For normal day-to-day assembly of electronics (SMT or sub-assemblies), we do
not use finger cots or gloves, and never have in the 18 years that I've been
here.

Jim Marsico
Senior Engineer
Production Engineering
EDO Electronics Systems Group
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>


        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Jim Kittel [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:   Thursday, May 31, 2001 9:08 AM
        To:     [log in to unmask]
        Subject:        [TN] Cotton Gloves/Finger Cots

        Fellow TechNeters:

        We are questioning the need for finger protection against
contamination
        during CCA assembly.  The story has always been body oils and salts
        deposited on the solderable surfaces will undermine solderability.
Since
        our process uses robust RMA fluxes and SMT pastes (at the expense of
        cleaning) and since much of our assembly (especially SMT) is
automated, I
        would like to re-visit that issue.

        I have heard rumors of a few companies not using any finger
protection and I
        have heard of another using finger protection in assembly but not in
the
        stockroom area.  A search of the TechNet archives provided some
interesting
        comments on finger cots and gloves, but nothing relating to the
detriments
        of not using them.

        I would appreciate hearing your comments on 'if' and 'where' you are
using
        either finger cots or cotton gloves (or both) and also if there are
any
        substantiated cases where finger contamination actually caused
solderability
        issues on real product.

        Thanks,

        Jim Kittel
        Sr. Process Engineer
        L-3 Communications


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
        Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV
1.8d
        To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following
text in
        the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet
        To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message:
SET Technet NOMAIL
        Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources &
Databases > E-mail Archives
        Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for
additional
        information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or
847-509-9700 ext.5315

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet
To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet NOMAIL
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional
information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------