Greg--Yes, you could have a reliability issue and EVERY lead trimmed after reflow requires reflow or mandatory inspection at 10x power for class 3 products and for class 2 products under certain situations (NO document SPC pogram). This situation is covered very well in ANSI/J-STD-001B Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies, clause 7.1.5 Lead Trimming. "Leads may be trimmed after soldering provided the cutters do not damage the component or solder conneciton due to physical shock. When lead cutting is performed after soldering, the sodler terminations SHALL either be reflowed or visually inspected at 10X to ensure that the original solder conneciton has not been dmaged (e.g., fratcured) or deformed. If the solder conneciton is reflowed this SHALL be considered part of the soldering process and SHALL not be considered rework. This requirement is not intended to apply to components which are dsigned such that a portion of the lead is intended to be removed after soldering (e.g., break-away tie bars." This same information is repeated in IPC-A-610 Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies in clause 4.2.2 Jack Crawford, IPC Project Manger - Assembly 2215 Sanders Road, Northbrook IL 60062-6135 [log in to unmask] http://www.ipc.org 847-509-9700 x 393 fax 847-509-9798 >>> Greg Kaskey <[log in to unmask]> 04/13/98 12:32PM >>> All, I am looking for empirical data to support the following: A through hole component (5 leaded) is to be installed on the solder side (all other components are on the component side of the board except this 5 leaded component) of the board being hand soldered from the component side of the board. The 5 leads (0.020 square lead in a 0.035 diameter hole )coming through on the component side has about a 0.200 inch clearance around them for clipping accessibility. Is there a way to get a reliable solder joint of the through hole leads when the leads are clipped, after being soldered by hand, very close to the surface of the board, say 0.020 inches to 0.010 inches or less? Does the clipping through the solder fillet cause a reliability issue with the solder joint? The reason for having the leads clipped flush is because there is a part of the plastic enclosure coming very close to the leads and this would cause interference between them. I would appreciate any useful information to resolve this issue. Could the leads first be cut to length then be soldered by hand in some way? Thanks Much, Greg Kaskey Senior PCB Designer Checkmate Electronics, Inc. 770.594.6000 x228 [log in to unmask] ################################################################ DesignerCouncil E-Mail Forum 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 DesignerCouncil <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil ################################################################ Please visit IPC web site (http://jefry.ipc.org/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ################################################################ ################################################################ DesignerCouncil E-Mail Forum 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 DesignerCouncil <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil ################################################################ Please visit IPC web site (http://jefry.ipc.org/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ################################################################