Assembling a DEV260 Fixture
The second part of the DEV260 Fixture Series covers the BOM, laser-cutting the plates, and assembling the mechanical fixture.
The FixturFab DEV260 Development Fixture is a simple, low-cost test fixture that is great for debugging or configuring PCBA’s during development. In this series, we will cover how to create a DEV260 fixture for configuring and testing a SparkFun Power Delivery Board. These same techniques can be used to create a fixture for programming, debugging, or configuring your custom PCBA during EVT and DVT.
The second part of the DEV260 Fixture Series covers the BOM, laser-cutting the plates, and assembling the mechanical fixture.
To follow along with this tutorial you will need:
While the 3D printed development fixtures are nice for small boards, they are more of a DIY solution. If you have access to a laser-cutter, DEV260 has many improvements over the 3D printed version.
The DEV260 supports down to a 50 mil pitch between test points, is faster to fabricate, supports larger PCBAs (160mm x 100mm), and is more durable. All of these benefits make them a reliable and affordable tool for EVT and DVT.
See our public DEV260 SparkFun Power Delivery Board BOM for all the components you will need. We will eventually offer kits of this for fabricating and assembling your own DEV260.
Download the STEP files from the DEV260 we designed in part one of this series. We use Fusion360 to process these for laser-cutting, but you can use and software you are familiar with.
Fabricate the remaining front, back, and bottom plates. They are the black ones pictured below. Now is a good time to also gather the remaining components from the bill of materials.
You can download the complete assembly instructions here. We’ve included screenshots to finish this article, but it is best to just follow this PDF.
You can either attach the pressure pins now or after everything is assembled.
Before assembling everything together, now is a good time to add the Receptacles, Test Probes, and Guide Pins to the Probe Plate.
Now add your DUT and confirm everything fits when clamped down in place!
You now have an assembled mechanical development fixture. The next part of this series covers wiring it to some test instrumentation then configuring and testing a SparkFun Power Delivery Board.
Part three of the FixturFab PCBA Functional Testing series.
A detailed process of connecting an Ingun Fixture Switch to a computer via USB.
