What Bob says is a direct reflection of what I have experienced. One of the companies I work for reviewed the My600 jetprinter using a large sample of production boards. What they validated was exactly what the Mydata people told us; the jetprinter worked pretty well when using no-clean paste, but would not print RMA very well, and would not print water-soluble flux-based paste very well at all, totally unacceptable. That was about two years ago, Since then, I have been told by our Mydata rep there have been improvements, but printing anything other than no clean has been very problematic still.

Please don't take my word for it, however, as that was some time ago. They may have newer printers/heads that can do it today.

I know of no other printer than can jetspray anything other than no-clean flux, BUT, I do know that some 3D printers used for Solidworks modeling can, in fact, be used to print even water soluble FLUX first, followed by a second pass of nanospere powder into the flux with very good results.

-----Original Message-----

From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Kondner

Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 4:35 PM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: [TN] Jetting Solder Paste Experiences?



Hi,



When used in Denver Colorado the air pressure at 1 mile high was a big issue. They almost refused to sell it. Not all pastes would work, we use a no clean.



Using gerber files as the paste source can be a big problem, the CAD software was really designed to be fed with CAD data. Knowing the package type  and PCB PAD pattern is what they want. Gerber silk screen files are not very smart. When you get a paste gerber that already has window pained thermal pads it becomes an issue. I wrote code that took BOMs and package models and generated GenCAD files from the paste gerber. For the windowed thermal I had to create "Fake Pins" (and this was long before fake news) and for some paste openings I had to generate "Fake Parts" as well.



 What Mycronics expects gerber file users to do is manually select sets of paste openings to define the parts. Kind of tedious if you ask me. Takes 1/2 to 3/4 hours per medium board. Their sales folks will wave a magic hand and tell you it only takes a few minutes. If you look at real  paste gerbers there is often a lot of weird stuff.



The My600, at the lower levels, only prints rectangles and circles. Anything weird like an SOT-89 center pad can get complicated. And then you have shield cans that need paste, the list of exceptions builds.



As for quality of the paste image it is super good. The first time I saw the output my jaw dropped to the floor. My customer then bought a second and another customer go one.



Perfect No. Really Good Yes. Also expensive but my one customer saved almost $1K a day on stencils.



Bob K.



-----Original Message-----

From: TechNet <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Bob Wettermann

Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 4:23 PM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: [TN] Jetting Solder Paste Eperiences?



We are considering a Mycronic ink jetting system due to the stencil flexibility and payback. We understand it has limitations with respect to the type of solder paste/flux it can print.



Has anyone had experience with the MY600 series? Positives? Negatives



Any fans of the Essemtec jet and place as an alternative?



--

Bob Wettermann