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January 2010

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Subject:
From:
"Stadem, Richard D." <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
(Leadfree Electronics Assembly Forum)
Date:
Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:50:26 -0600
Content-Type:
text/plain
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text/plain (94 lines)
Last week, my 12-year old son's Xbox360 crapped out for the 5th time.
The first three times, the factory fixed it, the fourth time they
replaced the Xbox, and this time they directed us to a local game shop
to have the repair/replacement done. When we went there, the owner
promptly gave us a new "refurbished" Xbox. When I asked him what
constituted a refurbishment, he brought me into the back of his shop and
showed me his used Airvac DRS24, and along the wall, stacked from floor
to ceiling, were about 200 or more Xbox 360s awaiting rework, excuse me,
"refurbishment".
Not knowing that I knew a little bit about BGA rework, the gentleman
carefully explained to me the complicated nature of the refurbishing.
How chemical processes (flux), specialized cleaning procedures (water
wash), something called "re-metallization" (hot air reflow), and many
other special processes must be followed.
So I said, "Ok, so you remove the blade from the housing, place it on
the DRS24, apply flux, bring the nozzle over the part and reflow the
BGA, clean, inspect, test, and rebox?"
Needless to say, he looked at me with a little more respect and said,
"Oh, you must be some kind of engineer." So then we talked, and he
stated that nearly 100% of the time, with only a few (but very few)
exceptions, a simple reflow of the BGA is all that is needed to
"refurbish" the Xbox, and if done properly they can last up to 1 year,
but seldom longer, due to the heat generated by the BGA during
operation. He has "refurbished" some blades as many as 6 times in a
3-year period.

Had the BGA been 63/37 alloy, soldered with 63/37 solder, this guy would
not be in business.

So, Lead-free has been good for the American Economy. Should we thank
the EU weenies, or what?


-----Original Message-----
From: Leadfree [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marcus Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 11:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [LF] Fodder for Discussion?

Good day to all.

In light of a recent interchange addressing SAC balls on BGA packages, I
thought that I'd toss a mass-marketed item out here for discussion: the
Xbox
360.  Despite the generally kitsch nature of this product, I believe
that
some fruitful insights may be taken from the example nonetheless.

In short, how do we define the billion-dollar lead-free SJ failures
which
have plagued this particular specimen?  As many have observed concerning
"green" solder formulations, the joints thus formed are more susceptible
to
metallurgical failure modes of various types vs. Sn/Pb.  Yet, I have
gleaned
that some carefully devised testing (by ostensibly impartial
researchers)
has demonstrated the converse; promoting the cause for complete
replacement
of Sn/Pb across the board (so to speak).

To sum, apart from whiskering concerns (Swatch?), is there clear
evidence
that lead-free solder metallurgies per se are indeed a "non-issue?"  If
so,
where does the case of the "Xbox" product failures need to be finally
classified?

Thanks again --

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