Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design Forum

SMT electronics assembly manufacturing forum.

SMTnet
»
Electronics Forum
»
Nitrogen wave soldering

Nitrogen wave soldering

Subscribe to Thread

Does anyone have any experience with setting up a nitrogen s... - Feb 12, 2003 by adlsmt

Call 1-800-737-8110 for tech support. They can give you the ... - Feb 13, 2003 by PeteC

Air liquide has some great articles on this www.airliquide.... - Feb 14, 2003 by CAL

I have the identical machine and setup as you with the same ... - Feb 15, 2003 by

You may want to consider a Nitrogen Generator as an alternat... - Feb 17, 2003 by Surface Mount Solutions Inc.

I estimate the costs about the same but we build in batches ... - Feb 19, 2003 by adlsmt

We are running an RMA flux (Kester 1515). Changing the angl... - Feb 20, 2003 by

We dont have the debridging knife. I had one on an old Holli... - Feb 21, 2003 by adlsmt

adlsmt

#23367

Nitrogen wave soldering | 12 February, 2003

Does anyone have any experience with setting up a nitrogen supply system to a wave solder machine that is equiped for it? Does the nitrogen need to be room temp or higher? Does it make a big difference with bridging or solder quality? We bought a used Electrovert UPK650C and its set up for it and without it produces so much dross its not economical to run.

Thanks!!

reply »

PeteC

#23373

Nitrogen wave soldering | 13 February, 2003

Call 1-800-737-8110 for tech support. They can give you the N2 supply specs for the 650C. You should consider the cost to convert the Contour to a standard Lambda vs. the cost to bring in N2 and the consumable costs. Tech Support can give you the retro p/n to get price. I know the price is $6,975 for the parts to convert Contour to Lambda on an Econopak Plus. I believe it would be just a bit more for the Ultrapak since its a 20" wide vs. 16" for the EPK.

reply »

CAL

#23409

Nitrogen wave soldering | 14 February, 2003

Air liquide has some great articles on this www.airliquide.com

Cal

reply »

Joe

#23413

Nitrogen wave soldering | 15 February, 2003

I have the identical machine and setup as you with the same issue(s). I looked at setting up for N2 but am choosing to retrofit to a standard lambda nozzle setup. If you are soldering bottom side SMT parts or other challenging assemblies, N2 may make for sense for your needs. I figured the N2 cost at about $80/day assuming a one shift operation using a portable dewer. This includes the leasing cost of the tanks and the gas itself. We may save this much in reduced dross and rework but considering the low-med complexity of our boards, we would get similar pay back with a standard lambda nozzle.

I'm curious, are you having problems with icicling/bridging? Check out a post from 1/23 titled "Wave Soldering Icicling/Bridges"

Good luck.

reply »

Surface Mount Solutions Inc.

#23416

Nitrogen wave soldering | 17 February, 2003

You may want to consider a Nitrogen Generator as an alternative to portable Dewers. Reduced handling,no gas contracts and usage on demand will cut your liquid nitrogen costs in half.A good rule of thumb for consumption guesstimating is if you use two dewers a week, you are a good candidate for for the benefits of a generator. A PSA(Pressure Swing Adsorbtion) system as opposed to a membrane system will give you the purity levels required for this application.

reply »

adlsmt

#23429

Nitrogen wave soldering | 19 February, 2003

I estimate the costs about the same but we build in batches so the wave only runs a few hours a day. We do complex boards so I think its worth it plus you have to keep the machine awhile to recoup the investment in the new nozzles. If the market gets worse you may be able to buy a Vectra in a year for the same as you will spend the upgrade. I have not had problems with icicles, what kind of flux are you using? I read the other post, Im hesitant to crank my angle up to 7 degrees. We run at 6.

reply »

Joe

#23436

Nitrogen wave soldering | 20 February, 2003

We are running an RMA flux (Kester 1515). Changing the angle didn't help any so we're back at 6 degrees and placing an order for the lambda nozzle changeover.

Are you currently running the debridging knife?

reply »

adlsmt

#23459

Nitrogen wave soldering | 21 February, 2003

We dont have the debridging knife. I had one on an old Hollis machine I had once. It was totally worthless.

I am setting up the nitrogen today. I will let you know how its goes. We are using a water based no-clean. The nitrogen will probably make a bigger difference to us than it would to you.

reply »