Martin:
We also had Hollis equipment which did a fine job, however, the preheat and
other areas such as upkeep, and the inability to be more flexible with
fluxes caused us to buy a new machine. We narrowed the field to three of
the major players in the wave solder equipment field. I will not go into
detail online and name all three only the one we chose. We visited each of
the three suppliers and tested their machines using our boards. At the "end
of the day" we chose to go with Soltec's 6322 machine. I think that's the
number.
This machine has finger conveyor, spray fluxer, a nitrogen boundary system
around the pot to reduce dross, a center support wire, 18.2" wide conveyor,
and a Select X debridging system (programmable hot air knife). The preheat
section is convection and divided into three sections for a total of about 6
feet of preheat. Repair, cleaning, and so forth is very easy and can be
performed relatively quick. Service response has been good from Soltec. We
are able to run a VOC water based low-residue flux with no problems for a
couple years now. The spray fluxer has control for speed, pitch, and
pressure. The debridging system is programmable to debridge a specific area
of a circuit card assembly. Using our current flux, we require no exhaust
permit. The sump pumps in the solder pot provide a very even wave. As you
are probably aware the old Hollis machines were always higher on the side
opposite the sump pump, so rails had to be adjusted parallel to the wave.
The preheat section is/was available in convection, IR, and Calrod. We
chose convection all the way except for a top side IR section over the last
convection section. Not used much, however, some CCAs required addition
heat due to ground planes, heat sinks, etc. . . . Soltec also provided
training.
I don't know your budget, time constraints, or the size of machine you will
require. I would recommend that you compare, like we did, the machines
available. There are many to choose from and you will need to understand
your short, medium, and long term needs. Choose some of your more difficult
CCAs and test the candidates on your final short list. Determine your need
(i.e. . . preheat rqt, flux rqt, etc). Develop a matrix so each candidates
machine can be compared equally.
Hopefully this will help. For our purpose, Soltec's machine met our needs.
Perhaps one of the other OEM's machines will meet your needs. The advice is
to compare and decide from there.
Ron Hollandsworth
ITT
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