Conveyor Lubrication Control: 5 Rules for Wet Process Lines Conveyor lubrication is the maintenance task most likely to create the defect it is meant to prevent. A wet process line carries panels over chemistry, and any lubricant that reaches a tank becomes an organic contaminant that shows up as plating…

Ozone Water Treatment: 5 Checks for a Reliable Oxidation Step Ozone water treatment is used in PCB shops to oxidize organics in process water, break down complexing agents in waste streams and control biological growth in reclaimed water loops. It is a powerful and clean oxidation method, but its performance…

X-ray Calibration for Void Measurement: Comparable Numbers An X-ray system does not measure a void directly. It produces a projection image and a program decides where the void begins and ends. X-ray calibration is what makes that decision repeatable, covering the tube settings, the detector response, the geometry of the…

SMD Changeover Verification: Setup Checks Before the First Board An SMD changeover is the interval between the last board of one product and the first acceptable board of the next, and it is the point in a shift where most errors are introduced. Feeders are swapped, programs are loaded, the…

Board Clamping on the Printer: Fiducials, Vacuum and Repeatability Before the squeegee moves, the printer has to hold the board flat and still. The clamp does that, and it does it thousands of times a shift with a repeatability that the vision system cannot improve on. Fiducial recognition corrects for…

Spring Probe Contact Resistance in ICT: Wear and Limits A spring probe is a small compliant contact that presses onto a test point and carries the measurement current. Its contact resistance adds to the resistance being measured, so a probe that has worn or become contaminated changes the result of…

PCB Breakaway Tab Specification: Writing It Down Precisely Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB breakaway tab specification from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…

PCB Breakaway Tab Sample: Checking a Small Piece Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB breakaway tab sample from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…

PCB Panel Size Training: Teaching the Team Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB panel size training from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering…

PCB Breakaway Tab Handover: Passing It On Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB breakaway tab handover from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering…