How to build a Test Jig, or Test Fixture, for your Printed Circuit Boards

Every circuit board I sell need to be thoroughly tested, and measurements taken that should agree with expected values. Tests are chosen to show up any errors I might have made in the board’s assembly.

Test jig, jigging and testing.
  • Gain. I use 0.1% tolerance resistors in key parts of the circuit, so gain should match within 0.01db from one board to another.
  • DC operating points, such as the drive voltage to the output sections, DC offset, DC servo output, and bias voltages
  • Distortion; it should match measurements from other boards, all the way up to full-scale output.
  • Current running through various branches of the circuit.
  • Functionality of indicator LEDs

Here’s how I build my test jigs.

Long story short: Printed circuit board+Pogo pins=Test jig.

Printed circuit board test jig, or test fixture

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