We have had this same question come up and we never received a definitive answer. We too use all stainless steel hardware and magnetic screwdrivers are of little use to use. However, all of our tinning equipment (Corfin, HMP and GPD) use fixtures that make use of a magnetic field to hold the components for tinning. We have some components, like T-03 cans containing relays that have proven to be adversly affected by a magnetic. Also, there are some components that there have been some concerns about what a magnetic field might do, but nothing that has been proven. However, do to the cost of these components they have been restricted to vacuum tooling only. Other than this exception, it is common to use magnetic tools in the tinning process to hold components that have metal lids. hope that helps... --------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------