Attaining consistent and accurate solder (and flux) volume uniformity in hand soldering has long been a critical quality and performance issue. Traditional hand soldering creates consistency and quality issues from operator to operator, from shift to shift, from day to day, and even within the same operator within the same day!
Hand soldering always delivers inconsistent solder volume.The human factor is a major contributor to this non-uniformity.
Solder preforms:
- offer a solution to the need for consistent solder volume.
- are the preferred solution in tens of thousands of applications where the uniformity of solder volume is critical.
- provide the correct alloy, the right size, and the exact volume of solder that you require.
- are available in custom sizes, shapes, volumes, and packaging, to suit your production needs.
- can be flux coated with a consistent and precise volume, and type, of flux. Flux-coated solder preforms reduce process time by eliminating a separate flux application step. They can also reduce total flux usage.
- can be ganged together (InTEGRATED® Solder Preforms) for mass placement. I blog about that here and here.
- can be manufactured using a fugitive dye (in the flux coating) imparting a visible color for easy identification. This helps distinguish visibly-similar but different (alloy, dimensions, etc.) solder preforms.
- can be clad to a dissimilar metal, providing extra strength and/or the ability to bridge gaps.
Using, applying, positioning, and reflowing solder preforms (and flux) is simple. Simply place the solder preform at the joint site (by hand or robotically), and apply heat. It’s really that simple. Each joint will have precisely the same solder volume regardless of who is doing the soldering.
Manage your 1st-pass yields, your quality, your field failure rates, your customer satisfaction, and your profitability by putting solder preforms to work for you.
Paul Socha
23 October 2012
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