Hi William - Just some experience based thoughts on your inquiry. As Earl mentioned, he and I have been around the horn on these issues more than once: Solder filled vias tend to do everything but what one really wants them to do. One thing is to steal solder from the primary solder connection, when they are located in the pad, as you have noted. The other is to create a series of irregular sized solder globules on the opposite side of the board, which can get real messy - particularly if there is a thermal plane required on the back of the board. Handsoldering of fine pitch quad packs, while possible, tends to be highly skill dependent. Results can vary considerably dependent on the individual who performed the basic work. Vias in pads add to the complexity and frustrations of this task. Literally any (or all) vias on a circuit board can perform as "thermal vias", including operational electrical vias under part bodies. There are a number of via fill compounds available from DuPont, Lackwerke/Peters, Enthone-OMI and others, with varying heat transfer coefficients. These materials are applied prior to solder coat and solder mask application. Movement of heat from the part to pads thru the leads does occur, though its rate is dependent on the design of the individual part. Thermally conductive adhesives, applied prior to part placement, can move heat efficiently from the part body into the circuit board. Quite a few of us out here are using some or all of the above in production with varying degrees of automated placement and soldering for electronic products destined for severe environments and military applications. Obviously, the specific details tend to be proprietary to the user. If this task is to be conducted only on a few units, then it can probably be accomplished as described. If any production volume is contemplate, it would certainly be wise and prudent to consider the alternatives. Regards - Kelly ################################################################ 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's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################