy panels to fill the plating section of the line, so the rectifier current can stabilise before the production panel enters. You would also have to add the same dummy panels afterwards so enable the production panel to leave the plating section before the plating current can be switched off. This requirement for dummy panels each time there is a substantial change in process parameters is a major problem when applying the process to small batch manufacture. The machines are also relatively expensive when compared to traditional process lines. Thus, on paper, the VCP process is not ideally suited to smaller factories manufacturing a few panels of each job, but further development of the process may change that. Plans to use small rectifiers applied to small sections of the copper tanks will greatly reduce the requirement for dummy panels to be applied between jobs requiring different process parameters (one of the larger stumbling blocks for this process). If you have the flexibility to tailor your manufacturing method to suit the process, then it is a lot easier to apply the VCP process. I have been busy for a while working with a wonderful company in the northern part of Figure 4: Vertical continuous plating (VCP).