Apr 07, 2016 
Metcal has announced that it is a sponsor of the IPC Hand Soldering Competition in association with Advanced Rework Technology. The competition is scheduled to take place April 12-14 at Birmingham NEC in Hall 2 during National Electronics Week (NEW). NEW will be offering cash prizes and a ticket to SMT Nuremberg 2017 for the winner to pit their skills against an international pool of experts.
Rick Nuttall, Metcal’s Director of Sales – Europe, commented, “Metcal is pleased to sponsor the IPC Hand Soldering Competition and to promote high-quality soldering standards within the electronics industry.”
Participants will compete against each other to build a functional electronics assembly within a 45-minute time limit. Assemblies will be judged on soldering in accordance with IPC-A-610F Class 3 criteria, the speed at which the assembly was produced and overall electrical functionality of the assembly. Debbie Wade and Mark Harvey, both from Advanced Rework Technology Ltd., will serve as the judges and the 2016 winners will be awarded on the last day of the expo (April 14th) on the show floor by National Electronics Week Director, Claire Saunders.
Metcal will exhibit with its distributor, Solder Connection, in Stand #302, highlighting the MX-5200 Soldering System that will be used in the competition. Competition participants are welcome to stop by the booth to get familiar with the system beforehand if they are not already. Experts from the Metcal team will be available at the booth to provide best practice advice and equipment demonstrations.
Since 1982, Metcal has been a recognized worldwide leader in the electronics assembly marketplace. As part of OK International, Metcal’s industry-leading position addressing advanced technology in conduction soldering and rework/repair, has and will continue to broaden to a full electronics bench tool single-source solution. Metcal product lines currently include: hand soldering and desoldering, convection rework products, fume extraction and fluid dispensing tools. For more information, visit www.metcal.com.
