Mike

Is the new project involving a product that is safety critical, and is  
this a change from your existing product type?

Have you found it necessary to install special flooring materials to  
stop people sliding around?

Yes to either part and their comment has some merit. I am not too sure  
about "contaminating your solder joints", but I know that many  
silicone coatings have a propensity to "cover" most adjacent surfaces  
and are a major pain the posterior to clean-up.

Personally I would recommend that you separate your coating process  
from the rest of the production area - at least from a safety point of  
view. As you say your process has been around for 15 years, no doubt  
the coating uses flammable solvents, therefore all adjacent electrical  
equipment, switches and lights should be flameproof.

I hope this helps in your consideration - remember, the customer is  
always right?

Regards

Graham Naisbitt

Email: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +44 (0)12 5252 1500
Web: www.gen3systems.com


On 28 May 2009, at 20:37, Mike Johnson wrote:

> We are a contract builder that manufactures printed circuit board  
> assemblies
> and apply a silicone conformal coating to those assemblies.  Our  
> coating
> process is not isolated from the assembly and test area.  We use a  
> Sn63Pb37
> solder process in both our smt and wave solder areas.  This has been  
> our
> process for at least the last 15 years.  We are being told, by a  
> potential
> customer, that we are risking silicone contamination of our solder  
> joints as a
> result of our coating process being in close proximity to assembly  
> and test.
> What are the risks to solder joint quality, if any?  Thanks.
>
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