So far, we've isolated down to one datecode, and we have quite a few of the bad date code. Problem is, we've had these in stock for a while, and I don't know if anybody is going to pony up and take responsibilty for them and replace them for us. Here's what the other datecodes look like: http://stevezeva.homestead.com/files/Good_DensiPac.jpg Just a little better looking huh? Steve ________________________________ From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 7:22 AM To: TechNet E-Mail Forum; Steve Gregory Cc: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] "Blumpie" looking connector leads... Hi Steve - ah, the beauty of being a materials engineer is that the industry doesn't seem to learn from past material mistakes so I really don't need to learn anything new! I recommend you check with your connector vendor to confirm that the connector surface plating is bright acid tin. The photos appear to show a bright acid tin surface finish that has blistered during the solder reflow process due to excessive co-deposited organic material. Bright acid tin finishes (plated correctly) look very nice but have terrible solderability characteristics and are a known tin whisker generation source. It appears that you may have had a surface plating change from what you normally had been procuring. Good luck. Dave Hillman Rockwell Collins [log in to unmask] Steve Gregory <[log in to unmask]> Sent by: TechNet <[log in to unmask]> 06/23/2009 06:49 AM Please respond to TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>; Please respond to Steve Gregory <[log in to unmask]> To [log in to unmask] cc Subject [TN] "Blumpie" looking connector leads... Morning all! Trying to stay cool here! Broke 100 degrees yesterday and Sunday, and it's probably going to break 100 degrees today. Summer has come with a vengeance! Ran across something yesterday that I've never seen before. We build a board that uses this AMP Densipac SMT connector: http://tinyurl.com/nqbpcp We've built a lot of these boards before without any issues at all. This latest run we have something going on with these particular connectors. Here's a photo of them on the PCB: http://stevezeva.homestead.com/files/AMP_Connectors.jpg You can probably see that the leads have this "Blumpie" look to them...both bumpy and lumpy. This is fresh out of the reflow oven. Here's a closer look: http://stevezeva.homestead.com/files/Connector_Blumpies.jpg If you notice the two pins either side of the white line look fine. They are the anchor pins that are for mechanical strength for the connector...they are not I/O pins. The rest of the board looks absolutely fine too. Not a bit of problem. It's just the I/O pins. We have noticed that connectors with certain date codes don't have this problem. Also, before reflow the connectors look okay. Luckily we've only built a few boards, and we're stopping until we can get to the bottom of this... Have any of you ever seen "blumpie" connectors like these before? Steve --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 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 15.0 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 -----------------------------------------------------