In a message dated 10/06/2000 11:56:36 AM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > would rule out air saturation in the tank since the pits were only on one > side of the board. And I would probably rule out etch-resist breakdown, > since that is normally not circumferential. But to be certain about the > etch-resist, I would X-section a pit and see how deep it goes. My guess is > that it starts at the base laminate. If it's an etch-resist problem the > pit will not be as deep. Maybe only half way through the plated copper. A > base laminate starting point indicates an obstruction to copper plating; > gas, residues, air pockets. > > Mark Mazzoli Hi Everybody! If you go back to: http://www.driveway.com/share?sid=e25a88c4.8e904&name=Pictures I did what Franklin Asbell suggested. I took one of the boards and using an exacto knife, carefully scaped things away to see how deep things went...and I took a series of pictures as I went... pitscrape.jpg - Starts off just getting into the trace with all the solder mask off. pitscrape2.jpg - Is about 1/3 the way into the trace, and the pit into the middle is getting smaller, which tells me I'm starting to get to the bottom of that one. pitscrape3.jpg - Is about 2/3 into the trace and the middle pit has almost disappeared, and the other two are starting to bottom-out as well. pitscrape4.jpg - Shows that I was able to keep scraping and removed the pits in the traces...trouble is, there's not much copper left in the trace beneath the pits... Just thought ya'll might want see how deep things got...and from the explanations I got from everybody, I'm still somewhat confused...some say that if the pit doesn't go all the way down to the laminate then is was a etch resist problem, but then others have said that if they don't go all the way down, it's from bubbles attaching to the traces during plating...or have I just confused myself? Thanks again!! -Steve Gregory- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------