In a message dated 12/14/00 4:29:20 PM Central Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << Is it possible the solder in these connections is reaching the plastic stage, crystallizing and then loosing it's strength? If so, why doesn't this happen to others in the industry running this process? >> Hi Jim! Don't consider yourself the "Lone Stranger" with this problem, I've had this too. It's mostly been where there's a via connected to the pads with a very short trace. Heat transfer through the traces would conduct enough heat to cause exactly what you are seeing. A fixture as what was suggested would work, but what we wound up doing was to use a liquid mask to mask off the via's that connect to the QFP pads...and that solved it. The volume of the boards weren't enough to justify fixtures... It's a design problem...that's why I think that the guys that lay-out these "jewels" need to come on down to the production floor and see what we have to go through to build their creations.... -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 Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------