Hi Joe,

I don't know how many times I've been given the same answer that you gave. I think what people are asking is what it the optimal place to start given a particular industry.

While there are a ton if different leaded alloys the industry pretty much standardized on 63/37. Sure there were a few exceptions but in general if you were getting started that was the best place to start.

What probably every small and even some large companies are asking is "where do we start to achieve the greatest degree of success". Everyone still has to qualify their process but at least if they were given an average board type, flux type, solder type, paste type, etc. that has a little track record, it sure would help.

My 2C worth,

KennyB
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Precision Analytical
Lab
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 2:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Lead free


Mustafa,

While many may be willing to share what lead-free materials have worked well for their manufacturing environment, it is still up to you or whoever makes those desicions in your organization to find ones that will work for your process.  It has been stated many times that qualifying to lead-free is the same as any other process qualification.  You have to start at the bottom and work your way up.  Unfortunately for everyone, alot of research time and work has to go into transitioning a process from one material to another.  To answer your question about which material, try talking with Kester or Alpha Metals.  Both have good reputations and their materials can be found in numerous manufacturing operations.

As far as alternatives to lead-free, the answer is unfortunatley no.  The choice is lead or no lead. If your company plans on selling product to Europe,  then it is required that the materials used within circuit board manufacturing not contain any lead by July of 2006.

It sounds like you have alot of work ahead.  I hope all goes well.  If you need further assistance, contact us offline.

Regards

Joe Russeau
Precision Analytical Laboratory

---------------------------------------------------
Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e
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 or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL)
To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest
Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315
-----------------------------------------------------