Dave, In a prior life, we considered putting in a nitrogen generator, using shop air. Our shop air was terrible, with oils, water, and metals, so we never tried it. If you trust your shop air, then my gut tells me to go for it. You may want to consider adding some level of filtration to clean out the air lines. I remember that some equipment manufacturers had nitrogen generators that can provide nitrogen at various levels of purity. However, that also depends on your nitrogen consumption. I remember meeting somebody (APEX?, IPC Works?) who made it work in his facility so I know it is feasible. Lee -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dave Hillman Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 1:00 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Nitrogen Purity Question/Survey Hi folks! Question for those folks using nitrogen for an inert atmosphere in their reflow processes or as a blanket gas on their wave solder processes. Cryogenic nitrogen is typically 99.998% purity (in terms of O2 content). On-site nitrogen generation equipment can deliver N2 gas ranging from 99.5% to 99.99% purity (again, in terms of O2 content). What gas purity level are you using in your processes and do you have a rationale for selecting that purity level? The reason for the question is that I am involved in an exercise of comparing on-site nitrogen generation versus cryogenic nitrogen supplies. Thanks in advance for you assistance. Dave Hillman Rockwell Collins [log in to unmask] --------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------