Mike, your help is of same high standard as is Aussilek's (yes, Aussilek, you must accept even english are bright, rembember the Piltdow man, Nelson, Newton,Thatcher and Kermit), now, Mike, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A: It sounds from this and previous postings "that in view of your demanding application it might be better to use a higher specification needle than the standard type normally supplied". Or whatever your present supplier is saying. Such a higher specification might be one in which the moulding around the steel tube does not have sudden cross sectional changes and no internal reverse re-entrant shapings. RE: exactly what we will do, we have cross sectioned and seen what you mean. We have a reputation for making tough specs, we will use that from now on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ B: You can get these OK from people like EFD. So far as tube length is concerned these suppliers also make a shorter length, but still long to allow manual access. No reason why you should not cut them down, provided you can get a good finish. I suggest a length no greater than 5-6mm. RE: please explain who EFD is, we will call immmediately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C: It just might be worth investigating the type also supplied for solder paste dispensing. These are made entirely of polysomethingene. And are a conical cross section from fitting to dispense end. The problem is they can be flexible and may not give precision placement accuracy. RE: good idea! May be a little bit cheaper also, ours cost 200GBP each! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D: Reverting to your question on internal finish of needle: From what little I know about laser machining I suspect you would have great difficulty making a smooth hole of this size and length. Irrespective of that, whatever method you use to correct the internal finish it would be especially difficult to build a tool to hold the needle and get the alignment you require. So as an alternative you could make your own theoretically perfect ones. These would consist of a hemisphere internal shape with a projecting tube just long enough to clear the external body of the hemisphere from the substrate surface to prevent smearing.This would be much easier to make. RE: Also good idea, like putting a fine needle into a wider, and the finer only a millimeter ore two long. THEN you may be able to use laser. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- E: I now recall visiting a company once that is using these, or at least was about 18 months ago, in high speed component manufacture, I believe they made them themselves but if you become convinced this is an answer then I will try to remember where and who they are and see what I can find out. RE: please, look once more in your drawer. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- F: waiting for pumkin wine recipe, you just opened a new file, I need something to pour into it...... CU Ingemar Hernefjord ############################################################## 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. If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5365 ##############################################################