in circuit testing

[temcocontrols]

I have been checking out the market for a reasonable priced in circuit tester. Hewlett Packard, Vishay and a few other big names come up often along with the usual price tag. Seems there should be something for a smaller operation testing a few thousand boards. Anyone have info?<p>Maurice

[hm52ford]

Try the online version of "The Electronics Source Book". Their web site is located at www.the-esb.com. They have listings for numerous vendors of new and used equipment and you may find what you need there.<p>As a word of caution though. This will be a major capital item investment and should be approached carefully and informed. Make sure you know what you need, not what you want.<p>HM

[hm52ford]

PS<p>You may consider outsourcing the test of your boards to someone who has a flying probe tester. The return on few thousand boards more than likely will not offset the investment in a Test station, fixture development and manufacture, and machine test programming.<p>Any way just thought I would add this for extra thought.<p>Good Luck

[haklesup]

check out the trade magazine "test and measurement world" and associated website. They publish to the testing audiance. The tester you need depends on the test coverage you need (how complex are your boards) and your test volume. You need to spend less than you would outsourcing the testing in say 2 years for it to be a good deal. I have seen a lot of ads for "Test-tronics" who make a mass defects analyzer which is sort of an in circuit tester. If you don't mind low tech, old technololgy check out www.curvetrace.com for a DOS based tester that works like the Huntron Tracker (very low price). I have also seen relevant testers go on ebay for a steal. A customer of mine bought one of my $80k testers for $1500 recently.

[temcocontrols]

Thanks all.
I made a big mux and was ready to start rolling my own, but with these comments and some new orders that just came in I will need to buy something. <p>Maurice