Electronics

PCB and component inspection at line speed

Gaugegrove detects solder defects, misplaced components, bent leads, and cosmetic failures on PCBs and connectors. Deployed inline, runs at the throughput rate of your SMT or THT line.

0.2mm
Minimum detectable solder gap
98.7%
Detection rate, solder bridge defects
<40ms
Per-board inference
Side-by-side
Shadow mode alongside AOI

What We Detect

Defect vocabulary for PCB and electronics assembly

Solder bridges

Unintended solder connections between adjacent pads or leads. Detected on fine-pitch ICs and QFPs where visual gap is 0.2mm or larger.

Missing solder / cold joint

Insufficient solder volume, cold joints, and tombstone conditions. Classified by severity using reflectance pattern analysis against trained good-board references.

Component misplacement

Off-center component placement, rotational error, and wrong-side assembly. Covers 0402 and larger passives, and all through-hole components.

Missing components

Absent components at expected pad locations. Gaugegrove compares each board capture against the trained reference for the board variant being run.

Bent leads

Deformed through-hole leads and lifted IC pins. Particularly important on connector assemblies where lead geometry affects mating force and electrical contact.

Surface contamination

Flux residue, foreign particles, and PCB surface discoloration. Flagged before conformal coating application to prevent adhesion failures in the field.

How It Works in Electronics

Post-reflow, inline or end-of-panel

Camera placement goes post-reflow, where the solder joint is visible but the board has not yet been depaneled or washed. For THT lines, the camera station sits after the wave solder machine. Gaugegrove compares each capture against the per-variant good-board reference model, using configurable confidence thresholds per defect class.

For lines already running automated optical inspection (AOI), Gaugegrove can run in shadow mode alongside the existing AOI station during a 30-day calibration period before going live, letting you compare detection rates before switching.

  • Per-variant board models, no manual programming
  • Shadow mode alongside existing AOI
  • MES/ERP integration for board-level traceability
  • Configurable defect class thresholds per board variant

Running SMT, THT, or mixed-technology lines?

Send us a sample board or defect image set and we'll do a free benchmark against your current AOI miss rate.