SparkFun Forums

[george graves]

Yep - the ends are really great. I keep them in a bin called "zero ohm"

[PaulWanamaker]

I received some feedback on my DIY Copper Via Rivet article from someone that had experience with rivet failure in old TV PCBs back in the 60's. (I realize those boards were similar to FR2 (phenolic) so the CTE would be worse than FR4).

I am in the process of building a Thermal Cycling Test Rig to determine the reliability of these rivets in FR4 PCB material. I should have it done over the next week. You can follow along at http://paulwanamaker.wordpress.com

[Igarashi]

I also find the threading method to be the easiest / fastest.

One thing that helps is to design boards quite differently for home production vs factory production. I make the vias quite large for home boards, about 2-3mm squares, with very small, 0.4mm or so holes. I will drill out with a bit larger than 0.4mm, but the large via area helps if my top / bottom alignment is a bit off, and the extra space helps when threading.
I use a braided audio cable which unravels to very thin (sub 0.1mm) strands that are probably just pure copper. Thread through all the vias, then quickly solder the whole top, then the whole bottom, then cut all the connecting threads from both sides. Once you've done it a bit, it only takes a few minutes.

Also when designing the board, if possible I try to put all the vias in a nice line or rows. That makes threading fast / easy.