Fellow TechNeters, We manufacture hardware for DOD per ANSI J-STD-001 and I have a couple of questions regarding solder pots for removing gold from components prior to tinning and soldering. We send out solder samples for testing from our tinning and gold stripping solder pots every thirty days. To answer the question of "what do you do with parts that were tinned while the solder pot is being tested (and the test fails)" we shut the pot down until the test results come back. The problem is we only have one gold pot and don't want to shut it down during testing. How does your companies address this issue? Is it fair to assume that since there is a secondary tinning operation that the small amount of gold that may remain on the parts will not be a problem? Do you dump the pot every thirty days? The answer to this one is based on the criteria you are basing your solder analysis on. If you have a limit of x amount of gold in your solder sample and you can show that after thirty days you accumulate y amount of gold in your solder pot then the decision is based on what 'safe' limit you decide to set. eg limit = 100 30 days gives a reading of 20 then it follows 1) if your production is 'steady' then no way will your pot rise to 100 in less than say 60 more days and any production going through during this period is 'safe' 2)think about changing the frequency of solder analysis to more accurately reflect your throughput (you should always receive test results giving you the ok if you tighten up on this) My second question is, what is the maximum amount of gold that can be plated on a terminal and still be soldered into an assembly with only tinning and not cleaning? Is there a specification that allows this? we work to an internal spec that allows up to 1.3% gold in a solder joint (excess of this and ductility will be impaired and the joint will become brittle). Other opinions state as low as 0.4% (by volume) of gold in a joint Thanks in advance for all responses. Hope this advances your search Ken Bloomquist Sr. Principal Process Eng. PRIMEX Aerospace Company [log in to unmask] (425) 881-8990 ext. 6645 ################################################################ TechNet 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 TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ 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 ################################################################ Regards Ian Squires Senior Production Engineer ------------------------------------------------------- Graseby Dynamics Ltd Park Avenue, Bushey, Watford, Herts, WD2 2BW Web Site: www.gradyn.co.uk Phone: 01923-228566 xt 295 Fax: 01923-221361 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Registered in England no. 480992 Registered office: 765 Finchley Road, London, NW11 8DS ------------------------------------------------------- ################################################################ TechNet 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 TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ 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 ################################################################