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PCB residue after wave solder

PCB residue after wave solder

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We recently started to use wave-soldering. As total newbies ... - Jul 29, 2009 by Deni

Deni, This looks more like webbing and not flux residue. ... - Jul 29, 2009 by Patrick Bruneel

Hi Patrick, thanks for the response. I might add some mor... - Jul 29, 2009 by Deni

Deni, When using a no-clean flux preheating is a critical... - Jul 29, 2009 by Patrick Bruneel

Search the fine SMTnet Archives to find previous discussions... - Jul 29, 2009 by davef

Deni, You also need to check if your flux is properly wet... - Jul 29, 2009 by Patrick Bruneel

I can't open the picture but if it is webbing and you are ru... - Jul 31, 2009 by Jon Hall

Certainly does look like solder deposit across the board. Ch... - Aug 04, 2009 by BLT Circuit Services Ltd

I had seen such effect caused by the wave itself, where the... - Aug 28, 2009 by sachu_70

This has some good iinformation for wave solder defects... ... - Sep 10, 2009 by Brian A.

Deni

#59402

PCB residue after wave solder | 29 July, 2009

We recently started to use wave-soldering. As total newbies in that field, we got successful results most of the time. Howewer, this batch of PCB's had a lot of resdiue, as shown on the picture. Most of it is most likely flux, but on some areas even some soldering alloy is visible (marked red on the picture). It's a leaded soldering wave with foam fluxer and IR pre-heat. Any suggestions will be helpful. Also, if someone knows a good on-line tutorial on wave soldering (how-to's, do's and dont's) I would appreciate a link to it.

regards

- Deni

Attachments:

DSC00151.JPG

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Patrick Bruneel

#59404

PCB residue after wave solder | 29 July, 2009

Deni,

This looks more like webbing and not flux residue. Webbing is caused by not enough flux to protect the surface resulting in oxide webs sticking to the board surface.

The insufficient flux can be caused by:

- Weak flux foam head - Air knife pressure too high collapsing the foam head - Hot boards or carriers collapsing the foam head - Preheating too high burning the flux - Single flowing wave (no back drainage for oxide elimination)

Giving us some more info on your machine settings would be helpful.

Patrick

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Deni

#59405

PCB residue after wave solder | 29 July, 2009

Hi Patrick,

thanks for the response. I might add some more information - we succesfully soldered some boards with the same settings of belt speed, pre-heat temp. etc. This batch of boards differs from the previous in a way that they are 4-layer. Maybe it has something to do with it (perhaps board was not pre-heated enough due to bigger thermal mass)?

Belt speed was 120mm/min (0.8"/sec). I checked the wave width with tempered glass and it is about 40mm. What I can't check is the PCB temp. after pre-heat. As I have understood, it should be about 100 deg.C, but I have no means to verify it.

"Webbing" is definitely partially made of solder alloy, as I have removed it from the PCB by hand (it melts on the soldering iron tip)...

regards

Dejan

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Patrick Bruneel

#59406

PCB residue after wave solder | 29 July, 2009

Deni,

When using a no-clean flux preheating is a critical parameter. If you don’t have a thermo profiler you can use inexpensive temp. labels See link http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_view.asp?sku=0806822 or Google Temperature labels

If it’s a multilayer board your preheat will probably be too low (follow the preheat instructions from your flux vendor).

Patrick

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davef

#59407

PCB residue after wave solder | 29 July, 2009

Search the fine SMTnet Archives to find previous discussions, like: http://dev.smtnet.com/Forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=1&Message_ID=5157

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Patrick Bruneel

#59408

PCB residue after wave solder | 29 July, 2009

Deni,

You also need to check if your flux is properly wetting the board. Flux dewetting on the surface can also cause webbing. You can check that with spraying flux on the board surface and watch the wetting behavior.

Patrick

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Jon Hall

#59420

PCB residue after wave solder | 31 July, 2009

I can't open the picture but if it is webbing and you are running with an alcohol based flux (non VOC free) another thing to check is the Specific Gravity.

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BLT Circuit Services Ltd

#59461

PCB residue after wave solder | 4 August, 2009

Certainly does look like solder deposit across the board. Check to see if fluxing correctly. Best way is to hand flux the PCB ensuring you put plenty on. IF you still get the same result then probably down to resist absorbing the flux due to porous resist. It can also be caused by the board only just skimming the wave but this is normally only on the front edge not all over the board hope it helps Cheers Greg York BLT Circuit Services

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sachu_70

#59701

PCB residue after wave solder | 28 August, 2009

I had seen such effect caused by the wave itself, where the exposed wave surface was coated by a thin dull oxide layer which then adhered to the bottom side of PCB during wave soldering. You could verify if the wave surface is clean metal when the PCB contacts the wave. During wave soldering, the leading board edge should push out this oxidized surface layer to allow clean metal exposure to PCB.

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Brian A.

#59833

PCB residue after wave solder | 10 September, 2009

This has some good iinformation for wave solder defects...

http://www.trafalgar2.com/troubleshooter/wave_soldering.htm

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