The world price of solder is at an all time high, so reducing solder consumption—and therefore costs—should be at the top of every electronics manufacturer’s wish list. On average companies throw away 75% of their solder as dross, but by automating the solder dross recovery from their wave soldering process, a company can actually reduce de-drossing time by up to 80% and solder purchases by up to 50%. Here we look at how one company worked with their equipment supplier to automate this process in-house. Read
more...
Over the last few years I have been asked to examine many different ball grid array (BGA) defects from assembly and on field failures here are a selection of the defects and some of the popular causes. This month's column includes examples of incomplete reflow, lead-free J-lead joints, ceramic BGA joints and more. Read
more...
Bob Willis will be presenting a workshop at the SMTAI, August 17-19, 2008 in Orlando, FL, and the IPC Fall Meeting, September 21-24, 2008 in Schaumburg, IL; for details of the workshop go to www.smta.org/smtai.
Just eight years ago, Tom Krol, an ambitious electrical engineering student at The College of New Jersey, founded Innovative Mechanical & Electrical Technology, a circuit design and engineering house in Bristol, PA. ‘IMET’ achieved initial modest success by providing a wide range of turnkey services for OEMs—starting with product conceptualization, engineering, and ending with finished prototypes—and for consumer products, even package design. Read more...
ZESTRON‘s new FAST cleaning technology FAST technology based cleaning agents are a proprietary mix of newly developed surfactants, which allows for a quicker removal of a wide variety of the latest lead-free and eutectic flux residues.
Low-cost Ultrasonic Stencil Cleaners The Series 500 is also an excellent entry-level machine for users not able to purchase a fully automatic system yet require the cleaning efficiency of the Smart Sonic stencil cleaning process.
Inside the July 2008 issue
of
Global SMT & Packaging magazine:
"Understanding hidden reactions and the importance of profile in reflow soldering, part 1" by Dr. S. Manian Ramkumar, Anand Kannabiran, Aarthi Baskaran, Dr. Viswam Puligandla, Bjorn Dahle
"PCB production & test: Tips from pros on lead-free processes, part 1—issues in hot air solder levelling (HASL)" by Thomas Berger
Case Study: Solder dross recycling: Tried, tested and proven at Kimball Electronics
Case Study: Electronic design & engineering firm expands sales by automating PCB assembly
Interview: Bernd Schenker—ERSA GmbH
"Your Questions Answered at SMT Nuremberg 2008" by Bob Willis (European edition)
"Challenging times ahead... Component orders may be exceeding end market demand" by
Walt Custer and Jon Custer-Topai
Wear-out system reliability with multiple components and load levels" by
Werner Engelmaier
Do you have a technical solution
for the industry?
Global SMT & Packaging is currently accepting submissions
of original, previously unpublished technical articles, industry-related
book reviews, and articles that offer insight into industry trends
and developments. For more information, or to submit a query,
contact Trevor Galbraith at editor@globalsmt.net.
