Solder Paste Waste: Expiry, Return and Disposal Solder paste waste is the material that cannot be printed again, and it is produced on every shift: expired jars, paste left on the stencil, paste returned from the squeegee and paste contaminated by the board. It is a small fraction of consumption…

Effluent Filter Press: Dewatering and Cake Quality A filter press is the equipment that turns the sludge from a PCB waste treatment plant into a handleable cake. The plates are closed, the conditioned sludge is pumped in, and the water is squeezed out through a filter cloth until only the…

Plating Chemical Storage: Segregation and Ventilation Chemical storage is where the raw materials of a plating line wait, and the way they are stored decides whether a small mistake stays small. Two containers in the wrong place together can produce a reaction that no process control can undo. A store…

Phototool Handling: Storage, Cleaning and Registration Phototool handling covers everything that happens to the artwork film between the imaging department and the exposure frame, and it decides whether the pattern that reaches the panel is the pattern that was drawn. The film is a precision part that is often treated…

Process Cooling Water: Temperature, Flow and Quality Cooling water is the utility that keeps rectifiers, heat exchangers and chillers inside their working temperature, and on a plating line it is as important as the electricity. When it fails, the line stops rather than degrades. The utility is invisible while it…

Solder Pot Alloy Addition: Level, Grade and Skim Alloy addition is the routine of putting solder back into a wave solder pot, and it is one of the few operations where a small habit has a large effect on joint quality. The pot loses metal to the boards, to dross…

Plating Line Leaks: Hoses, Fittings and Detection A leak on a plating line is easy to ignore because it usually starts as a drip. The drip carries bath chemistry out of the tank, onto the floor and into the drainage system, and it does all three continuously while the line…

Tank Lining Inspection: Cracks, Blisters and Repair Tank lining inspection is the work of checking the protective layer inside a plating tank while the tank is empty, and it is the only time the condition of that layer can be judged properly. A lining that has begun to fail lets…

Solder Mask Ink Mixing: Ratio, Pot Life and Quality Ink mixing is the first step of the solder mask process and the one that is least often measured. A two-part epoxy ink is supplied as a resin and a hardener, and the ratio in which they are combined decides how…

Bookbinder Lamination: Keeping the Bend Area Free Bookbinder lamination is the rigid-flex technique that keeps the bend area free of prepreg and of the resin that flows out of it during the press cycle. The rigid sections are bonded, the flexible sections are protected, and the result is a board…