Hi Jack - I don't know of a "noclean" die lubricant that wouldn't interfere with a trailing potting or soldering operation. My experience with mineral spirits is that they are hard to remove with just a "soak" cleaning operation. Is the company just batch cleaning the parts? Mechanical scrubbing either by the use of spray nozzles (similar to inline cleaning) or sparging (nitrogen or plain air injection similar to batch cleaning) would help remove the spirits. I don't know of any water soluble die lubricant but recommend you bounce your question off of the folks at ASM. Check out http://www.asm-intl.org. Good luck and let TechNet know what the resolution to the problem is! Dave Hillman Rockwell Collins [log in to unmask] ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: ASSY-Metal Stamping Author: [log in to unmask] at ccmgw1 Date: 5/29/96 4:41 PM =46rom the EMPF HelpLine in Indianapolis=8A We have a customer that is requesting assistance with a metal stamping problem. They produce small brass contacts (alloy 260 cartidge brass) that are about 1/8" square and 2" long using mineral spirits as a lubricant in the stamping process. They are supposed to provide these "oil free" to the next assy level that pots them into a sub-assy and has a soldering operation involving the contacts. That sub-assy is then sent to a third party where it is placed into another assy. A residue left on the contacts is interferring with both the potting and soldering operations, but mostly with the potting. Someone in the loop is suggesting the use of a water-soluble lubricant in the stamping process instead of the mineral spirits. Quantities are medium high now, but into the millions down the line. The questions we pose are: 1) Can anyone recommend an alternate stamping lubricant that won't be difficult to clean? 2) If or if not a different lubricant, howabout a recommended cleaning material/process? Ideally, there would be an oil-free lubricant that wouldn't require cleaning because it wouldn't interfere with the potting compound or the soldering operation. Thanks for your inputs. Jack Crawford HelpLine Manager Electronics Mfg. Productivity Facility 317.226.5616 Visit our homepage at: http://www.empf.org