Air Knife Flux Control in Wave Soldering: 5 Rules An air knife is a slot that blows a curtain of air across the board after fluxing, and its job is to remove the excess flux and leave a controlled film. The film thickness decides how much activator reaches the joint…

Wave Solder Nozzle Wear Control on Wave Machines: 6 Rules The nozzle is the part of a wave soldering machine that forms the solder into a standing wave. It is a consumable, and it erodes faster than the pump that feeds it, because the solder is hot, moving and loaded…

Plating Exhaust Control: Airflow, Scrubber and Tank Covers Plating exhaust removes the mist and vapour that a working plating line produces, and it does two jobs at once. It protects the people in the room, and it keeps the chemistry from moving between tanks. The exhaust system is part of…

Panel Cleaning After Routing: Burrs, Dust and Handling Routing is a dusty, abrasive operation, and the panel that comes off the router carries burrs at every cut edge and dust in every hole. Panel cleaning after routing is what removes both before the board goes any further. The cleaning step…

Copper Peel Strength Control on PCB Laminates: 5 Rules Peel strength is the force needed to pull a strip of copper away from the laminate at a defined angle and rate. It is a measure of the interface, not of the copper and not of the resin on its own,…

Sequential Lamination Control for HDI PCB Builds: 6 Rules Sequential lamination builds an HDI stack one layer at a time. The inner cores are bonded, drilled and plated, and then further layers of prepreg and foil are added on top of the finished subassembly and pressed again. The method exists…

PCB Panel Size Checklist: What to Check Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article explains PCB…

PCB Panel Size Environment: Where It Happens 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 environment from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering…

PCB Panel Size Traceability: Following One Board Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article explains PCB…

Press Plate Flatness and Pressure Distribution Control Press plates are the tooling that transfers pressure and heat into a laminated stack, and their flatness sets the limit on how uniform the finished panel can be. A plate that has developed a crown, a wave or a worn edge will press…