DIP stage


Welcome to the DIP level

As the brightly-colored sign indicates, this area handles the DIP stage of the assembly process.


The dust removal chambers of DOOM

Before anyone is allowed into this area of the factory, they must go through specialized cleaning chambers. Air showers blast about four people at a time for a few seconds to cleanse them of loose debris.


And you thought *you* had a lot of extra ram slots in your workshop

This stage of motherboard assembly tackles larger components like heatsinks, I/O ports, and expansion cards slots, which can easily be fitted by hand.


This is where the bulk of the work happens

Fresh from the SMT floor, boards enter the DIP stage ready for all the other components to be placed. A single, long line handles the construction for every board of the same model number. Conveyor belts take each motherboard along the path, while workers place just one type of component on each board.

From boring and barren to nearly finished in one production line

The workers rotate so everyone gets a chance to take a break, but the constant stream of production never lets up. They also switch stations somewhat regularly to keep from doing the same thing over and over again.


Going into the wave soldering machine

At the tail end of the initial assembly line is the wave soldering machine, in which pin-through components are electrically and mechanically connected in one step.


...getting 'dipped'...

Wave soldering is an impressive process to watch—an entire vat of solder is kept in liquid form and directed to flow such that it just barely touches the pins on the bottom side of each motherboard.

Here's a video of wave soldering in action

Components mounted to the bottom side of a board have to be put on after the wave soldering process, and they can only be surface-mounted.


...and leaving the machine, ready for the last components to be attached

Since the solder doesn't have to be directed to each component individually, motherboards can continuously move through the machine, greatly increasing production rates. Several large fans cool the motherboards quickly after they leave the soldering machine for the final steps of assembly.


Heatsinks for the north and south bridge chips are among the last components placed

While the other components are each handled by a single person, larger parts that require a secure connection through the motherboard are installed by a team of workers.