Is It Air Knife Check-Up Time?

BACKGROUND: We just got back from a neighborly visit at one of our board fabrication shops. I saw something interesting. Their HASL machine was just short of being field stripped. The story I caught was, the air pressure from knives change over time due to heat, pressure, and, I think they said, curry. So periodically, they check the knives by: 1. Running a sheet of two-sided copper laminate through the HASL machine. 2. Doing sections at different locations on the lam. 3. Checking the uniformity of the HASL coating on the sections. Cool huh? QUESTIONS: 1. Do the air knives in water washers and wave solder machines need to be checked periodically? 2. Or is that one of those things that "you�ll know it when you see it?" 3. If a knife isn�t uniform, can you fix it? 4. How? 5. Or is it 1-800-AIR-KNIFE? TTYL Dave F

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