John, We are using the stencil thickness +2 mils/-1mil (just as Stella Neyman specified in her response). We have a Hi-Check and can measure volume, but I do not measure the volume. At my previous company I started to set up a volume measurement chart, but after testing many samples and reading up on the paste measurement, I came the conclusion that in production just measuring the height is best. If you are doing some trouble shooting of the process, volume measurement can be helpful. You can figure out what your volume measurement should be because you know you aperture size and your stencil thickness. However, if you are using laser cut and the apertures are cut trapezoidal shape, forget it, with some calculation you could figure the volume, but you won't reliably measure it. My advice, just worry about the paste thickness and that the paste is where you want it on the pad and is not slumping. Brad Kendall ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ##############################################################