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December 2005

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Subject:
From:
Dale Ritzen <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>, Dale Ritzen <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 9 Dec 2005 10:15:50 -0600
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Chris,
Before you leap, please read up on the potential problems with the type of
pot you have. Stainless steel wells will be eaten alive, over time, and you
will eventually have leaks of molten solder. There are ceramic coatings that
can be purchased to cover stainless wells, but one scratch and adios. If you
have a cast iron well you're in luck because it should handle the LF solder
okay IFF all the ducting and piping are also non-stainless, the impeller for
the solder flow is non-stainless, etc. The high tin content solders attack
stainless and, over time, you will pay the price. The new wave machines
built for LF usually have either the ceramic well and constituent parts or
have a cast iron well with non-affected parts. You have to be VERY careful
in this transition... A nice, even 1/4-inch hot solder coating of your work
area's floor is not what you want.

Happy Friday!
Dale Ritzen
Quality Manager
Austin Manufacturing Services

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Chris Schaefer
Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 9:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Preparing Solder Pot for Lead Free Processing


Hello techies,

As many are in preparation for the transition from Pb to Pb free soldering
using their wave soldering systems, I have been curious exactly how people
are preparing the solder pots for this, because I too am preparing a wave
soldering line for Pb soldering.

I have been told that there are a few different ways to do this, such as:

- Replace the solder pot altogether (expensive, but may be necessary and
safe as well)
- Drain the pot and manually scrape off as much leaded solder as
possible "hoping" we get enough of it  out
- Drain the pot and manually scrape off as much leaded solder as possible,
then perform a chemical etching process to eliminate the remaining material

Obviously with 2 of these there is a risk factor (???) that comes into play
and with roughly $13K worth of Pb Free solder and possiblity of
contaminating CCA's maybe it would just be safe to replace the pot. On the
other hand if the amount of lead left in the pot and the addition of
1200lbs. of Pb free material, the risk may not be very high and thus this
would be the most cost effective approach.

Does anyone have any experience with any of the methods mentioned or with
others that may exist? I was told there are different ways to clean the
pot, but they are not published due to the liability of the authors.

Thank You in advance.

Chris Schaefer
Suntron Corporation
Process Engineer
[log in to unmask]

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