Jim, There is more at stake than just solderability. Finger salts and oils can create corrosion and metal migration problems when mixed with the humidity in the air. In addition, you can have problems with conformal coat adhesion because of hand oils, especially if you use those anti-static hand lotions. We don't worry about it too much at Rockwell because all of our boards go through a cleaning prior to conformal coating. But, as we transition to no-clean assembly, we know that handling will be a issue an we will have to train our operators to work on an "edges only" basis. Doug Pauls Rockwell Collins --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet NOMAIL 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------