We had a 4/5 zone oven and initial trials showed it did work, but we had
to spend more time profiling as process control was difficult when
dealing with different demanding PCBs. We went to a 7 zone oven which
fitted in the same footprint and process control was improved and
profiling easier to get right with just one or two trial runs per PCB
type.

If you decide you have to upgrade, what is your budget, what footprint
can you accommodate and what throughput do you need? The you can look at
extra features such as centre-board support, flux residue gas
separation, nitrogen inerting, active cooling etc etc

I found a useful excel tool on the ECD website which allows you to "fit"
oven capabilities to paste spec requirements and give you a measure of
goodness for possible combinations, which really helped in our decision
making process. You don't need an ECD mole (or KIC or Solderstar etc) to
use this, it's a standalone mathematical model

http://www.ecd.com/emfg/instruments/mole/profileplanner1.asp



Nigel Burtt
Production Engineering Manager
Dolby Labs - European HQ
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel:     +44 (0)1793 842132 [direct line with voicemail] 
Fax:    +44 (0)1793 842101







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