I'm a hobbyist who has developed a product which uses ~20 PTH components. The device is essentially an Arduino UNO with some extra driver ICs and LEDs. I have had quite a lot of positive feedback on the product and am considering re-designing it so that I can put it into production.
I was wondering what technology was best for automated/volume production? I've noticed that several companies use both surface mount and PTH components on their boards, Arduino being an example. How do the board designers make a decision on what technology to use? Size isn't really an issue for this product, the existing board using PTH components is a quarter of the size of it's container.
Best Answer
I'd recommend you check out the excellent EEVblog tutorial videos part one and part two covering PCB design for manufacturing. You'll not only find the answers to your component selection questions above, you'll get a ton of suggestions and advice about a half-dozen other critical issues you might not have thought of yet.
They're a long stream at about an hour apiece, but totally worth it!