Building off their successful Kitchen Incubator, the
Carbondale Technology Transfer Center (CTTC) has established an Electronics Makerspace Incubator at their 10 Enterprise Drive, Carbondale, PA facility to help regional entrepreneurs fabricate circuit boards prototypes or small runs of electronic circuit boards.
Efficiently and effectively utilizing approximately 500 square feet, the incubator houses three key machines allowing for the manufacturing of either prototypes or small lots of electronic circuit boards. The DDM Novastar equipment is comprised of:
* SPR-45VA Stencil Printer - design tool
* LS60V Pick and Place Machine with Vision and Feeders - builds the boards circuit-by-circuit.
* GF-B-HT Reflow Oven - heats and solders the circuit board.
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Paul Browne, Executive Director of the CTTC, demonstrates a piece of equipment at the Electronic Incubator. Photo by: Michael J Mullen, Photographer Times Shamrock. |
Electronics Makerspace users pay for time on the equipment, with some eventually renting space in the center. This lease-a-facility model is already paying dividends to regional businesses through CTTC's commercial kitchen, where small-scale food manufacturers cook, bake, package their products.
The Electronics Makerspace will serve small companies with specialized needs, typically in order to produce prototypes or short runs of fewer than 1,000 units. Having the prototypes or small runs made overseas can be time-consuming, costly, and expose a company to intellectual property risk.
Funding for the equipment came from the Local Share Account gaming funds, administered through the Commonwealth Financing Authority.