Fixture tiers
FixturFab fixtures come in three tiers on a single upgrade path: Dev, Dev Pro, and Production. Moving up a tier buys mechanical sophistication and test-cycle life; your board's test points, probes, and test scripts carry over.
Comparison
| Dev | Dev Pro | Production | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | Monolithic — no separate base and cartridge | Stock base + custom cartridge | Stock base + custom cartridge |
| Actuation | Clamshell | Vertical, latch mechanism | Vertical, cam mechanism |
| Materials | Acrylic and MDF | Acetal, acrylic, and PETG base; MDF or G10 cartridge | Aluminum and steel composite base; G10 cartridge |
| Test cycle life | ~1,000 cycles | ~5,000 (base) / ~10,000 with Carbon variant or G10 cartridge | Millions of cycles |
| Sizes | Dev (196 × 180 mm), Dev XL (218 × 447 mm) | Standard (170 × 145 mm), XL (232 × 151 mm), XXL (285 × 240 mm) | 160 × 100 mm up to 600 × 450 mm — see Fixture bases |
| Cartridge options | — | MDF (low cost, ~1,000 cycles) or G10 (precision, ~10,000 cycles) | Standard G10, ESD-Safe G10, RF-Shielded G10 |
| Advanced features | — | Carbon and Tall variants | Side probing, high voltage protection, safety interlocks, RF shielding |
| Lead time | 2–3 weeks (expeditable to 1–2 days) | 2–3 weeks (expeditable to 1–2 days) | 6–8 weeks standard; 2–3 weeks with proactive material stocking |
| Best for | Early prototyping, lowest-cost entry | Most teams — the recommended starting point | Sustained high-volume production |
The modular architecture
Dev Pro and Production fixtures share a modular architecture: a stock fixture base paired with a custom cartridge.
- The base is a durable, reusable mechanical platform providing actuation, structural enclosure, and signal interface mounting. Bases are stock parts with no design NRE — the one exception is the feedthrough plate, a custom plate that exposes external connectors.
- The cartridge is the board-specific component — it holds the probes, alignment features, and any board-specific mechanical elements for your DUT. Cartridges carry the design NRE for each new board.
Dev fixtures are the exception: monolithic construction with no separate base and cartridge, which is what makes them the lowest-cost entry point.
This architecture pays off over a product's lifecycle:
- New board revision — only a new cartridge is needed, not a whole fixture, and the cartridge NRE is scaled back because your original design is already in our system. If signal requirements haven't changed, the feedthrough plate and signal interface carry forward too.
- Identical replicas — additional units of the same configuration carry no NRE at all.
- Cartridge-only orders — if you already own a compatible base, order just the cartridge.
Dev Pro variants
- Carbon — aluminum pressure frame with carbon fiber reinforced (PA6-CF) 3D-printed parts for greater rigidity, durability, and fit and finish (~10,000 test cycles).
- Tall — doubles internal base height from 70 mm to 140 mm for additional instrumentation, wiring, and accessory space.
Standard and XL sizes support all variants; XXL is available in Carbon and Tall + Carbon configurations.
Where to go next
- Not sure which tier fits? See Which fixture tier should I choose?
- Detailed base specifications: Fixture bases
- Cartridge details: Cartridges
- Signal interface options (wiring, TPCBs, feedthrough plates): Feedthrough plates and the terminology guide