At 03:30 AM 3/12/2010, Marechiare wrote: >Dwayne Reid wrote: > > There has to be billions of circuit boards > > that have been manufactured that consist > > of wire leads pushed through holes and > > soldered. Many of those are double-sided > > boards with plated-through-holes but I'd > > bet that the majority of those boards are > > single-sided with NO plated-through-holes. > >Majority expressed in what? Total number of electronic products manufactured to date (many now residing in land-fills or entering recycle centers). Have a look at most electronic products manufactured for consumers say: from 1965 to perhaps a couple of years ago. Most of those products were manufactured with single-sided boards with through-hole components. I'm talking about: TV sets (CRT-based), VCR's, radios, portable electronic devices such as walkman units, cassette players, radios, etc. I've been inside of many of those units - I used to spend a LOT of time fixing broken electronics items for friends and family back when I had the time and interest. Most of those products were still working just fine when they were discarded - they simply went obsolete. >- just number of items; >- total square inches; >- total sold in US$; >- total income generated; >I'd like to see the numbers (and we should keep in mind we are talking >about PCBs targeting professional market). I'm not sure what you consider to be 'professional market' but I'd think that consumer items manufactured by the millions is pretty darned professional. dwayne PS - I'm trying hard to NOT be confrontational - its just that the opinion you expressed is something new to me and completely at odds with all of my previous experience and with the experience of my peers and mentors. I don't consider myself to be an expert but I've certainly been involved with the design and manufacture of 'professional' electronic products for the past 30 years or so. I guess that's why I'm asking: cite some references (preferably on-line) that I can actually go and examine myself. dwayne -- Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax www.trinity-electronics.com Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist