We just began a project requiring insertion of Harting brand connectors into boards with OPC over bare copper. pitfall 1: board thru-holes (drill) were too small and some pins did not seat. Insertion force was 2X the expected level pitfall 2: boards with enlarged thru-holes, but barrel copper plating thickness was less than specified by Harting. Some barrels were torn by the inserted pin, and nodules of copper were stuck to the pin tip. pitfall 3: to reduce the possibility of barrel damage, we are lubricating pins before insertion with socket lubricant. Lubricant reduced the pullout force very slightly, but not a problem. Very low occurrence of barrel damage. In the future, we plan to use thicker barrel plating. Hopefully this will prevent the barrel tearing without greatly increasing the press-in force. Harting said they had little experience with non-tinned boards. They've been helpful. Allen Ahlert Hitachi Computer Products [log in to unmask] ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Press fit technology on ENTEK boards... Author: [log in to unmask] at halsic_ccsmtp Date: 6/7/95 3:44 PM Hi all, I just joined the forum as a result of "surfing the web" into the IPC home page and reading all of your interesting mail. I was particulary intrigued by the discussion on ENTEK materials as we are in process here at Teradyne of implementing ENTEK on all our SMT/Mixed technology boards. We are also faced with having to use ENTEK on some boards employing press fit connectors. Question: HAVE ANY OF YOU WHO ARE USING BARE COPPER/ENTEK USED PRESS FIT ALSO? IF SO, I WOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR ANY ADVICE AND/OR PITFALLS. Thanks, Dean Barham Mgr. Mfg. Eng. DFM Technology Teradyne, Inc. Boston