In a message dated 06/07/2000 8:49:33 PM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> The items that they want to be gold are actual features on the board, not
> edge connectors or anything like that.
>
>  I don't know why they want gold rather than solder.

Hi once again Ralph!

Well, if it doesn't have anything to do with finger contacts or the like, I
have to say that your customer doesn't have a clue (I know that you can't
tell them that) but it's true.

Whether the board is finished with immersion gold or hasl makes not one bit
of difference if it's already assembled and working...not one bit of
difference.

I would ask them why it's such a big point with them, ask them to state why
they want this...and I know this can test your patience.

From experience, I've dealt with buyers that have no engineering experience
at all, that have over-looked, or not incorporated certain requirements in
the documentation or data provided to you when they ask you to build
something for them. THEN expect you to be able to correct for their
"mistakes"...

A recent example for me was that a fab needed to have the current rev level
of a fab etched into the surface layer of a the fab. Problem was that the
gerbers that were provided to fab house didn't have the current rev level
letter incorporated into the gerbers. So the fabs came to us with the wrong
rev letter designation etched on the surface layer. The rev changes were
indeed incorporated (it was an inner layer trace or something) but the outer
layer letter for the current rev hadn't been changed.

I told our customer that we could use a dremel tool to remove the etched rev
letter and place a label for the rev, but that wasn't acceptable. The fabs
had to be remade (at their cost of course, because it hadn't been in the
gerber in the first place) but they still tried to kick our butts because we
didn't make the planned delivery schedule...fun stuff huh? There wasn't a
thing that was functionally wrong with the fabs other than a letter that was
etched into the fabs on the surface layer. But that's what you get when you
deal with buyers that have no common sense...

Just venting I guess...

-Steve Gregory-

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