Hi Ken, The J-STD-001 mentions "through-hole component leads with 2.5 µm (0.0986 mil) or more of gold". Seems to me that the value of 0.0984 mil is a conversion of the (less precise) 2.5 micrometers, which in itself is a conversion of the 0.00010 inch that you mentioned as Mil-spec value. I'm only guessing, but the problem seems to be that the J-STD-001 number has more precision than originally intended. So my personal opinion is you can stop pretinning these parts. Good luck in your discussions ! Daan Terstegge Thales Communications Unclassified mail Personal Website: http://www.smtinfo.net >>> [log in to unmask] 02/10/04 04:27pm >>> We are in the middle of a big discussion regarding pretinning gold plated component leads. J-STD-001 says that anything over .0984 mil has to be removed by tinning, implying anything under does not. Our terminal manufacturer and the mil spec MIL-G-45204C, now defunked, says that they have a minimum thickness of 0.00005 inch and a maximum thickness of 0.00010 inch. Granted you don't know the actual thickness of the plating because it can be anything up to 0.00010 mil. Since you are never sure what the thickness will be how do you determine whether to tin or not? The difference between the J-STD and the top plating spec isn't much. I would assume that the pin manufacturer is going to put on the minimum amount of gold due to costs. It is very time consuming to tin the number of gold component leads we have and would like to know you opinions. To clean or not to clean that is the question? Thanks, KennyB --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a 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/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a 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/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 -----------------------------------------------------