TECHNET Archives

December 1999

TechNet@IPC.ORG

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
"Kasprzak, Bill (esd) USX" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum.
Date:
Mon, 6 Dec 1999 08:13:03 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (216 lines)
Nils:

I think everyone on technet would probably have an interesting story or two
to contribute to an anthology of electronic assembly and test "tales of
woe". Maybe the IPC can set up a site where contributions could be collected
?

(P.S. Sorry 'bout the non-technical nature of this post)

Bill Kasprzak
Moog Inc.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nils de Caluwe [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, December 06, 1999 7:05 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: [TN] Threading the needle...long but entertaining
>
> "Stephen R. Gregory" wrote:
>
> > Hi ya'll...
> >
> > I've not posted in a while because I've been kinda' busy...bringing in a
> new
> > (used) wave solder machine. To put things eloquently, it's been
> > interesting...I think my experiences might be some interesting reading.
> >
> > As some of you may remember, I had a Hollis Future SMT-1 (that was about
> > 12-years old and had some VERY questionable care in the past) and I was
> > replacing it with a Trieber machine with a newer vintage of only
> 5-years. The
> > Trieber had one more topside preheater than the Hollis had (for a total
> of
> > 5-preheaters, 3-bottom, 2-top), and we also decided to upgrade it with a
> > spray-fluxer (from Innovative Concepts http://www.innovconcepts.com/).
> One
> > other plus was that the Trieber had a 20-inch wide conveyer, and the
> Hollis
> > was a 16-inch...wider is better (GRIN).
> >
> > One minor problem that I discovered in the beginning (me being so new
> here,
> > and of course only after the deal was made), was that the largest
> opening
> > into the building was just 6-feet wide, the Trieber is 7.5-feet wide.
> (Duhh
> > Steve you dipstick, what were you thinking!) What I had assumed (I know
> about
> > the saying about assuming things, so I don't need to be reminded), that
> there
> > would be a door big enough to bring equipment in like everyplace else
> I've
> > worked at...didn't even bother to check if the door width would be a
> problem
> > (but remember I'm in Oklahoma)...silly me.
> >
> > Anyhoo, when I realized there was indeed a problem, I promptly shat my
> pants
> > (that is the past tense of sh*t ain't it?)...what to do? I surmised
> while
> > filling my drawers...
> >
> > So I called Ed Popielarski (who I bought the Trieber from, and ya'll
> know him
> > as one of us Technetters) and told him of my brain fart (hoping that he
> would
> > say; "Oh well, no problem Steve, we'll just look for a machine for you
> > that'll fit through the door..." But no, he said; "There is a way
> Steve..."
> >
> > I said; "Huh?" He said that we could take the hoods, conveyer, and
> solder-pot
> > off the machine, tilt it on it's side, get through the door, right it,
> and
> > put it back together...
> >
> > When I picked my jaw back up off the floor, I said; "Huh?"
> >
> > He said; "Yeah, we can do it!" He seemed so confident, I said; "Uhhh,
> > okay...if you say so..." So we continued on...
> >
> > The machine arrived here in Tulsa the Monday before the Thanksgiving
> holiday,
> > and Ed wouldn't be able to come out until the following Monday after the
> > holiday, (I surely wasn't about to try and do something like this by
> myself),
> > Ed needed to come out to show me how to "thread the needle"...
> >
> > So we unloaded the machine into the parking lot, covered it with a tarp
> to
> > wait on Ed, and had tornado warnings that night...talk about karma...
> >
> > The machine survived all the rain and wind, and Ed showed-up on the
> Monday as
> > promised. In the meantime, I started emptying the pot on the Hollis
> because
> > part of the deal was that the Hollis was being traded-in. I started
> ladling
> > the solder out of the pot, and then the pot heaters died...friggen'
> GREAT! I
> > picked-up Ed at his hotel and greeted him with the good news that the
> pot
> > heaters died in the Hollis, and now we needed to torch the pot...but he
> still
> > wasn't too discouraged. Let me say this without getting into much
> detail, if
> > someone in blue overalls from Oklahoma says they'll torch a solder-pot
> for
> > you, decline the offer...Ed knows what I'm talking about.
> >
> > Anyways, me and Ed dissassembled the machine down to parade-rest, tilted
> the
> > bloody thing on it's side (with the help of some really good fork-lift
> > drivers), got it into the building, put it back together and got it
> running.
> >
> > One very interesting point was when we put the chip-nozzle into the pot.
> You
> > see, during the tornado warning night, even though I had the machine
> covered,
> > there was a bunch of water that got into the pot. We thought about it
> and
> > even put both nozzels on top of rods holding it just above the top of
> the pot
> > so that the heat from the pot while were charging it with solder would
> > convect up and evaporate any water that might have gotten inside the
> nozzel
> > passages, we didn't evaporate things enough apparently. We had a nice
> "Old
> > Faithful" jet of 500-degree solder squirt out of the top of the nozzel
> and
> > spray the ceiling when the molten solder contacted a pocket of water
> inside
> > the nozzel that didn't quite evaporate...for old farts like me and Ed,
> we
> > were pretty quick on our feet then...we were lucky (really) that neither
> one
> > of us were burnt. Water and molten solder don't mix...
> >
> > Anyhoo, we did it! Ed knows his stuff! I would have never thought it was
> > possible, but it happened!
> >
> > The machine runs great! Ed even showed me how to make the machine sound
> like
> > a "Harley"...hehehe. Solder pumps are air powered, and if you take the
> > mufflers off, set certain pump rpms (on both the chip and laminar
> pumps), get
> > the right harmonics, it sounds like a Harley idling...too cool! The
> spray
> > fluxer on it works great too...less than 10K...check it out.
> >
> > But it HAS been a LONG week!
> >
> > -Steve Gregory-
>
> Hiya Steve,
>
> I must say, if you ever get tired of doing the stuff you do...You should
> collect the
> stories you have sent in to Technet over the past years..(.even though I
> have not read
> all of them, I imagine there should be quite a few)...and put them
> together in a book
> on electronics manufacturing..it'll be a guaranteed bestseller...at least
> among fellow
> technetters..and there's plenty to go around here.
>
> Regards,
>
> Nils
> --
> ***********************************************************
> Nils de Caluwe
> Ing. Beng
> Research Assistant
>
> Department of Aeronautical, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
> The University of Salford
> Salford, Manchester, M5 4WT, United Kingdom
> Newton Building, Manufacturing Lab.
> Tel: +44 - (0)161 - 295 4562   Fax: +44 - (0)161 - 295 5575
> Website: http://www.salford.ac.uk/rdmm/ims/Midas1.htm
> ***********************************************************
> Life is what happens while you were busy making other plans
> ***********************************************************
>
> ##############################################################
> TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c
> ##############################################################
> To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with
> following text in
> the body:
> To subscribe:   SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name>
> To unsubscribe:   SIGNOFF TECHNET
> ##############################################################
> Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for
> additional
> information.
> If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or
> 847-509-9700 ext.5365
> ##############################################################

##############################################################
TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c
##############################################################
To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the body:
To subscribe:   SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name>
To unsubscribe:   SIGNOFF TECHNET
##############################################################
Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional
information.
If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or
847-509-9700 ext.5365
##############################################################

ATOM RSS1 RSS2