Jim, You LUCKY GUY!! I've done work (in a previous life) with AMP's Mictor connector, and although it wasn't huge volumes, we probably assembled a few hundred boards using the 190 and 228 pin Mictors. We used a slitting tool that AMP developed, and it seemed to work fine for us. We would slit the boards, assemble bottom side SMT (including depositing paste on the connector SMT pads on the bottom of the board), clean and inspect bottom side SMT, apply paste to the top side SMT and through hole barrels, install the Mictor connector, apply liquid flux to the bottom side Mictor pins (which were now resting on a "crown" of solder from bottom side SMT assembly), place top side SMT and reflow. These connectors are somewhat fragile (as is any 25 mil pitch component), and must be treated accordingly. I don't think you should have your new hires installing these. As with any fine pitch process, if you design the process correctly, and if you are careful, you get high yields. For the occasional reject, I was successful using an AirVac DRS22 to remove and replace Mictor connectors, both the Straddle mount and the right angle "backplane" style. Good Luck, Hal Winslow Senior Manufacturing Engineer Cadent Medical Corporation Bedford, MA (781) 275-9044 x228 [log in to unmask] >Is anyone familiar with assembly procedures for the AMP straddle mount >Mictor connector? If so are there any suggestions to solve difficulty in >slitting through the ground pin PTH barrels and applying paste as >reccommended? > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ################################################################ 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 technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################