Bad idea.

For one thing, most all press-fit contacts have a hard gold finish.  If you solder this, your solder joint will be a ripe candidate for gold embrittlement.  It is a J-STD-001 requirement to remove gold prior to soldering.  And tinning prior to insertion would increase lead diameter and insertion forces, likely leading to PTH damage.

Second, press-fit insertion is an interference fit.  There was a discussion just yesterday in TN about the criticality of getting the PCB hole spec just right for both the drill and finish sizes.  The installation results in a hoop stress to the PTH.  One can only imagine what can happen if you then take that to solder temperatures.  Lead interference with the PTH for TH soldered applications is a no-no.

My 2 cents.

Kevin Glidden

-----Original Message-----
From: Vargas, Stephen M [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 10:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Press Fit

All:

    I have a customer who is specifying a press fit connector to be soldered after the press fit operation. I've never heard of this and I was wondering if there is any quality/reliability data in the industry as to why one should/shouldn't do this. Our customer's explanation was that it would add mechanical integrity to the joints. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Steve Vargas


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