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Depaneling is a manufacturing process used with PCBs to increase productivity. A large PCB is made using several smaller ones, then dissected or depaneled. There are six main techniques for depaneling, some manual and some machine-based, and it can occur at any stage of the manufacturing process.
Depaneling is a manufacturing practice used with printed circuit boards (PCBs) in which a large PCB is made using several smaller PCBs, after which the large PCB is dissected or depaneled. This practice makes it easier to produce a high volume of PCBs, because machines can work on multiple PCBs simultaneously, masquerading as one large PCB. Depaneling will occur during part of the manufacturing process, after all components have been placed on the board, after circuits have been tested, or prior to packaging. There are six main ways to depanel a PCB; people make some, and some are entirely machine-based.
When a large number of PCBs need to be made, depaneling will often be used to increase productivity. Start with a large PCB, known as a multiblock. Several smaller PCBs will be assembled on this multiblock. The machines that assemble the PCB think they are producing one PCB, when in reality it is multiple boards at the same time.
When the multiblock is finished, it must be separated or disassembled. If the multiblock isn’t depaneled, there’s no way a single user could use the whole multiblock, because it wouldn’t fit on a conventional computer. To facilitate depaneling, grooves can be made in the multiblock to separate smaller PCBs, depending on the extraction method.
There are six main techniques for multiblock depaneling. In the manual breaking method, a groove is created for each PCB and a worker manually breaks the PCB against the groove line. The V-cut technique uses a large, rotating blade that cuts into the groove; this technique is cheap, because the blade costs very little and only needs to be sharpened occasionally. Punching uses a two-part apparatus to punch out small PCBs; one part has blades for cutting into the multiblock, while the second part has holders for separating the blocks.
With the router technique, a router bit is used to drill through the multiblock; this is best for PCBs with sharp corners, but has low efficiency. The saw method is similar to the rotary method, but this can cut the multi-block even if there is no groove. Laser separation uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to rapidly cut multiblock with precision.
Multi-block depaneling will occur at some point during the manufacturing process, but this point can be at almost any stage. It can be separated during circuit tests, circuit welding, before packing and assembly, or immediately after the assembly of surface pieces. This usually depends on the manufacturer’s preference, but can also depend on the type of parts used in the PCB.
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