Anyone have an opinion about whether periodic testing of irons is warranted, and if so, how often? Newer specs and handbooks don't address this. For the record, we still apply an old military requirement, and test each iron every 3 months for tip-to-ground resistance (<2 ohms), potential from tip to ground (<2 millivolts), and temperature variation at rest (+/- 10 degrees). Most of ours are Metcal, and the pass rate is better than 98%. Those that fail usually do so for tip resistance slightly OHL. Iron manufacturers have told me (off the record) that these limits don't mean a whole lot in practice; when DOD came after them years ago, the manufacturers proposed these numbers because they knew they could meet them. Joe Kane BAE Systems Controls Johnson City, NY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF TECHNET Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------