Swarf - The Sparkly Killer

[EricVanWyk]

I received a PD recently for failure analysis. I've attached a word document that contains 5 pictures of what I saw on first opening the case.

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind teams to protect (or remove!!) their electronics when working on the robot. This one "looks like it was placed under a drill press to catch the shavings", according to one of my co-workers. The conformal coating of the boards greatly reduces the likelihood that they will be damaged by swarf. However, you really shouldn't rely on it - belt and suspenders, as they say.

Surprisingly enough, this PD works just fine after being cleaned. The boards are designed to fail safe, so it likely protected itself. On the other hand, I am glad I wasn't on the team that saw their robot grind to a halt mid-match.