![This is how we make sure your Spencers are A-okay](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0552/3269/2430/articles/8b87121178a50c579f23c22547d41084_original.jpg?v=1658919647)
This is how we make sure your Spencers are A-okay
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Table of content
Right now, we are working on a quality control procedure for manufacturing Spencers and I wanted to tell you a bit more about how and what we’re doing.
Quality control is a very important step of every product’s manufacturing process, but many people forget it exists. When making complex electronic products like Spencer, high-volume quality control becomes a skill in itself.
The most important part of every electronic product’s testing procedure is the test jig.
![](https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/030/026/526/8b87121178a50c579f23c22547d41084_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.0.2&w=700&fit=max&v=1596227839&gif-q=50&q=92&s=96b298d77a66509d6257837abe68021a)
The magic test-o-machine
A test jig is usually a custom-made tool that performs a set of diagnostic procedures that determine whether a newly-produced electronic product works as expected or not.
The test jig for Spencer that we are working on will perform the following actions:
- Flash Spencer’s firmware
- Test Spencer’s electronics via special test pads that are placed on Spencer’s PCB
- Inform the operator whether the board passed all test or not
Fun fact - the jig has a Raspberry Pi 4 in it and that’s how it flashes the firmware onto Spencer’s circuit boards.
Active cooling woooow
This test jig is quite polished, but we’ve come a long way from my first test jig back in 2017.
Here are some of the test jig designs we’ve made over the years for other products:
A test jig for Ringo DIY phone from 2018
![](https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/030/026/593/6f2f12ac973079d4d0ffe210ec8f0bce_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.0.2&w=700&fit=max&v=1596228223&gif-q=50&q=92&s=f42b94d8dc0dac5beadfd90e23d73c5e)
We've been using this the past year for testing CPU boards for Ringo. Boy, this one was ugly
Anyways, stay calm and keep making!
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