UN-L Engineering Electronics Shop

The Engineering Electronics Shop provides electronic and information technology upport for the UN-L E.E. undergraduate and Engineering research labs.

This means setting up and keeping functional electronic test instruments and computers in the E.E. department labs. If there are problems with the labs, contact us right away.

Student Project Support

EE Shop technicians are available to advise students on their design projects. We are in the electronic design business and have seen many years worth of student projects. See us to brainstorm on feasibility, get leads on where to get parts, information, software, troubleshooting suggestions, etc. Also, be sure to read our page of Prototyping Tips. We'll do whatever we can to help,  BUT the ultimate responsibility for design and troubleshooting is yours! We aren't a full-service electronics parts store, but we do stock selected parts for EE undergraduate labs. Read this page for more information. Also, we do have lots of free breadboarding wire.

Tool and Equipment Lending: The E.E. department attempts to make all the test equipment students require for projects available in the labs. Sometimes specialized equipment isn't in the Projects Lab but can be found in another instructional lab: discuss your need to use this equipment with a Shop technician BEFORE moving anything from a lab. (See the EE Lab Usage Guide for more information.) We'll see what we can do to accomodate you. 

As a general rule, students are responsible for their own hand tools, soldering equipment, and breadboarding supplies. (Although free breadboarding wire is available for the asking from the Shop.)  Most EE Shop test equipment is reserved for use by our technicians, but we do have a limited number of specialized or surplus instruments that can be checked out on a one-day basis.

Research Support

INSTRUMENT DESIGN: The EE Shop can design, develop, build, and service electronic equipment and instruments for all types of engineering research. This includes data acquisition and control systems, signal conditioners, equipment interfacing . . . almost anything that requires electronics, we'll have a go at it.  All such work requires valid UN-L cost objects and Shop technician labor is charged at a rate of $34 per hour. We can also help identify off-the-shelf solutions to research needs.  

ELECTRICAL SERVICE: All electrical supply wiring in UN-L buildings, including outlets, switches, etc., must be installed or serviced by licensed electricians.  Because the E.E. Shop staff are not electricians, we will refer requests for work on supply wiring to Facilities Management.  In some cases we can install line cords or plugs on some types of test equipment.

EQUIPMENT CHECKOUT?: The Engineering Electronics Shop does not routinely provide tools or test instruments for research labs.  Our test equipment is for the work our technicians do, and researchers should expect to purchase tools and equipment they will need for research work, especially common hand tools. 

However, sometimes our Shop has a limited number of surplus lab instruments like DC power supplies or oscilloscopes that we can pass along, or may have specialized test gear that we can loan on a one-day basis.

PARTS, TOOLS, SUPPLIES: Everything we stock in our limited "student store" is also available for purchase by researchers if they provide a valid UN-L cost object at the time of purchase.

Printed Circuit Boards

The EE Shop is able to fabricate unpopulated printed circuit boards for student and research projects with our LPKF ProtoMat C60 system.

• Routing with the ProtoMat: If the PCB has been drawn using a computer-aided PCB drawing program such as the Protel software provided on computers in the E.E. undergraduate labs, we can use a machine that mechanically mills copper away from around the traces and pads on a blank copper-coated circuit board. This system also drills all the holes and is able to create surface mount and RF circuit boards. Other PCB design programs capable of generating Gerber photoplot files can sometimes be used. These boards can usually be manufactured within two to three days of the time the design files are provided to our technician. It is worth checking with Tom Grady for guidelines on using Protel so that your drawing is most suitable for use on the LPKF system.
• Cost: depends on the size and complexity of the board - how much material it uses and how many routing bits it consumes.
• Surface Mount and Double Sided Boards: The EE Shop is now also able to place and mount some surface mounted components with a "pick and place" system, and to solder them with a reflow oven or hot-air soldering pencil. In addition, we can create "plated-through" holes to permit double-sided board fabrication. These services must be performed by Shop personnel and may involve additional cost. We encourage keeping designs single-sided to the greatest extent possible.
• Etching with Chemicals: The Shop has discontinued chemical etching of printed circuit boards. The speed and quality of the ProtoMat system has made obsolete the complex process of making photographic negatives, exposing sensitized boards, and etching them. The etching process also exposed our technicians to hazardous chemicals and presented significant disposal problems for our spent chemicals.
• Populating and Soldering Boards:Students are expected to mount and solder their own components to circuit boards they design; Shop technicians will only assist with surface mount devices that cannot be hand-soldered. For research boards, populating and soldering custom circuit boards involves a labor charge of $34 per hour.

Work Orders, please . . .

All requests for work done for departments must include a Work Order, filled out completely with account numbers and authorizing signature.