Solder Pot Analysis: 6 Tests for Wave Solder Health Solder pot analysis is the laboratory check on the alloy sitting in a wave soldering bath. The pot is not a fixed material: it dissolves copper from boards, picks up iron and zinc from plating and tooling, and concentrates whatever the…

PCB Customer Complaint Traceability: Practical Process Controls Buyers and engineers often focus on the finished product and forget the production line behind it. In practice, most field failures can be traced back to process decisions made during assembly. Understanding PCB customer complaint traceability gives you a practical advantage when you…

Test Probe Cleaning: 5 Rules for Stable Yields Test probe cleaning is the maintenance step that keeps an in-circuit test fixture reading the same board the same way, shift after shift. Probes collect flux, solder dust and plating debris, and the film they build up adds resistance to every measurement…

Dry Film Lamination: 6 Parameters That Decide Yield Dry film lamination is the step that bonds a photosensitive resist to the copper surface, and it silently sets the limit on what the imaging line can produce. Every fine line that later fails to develop, every trace that lifts in the…

Fixture Probe Care: 6 Rules for ICT Reliability A fixture probe is the only electrical interface between the test system and the board, and every measurement made by an in-circuit tester passes through it. The contact lasts a limited number of touchdowns, and its condition drifts long before it fails…

Steam Aging: 5 Rules for a Solderability Test Steam aging is a preconditioning step used before a solderability test. It exposes the pads on a coupon to hot saturated vapour for a fixed time, so the surface reaches a state similar to a board that has been stored for months.…

PCB Customer Complaint 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 customer complaint environment from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering…

Nozzle Vacuum: Preparation, Placement and Process Control Nozzle vacuum is the pressure difference that holds a component on the tip of the placement head between the feeder and the board. It is produced by a venturi or a pump, measured by a sensor in the head, and it has to…

PCB Customer Complaint Timing: Process Details and Inspection Points Buyers and engineers often focus on the finished product and forget the production line behind it. In practice, most field failures can be traced back to process decisions made during assembly. Understanding PCB customer complaint timing gives you a practical advantage…

Tape Splice Control: 6 Rules for SMT Reels A tape splice is the joint that lets a running placement machine move from an empty reel to a full one without stopping the line. Done well, the joint passes through the feeder like any other length of tape. Done badly, it…