For those unfamiliar with ITAR it’s a mandate by the U.S. Department of State with regulations that dictate that any…  Clink on link below to read

In this newsletter we learn about the “head on pillow” defect which can develop during the  building of lead free assemblies.

I also invite you to check out the review on the spy camera  in ourGadget Review corner.

“Head on Pillow” Defects

One specific type of defect that we have seen routinely on lead-free ball grid arrays (BGAs) is called “head-on-pillow”. Head-on-pillow is a defect where both the paste deposit and the solder ball reach a full state of melt but fail to coalesce. With head-on-pillow the soldering temperature is sufficient to fully melt the solder bump and paste deposit, but an impediment develops to the proper formation of a solder joint. One or both ends of the intermittent or failed interconnect will show evidence of displacement while it was melted, forming a shape that resembles that of a pillow with an indentation of your head. Intermittent opens are the result.

“Dye and pry” testing is used to identify the presence of head-on-pillow defect. The dye applied during this test can penetrate the gap formed between the two ends of the poorly connected solder joint and can be identified when the component is removed from the PCB.

Proper care in profiling, proper material and component selection will prevent these problems fro occurring. This is why you chose a professional assembler with lots of experience.
Wishing you a happy holiday season!

In this newsletter we learn a few more tips on cleaning no clean flux chemistries. BESTProto uses a water soluable flux as its standard processing chemisry, however other chemstires such as no-clean flux system can be specified.

I also invite you to check out the review on one of the newest smart phones in our NEW Gadget Review corner.

Cleaning a No Clean

PCB assemblies are becoming denser, which means that higher-quality cleaners are needed to remove no-clean residues. In addition the distance between components and the board continues to decrease as more high density package styles such as microBGAs, chipscale packages (CSPs), 0204s, etc. are in use.

The term no-clean implies, according to norms, that residues are chemically safe and can be left on the PCB. The corrosion test, surface insulation resistance (SIR) test, electromigration, and other specialized tests determine the halogen/halide content used to verify no-clean safety for the finished assembly. However, for high-reliability or high frequency applications, no residues or other contaminants can remain on the circuit board.
BESTProto makes certain that any cleaners used on your PCBAs are compatible with the residues left by the soldering processes. In fact, if residues are hidden or trapped under components, using the right cleaner along with partial cleaning is preferred.

BESTProto has the expertise and the process knowledge to clean your PCB whether it is a no-clean, aqueous or other process.
Find another article on the topic here:

Make sure you understand the type of chemistry being used to build your product. Have this conversation with your contract manufacturer BEFORE your next build.

Engineering talent. Our engineers have an average experience base in electronics of 20 plus years. They have lots of experience working on many different kinds of products and have experienced firsthand numerous technical and processing issues that will help make your build go that much smoother.

Technician talent. Our soldering technicians have many years working in a challenging environment where they have experienced many different kinds of products, components and solders. They have been trained by our IPC master instructors on site. We also have PCB repair artisans on staff who make PCB modifications per IPC 7721 requirements as well as many of the military requirements.

In order to see how we can help you build those lower volume specialty builds requiring greater dexterity contact Laura Ripoli at (847) 797-9250 or by email at lripoli@solder.net.

When there are specialty build items such as odd form factor parts or sub-assemblies or when there are low volume builds where precision hand soldering needs to take place think of BESTProto. When there are assemblies that require soldering or do not lend themselves to machine placement think of BESTProto.
Our assemblers are highly trained who have many years of hand soldering experience and who take pride in their workmanship.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Regards

Garth Cates BESTProto

Specialty Hand Soldering for Low Volume Assembly

BESTProto welcomes the challenges associated with building low volume through hole electronic assemblies which are not well-suited for machine or automated assembly. We embrace these challenges as we possess all the right tools to take these projects to completion:

Engineering talent. Our engineers have an average experience base in electronics of 20 plus years. They have lots of experience working on many different kinds of products and have experienced firsthand numerous technical and processing issues that will help make your build go that much smoother.

Technician talent. Our soldering technicians have many years working in a challenging environment where they have experienced many different kinds of products, components and solders. They have been trained by our IPC master instructors on site. We also have PCB repair artisans on staff who make PCB modifications per IPC 7721 requirements as well as many of the military requirements.

In order to see how we can help you build those lower volume specialty builds requiring greater dexterity contact Laura Ripoli at (847) 797-9250 or by email at lripoli@solder.net.

We look forward to hearing from you!
Regards

Garth Cates BESTProto

Reverse Engineering of PCB’s

Reverse engineering is a process of analyzing a product to determine how it was designed and how it operates. BESTProto can reverse engineer a printed circuit board to determine how the components are interconnected. Multi-layer boards are examined with an X-Ray system to determine how the inner traces are routed.

You may need to reverse engineer a product in order to:

• Cost reduce a board where there are lost files or the board is not supported any longer by the OEM
• Provide a replacement for an obsolete printed circuit board
• Extend the useful life of your equipment by reverse engineering its printed circuit boards
• Replace a lost design file
• There is the desire to improve the performance of the existing board for which you do not have a intelligent database
• Update an existing PCB assembly with new capabilities
• Re-engineer an old PCB design to current standards, using a new component
• Produce a product which competes with the product to be analyzed

We are an engineering and build company with the ability to reverse engineer electronic products providing support engineering documentation in CAD format. With many years of engineering and build experience we can handle complex assembly builds. We are easy to work with and understand the tradeoffs involved with this type of work.

In order to see how we can help you reverse engineer that older product contact Laura Ripoli at (847) 797-9250 or by email at lripoli@solder.net.

The format of the seminar and the quality of the speakers will allow you to gain several knowledge “nuggets” during the day. Bring the tough problems in the prototyping process either before the SMEs 1-on-1 or before the whole group during the roundtable discussion. In addition you may want to exchange ideas on vendors, various aspects of your processes with others in the other to see what works and what doesn’t. Use this opportunity to to expand your knoweldge on various aspects of the prototyping process. A full brochure on the seminar can be found here.

The Who, What, When and Where?

The seminar will be held Friday, March 6th at:
BESTProto
3603 Edison Place
Rolling Meadows IL 60008

Schedule of events:
9:40AM + Registration, coffee and donuts
10:00-10:40AM Mechanical Prototyping
10:45-11:25AM Electronics Design
11:30-12:10PM Board Assembly
12:15-12:55PM Hot Lunch-Chicken Tettrazini, Fresh Garden Salad, Rolls, Chocolate Cake
1:00- 1:40PM PCB Assembly
1:45- 2:25PM Test
2:30- 3:00PM Roundtable discussion-”Biggest Challenges Faced by Users in Prototyping”

Sponsoring company links:
Mechanical prototyping-Designcraft
Electronics Design-Delta Mobile
PCB Assembly-BESTProto
Electronics Test- Test Coach

In order to register for this FREE seminar call Laura Ripoli at (847) 797-9250 or send her an email at lripoli@solder.net.

Signups are limited to the first 50 participants.