In my reply to Gusti, I actually wrote in brackets "you'd better take cover or Graham Naisbit might just try to shoot you for calling it a lacquer instead of a coating". I removed it before transmission, though, as I decided to give my sarcasm muscle a rest. Peter Graham Naisbitt <[log in to unmask]> 29/05/2003 08:57 PM Sent by: TechNet <[log in to unmask]> Please respond to "TechNet E-Mail Forum."; Please respond to Graham Naisbitt To: [log in to unmask] cc: (bcc: DUNCAN Peter/Asst Prin Engr/ST Aero/ST Group) Subject: Re: [TN] Solder through conformal coating > Hi TechNet $B!G (Bs, > I am in the situation to reduce time consuming with masking and de-masking > a couple of pads for an assembly covered with an acrylic lacquer. I am > asking if someone have tried to solder by hand a component (with gull-wing > terminals) without remove the conformal coating. I have experimented and > observed that it can be done. It is a silly question or not? > Any reaction will be welcomed. > Gusti > Gusti Please stop calling it lacquer - it almost certainly is NOT a lacquer but a coating. Yes there is a difference between a conformal coating and a lacquer, although certain languages do not allow for this level of discrimination. Make sure that the tip of the iron is at least 300 Deg C or more and you should be able to "burn-through" the coating "vaporising" it and producing nothing more harmful that some Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide. Fume extraction is a good thing! I would check with your component supplier, how well it will tolerate such an elevated temperature during a hand soldering operation. I would be cautious that you might subsume some coating residues into the solder alloy - so some extended environmental testing would be a sensible precaution. If your end product will damage people if it fails, then such extended testing would seem to me, mandatory. -- Regards Graham Naisbitt [log in to unmask] Concoat Limited - Engineering Reliability in Electronics Web: www.concoat.co.uk and www.concoatsystems.com --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e 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 or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/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 ----------------------------------------------------- [This e-mail is confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify us immediately; you should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. Thank you.] --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e 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 or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/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 -----------------------------------------------------