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Questions relating to designing PCBs
By plusea
#201231
i want to design a tiny 3mm thick PCB and since it is super expensive (170$ for 10pcs) to order 3mm thick PCBs, i'm wanted to ask advice on what people with experience think of this design and what issues i might run into.

the board is super simple - basically a breakout for a mini Neopixel (SK6812MINI) where the LED is mounted at one end and the grooves are the 4 Pins (+,-,Din, Dout). shrink-tube is used to couple a 2mm diameter sideglow optic fiber in front of the LED. and conductive thread is used to sew the contacts to the plated half-via groves.

here some photos of my handmade prototypes:
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here a rough sketch:

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here the dimensions i have in mind:

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questions:
- what could be issues with milling such small boards?
- if the narrowest part of the 3mm thick board is 1.5mm wide, does this become a weak point or is the FR4 strong enough, especially since it will be a plated via at that point?
- in order to minimize waste, could it be possible to layout the boards as illustrated above so that two boards share the same plated via?
- any tips on PCB manufacturing services that do 3mm thick PCBs in small quantities? seeed studio costs 170$ for 10pcs.

thanks!
hannah

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// more photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/al ... 1569545895)
// more documentation here:
http://www.kobakant.at/KOBA/category/lulu/
https://github.com/eTextile/Lulu
By lyndon
#201325
Actually, thinking more about it, I'd use a more "normal" PCB size with a right-angle light pipe to attach the fiber. I assume that standard fiber optic connectors would be too bulky?