In a message dated 01/17/2000 12:16:13 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< Technetters, who makes solder past height gages?  Thanks for any
comments...Lou Hart >>

Hi Lou!

There's a bunch out there:

Cyberoptics (http://www.cyberoptics.com/products/solder.htm)
ASC International (http://www.ascinternational.com/page3.html)
Malcom Instruments (http://malcom.org/td3.html)
I Systems Inc. (http://www.cyberenet.net/~spimpis/ISYS/3d.html)

They're all laser based big buck systems that have got more "bells and
whistles" than you can shake a stick at. They'll all set you back AT LEAST
$10,000.

There used to be a depth measuring system called a "SMarT Measure" made by a
Jim Vaugh of Screen Manufacturing Technologies (who is now known as Alpha
Metals). It was great! Accuracy of plus or minus half-a-mil (the same
accuracy as the big buck systems) for only $1,600...unfortunately, since
Alpha bought out Screen Manufacturing Technologies, Jim can no longer market
his system (conflict of interest or something along those lines).

However, Start International (I think all of us gets mail from Start
International) has a system that's just like Jim's.

Go to:http://www.startinternational.com/pdf_files/microscopes_specialty.pdf

It's their Depth Measuring Table Top Microscope (it's a few pages into the
*.PDF document) Looks a lot like Jim's set-up, but they want $2,695 for
theirs...cheaper than a laser system that's for sure!

It's a shame you've got to spend so much money on solder paste height
measuring equipment ain't it? I gotta a question to pose though. Since the
advent of metal squeegee blades (which I use exclusively), and I've pretty
much got down what stencil thickness I'm going to depending on the pitch and
solder mask type is on the PCB, I've found that when I do measure paste
height, it's always exactly what I expected it to be. Now that wasn't true
back when I was using plastic squeegee blades, you could easily vary the
height of the paste by squeegee pressure, but metal blades won't "squish"
down into the apertures like the plastic ones did.

So my question is; "Why measure something that you know will be good?"

What is ya'lls opinion of my opinion? When using metal blades and a known
stencil thickness, is there a REAL reason to measure solderpaste height?
Shouldn't inspecting for registration, coverage, and definition be enough?

-Steve Gregory-

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