Good afternoon, Chan; If your stencil is .006" thick and you are using a metal squeegee, you should RARELY get more that .006" of paste deposited on your boards. I have not done critical measurements in a long time, but I would venture to say that, when using a good metal squeegee with a good metal stencil, your paste deposition would rarely vary more than +/- .0005"...and most of that tolerance would probably be on the minus side on large parts caused by scalloping. Your stencil thickness needs to be somewhere between the tolerance limits you mentioned, if that's what you want on the board. Not knowing whether or not you have any fine pitch on the board, I can't make a strong recommendation on stencil thickness. If you do not have fine pitch, I would suggest you go to a .008" thick stainless steel stencil. Good luck, Charlie Barker Mfg. Engr. Input/Output, Inc. Stafford, Texas 713/276-3328 ORIGINAL: From: chanyk @ pacific.net.sg (Chan Yong Kwee) @ Internet Date: 04/03/96 11:37:00 AM Subject: Stencil design or Solder Paste? Good day, We have encountered a low solder paste level in the printing process. We are using a Metal squeegee on a Metal Screen to print the solder paste onto the PCB before SMT processes. We were wondering whether the solder paste viscosity is too thick; or there is a Stencil Design fault. The SPC chart states the solder paste thickness should be between 6.5 mil to 8.5 mil. But we can only achieve only up to 6.2 mil of solder paste thickness. Our stencil is 6.0 mil in thickness. Can anyone give me the specifications on the design of Metal Stencils and give suggestions on how to solve the above problems? Thank you. Regards, Chan Yong Kwee E-mail:[log in to unmask] Tel : (65) 746-6617 Pg : 9-490-6514