Ozone Treatment: Plating Bath and Rinse Water Control Ozone treatment is an oxidation step that uses dissolved ozone gas instead of a liquid oxidant, and in a plating shop it is used in two places. It breaks down organic material carried in rinse water, and it destroys the organics that…

Anode Life Tracking in Plating Tanks Anode life is the number of ampere hours a basket or a bar can deliver before it has to be pulled, and tracking it turns anode changes from a reaction into a plan. A tank that still looks full can be close to the…

Plating Bath Chemical Addition: Sequence and Make-Up Chemical addition is the routine of topping up a plating bath, and it is one of the few operations where the order of the steps changes the result. The same chemicals added in a different sequence can produce a cloudy bath, a precipitated…

Stencil Frame Tension: Mesh, Glue and Print Quality Frame tension is the force holding the mesh taut inside a stencil frame, and it is the property that keeps the stencil flat against the board through a print stroke. A frame that has lost tension still looks correct on a bench,…

Laser Depaneling: Heat, Char and Edge Quality Laser depaneling cuts a panel into single boards with a focused beam instead of a router bit, and it does so without mechanical stress on the edge. That is its main advantage for thin boards, for dense assemblies and for shapes that a…

Differential Pressure: Plating Filter Cartridge Life Differential pressure is the most useful number on a plating filter, because it describes the condition of the media rather than the condition of the pump. A gauge across the housing shows the pressure the pump must overcome to push solution through the cartridge.…

Electroless Accelerator: Strength, Rinse and Control The accelerator is the step that follows the palladium catalyst in an electroless plating line, and its job is to remove the tin that surrounds the palladium so that the catalyst can actually work. Without it, the surface carries palladium that is buried inside…

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…

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…