Hi Everybody,

I've been asked to troubleshoot a BIG problem with our wave flow soldering
machine and I could use some advice.  I'm in the beginning stages of
learning about wave flow soldering.

We use Tin Lead 63/37 solder with Kester-5738 Dross Inhibiting Oil and, to
date, my solder analysis has come back fine.
And recently, we've been getting alot of bridging on assemblies (multilayer
FR-4).  No surprise really, there is an embarrassing amount of scum
(dross-?) and our Tinning oil is gunking up.  We've only used this oil for a
few months so it's the only reported process change.  The joints look It's
an old Hollis machine (bought in '83) that has seen better days.  The first
thing management said was, "Should we go and buy a new machine?"  Showed
Kester the pics and they said the oil was at the end of its life and broke
down.

I threw a couple of pictures on my public drive starting with the word
'Solder -'.  I kept them fairly large (~500 k each) so people can get a good
idea of what I'm up against.  For the digital buffs, they're scaled down 60%
from the originals using a Sony DSC-D700 camera.

http://www.driveway.com/share?sid=a8f3cb1d.96df8&name=Pictures

Thoughts, questions, suggestions, . . . . prayers?

Do we just need to scoop the gunk out (that was my weekend) and keep going?
Start over with a fresh bath of solder?


The more I do, the more I learn . . . the hard way.

Hans

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hans M. Hinners
Materials Engineer (Process & Manufacturing)
Warner Robins Air Logistics Center
Avionics Production Division
Manufacturing Branch
380 Second Street, Suite 104
Building: 640, Mail Stop: LYPME
Robins AFB, GA 31098-1638
Voice: (478) 926 - 1970 Fax: (478) 926 - 7164
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.robins.af.mil

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