Sometimes this is a function of post-soldering cooling rate. Is the mass of the connector much greater than the other components, so it holds the heat longer and cools slower? What happens if you blow cool air on the joints right after soldering to accelerate the cool-down rate? The genesis of this comes from Rockwell's Mather & Hagge work on vps, which showed the slower cooling with early versions of this process gave rise to larger solder grain structures, which looked gray- giving rise to worries over 'cold solder joints'. Bill Kenyon Global Centre Consulting 3336 Birmingham Drive Fort Collins, CO 80526 Tel: 970.207.9586 New Cell: 970.980.6373 --------------------------------------------------- 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 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------