Nigel, You rightly draw the distinction between a) the types of temporary masks which are pre-applied by screen printing, usually by the pcb fabricator and b) the temporary masks which are dispensed on by the guys doing the assembly. They are different. Whilst it is obviously desirable to have this job done by your fab guy, as you pointed out, it isn't always straightforward. In particular, I remember a few years back when the process window on the screenable materials wasn't very wide, resulting in problems from under/over cure, removal, etc. Maybe the formulations are more robust today. It is possible to make the "in-house" dispensable types more appealing. Dispensing can be by fairly inexpensive robotics. Curing can be quick by heat or UV. Is this approach an option? Regards, Peter -------------------------------------------------------- Peter Swanson [log in to unmask] INTERTRONICS http://www.intertronics.co.uk Tel: +44 1865 842842 Oxfordshire, England INTERTRONICS is dedicated to providing quality material, consumable and equipment solutions to the high technology, high performance assembly industries, incorporating outstanding levels of technical support and customer service. Read our blog! http://www.intertronics.co.uk/blog/blog.htm -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of N Burtt Sent: 03 January 2007 09:27 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Temporary peelable solder masks I'm being told that these are not widely used in USA, the common types used here in the UK (Peters and Electramask) not readily available, and they create packaging and shipping problems... thus US PCB suppliers reluctant to supply PCBs with peelable masking applied. Is this true? Now they are by no means a perfect solution to protecting holes on a PCB during wavesolder, but am not aware of another way of doing so in a no-clean RoHS process if fixturing can't do it. What do US PCB assemblers do if pre- applied peelable masking is really not viable? Other ideas? --------------------------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------