Mini Wave Soldering Machines
Wave Soldering for removal and replacement of thru-hole components such as connectors, Dips, Pgas, sockets, etc. Mounted on printed circuit boards.
www.apsgold.com

Perfect Your Solder Process - ECD Mole
Manufacturer of M. O. L. E. (R) temperature profiling and process optimization equipment and software for the electronic manufacturing, paint and food industries.
www.ecd.com

Wave Solder Machines and Reflow Ovens
Novastar is a manufacturer of low to high volume solder reflow ovens and Wave Solder machines.
www.novastarinc.com

Best-Tronics - Wave Soldering
Best-Tronics Mfg., Inc. is a contract manufacturer specializing in cable assemblies, wiring, mechanical assembly, and turnkey manufacturing.
best-tronics.com

Wave Soldering and Desoldering
Wave solder pots for soldering, desoldering and rework of electrical assemblies and Pcbs Solder Nozzles are available for most components. A good replacement for OK Industries.
www.wenesco.com

Wave Solder Machine
Top Resources From The Tool Box. Find Wave Solder Quickly.
ToolBoxTales.com

JMW Enterprises, Inc
JMW is a full service stocking dealer of pre-owned electronic assembly equipment. We specialize in Wave Solder, Reflow ovens, Conveyors, Screenprinters and more.
www.jmw-inc.com

1 2 Wave Soldering
Low price, 1-stop holiday shopping! Gifts for Everyone. Free Shipping.
Shopzilla.com

Wave Soldering
The Top Industrial Resource. Find Wave Soldering Quickly.
www.Industrial101.com

Wave Solder Fixture
Your Source For wave solder fixture.
DIYHomeGuide.com

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Wave soldering is a large-scale soldering process by which electronic components are soldering to a printed circuit board (PCB) to form an electronic assembly. The name is derived from the fact that the process uses a tank to hold a quantity of molten solder; the components are inserted into or placed on the PCB and the loaded PCB is passed across a pumped wave or cascade of solder. The solder wets to the exposed metallic areas of the board (those not protected with solder mask), creating a reliable mechanical and electrical connection. The process is much faster and can create a higher quality product than manual soldering of components.

Wave soldering is used for both Through-hole technology printed circuit assemblies, and Surface-mount technology. In the latter case, the components are glued by the SMT Placement Equipment onto the printed circuit board surface before being run through the molten solder wave.

As through-hole components have been largely replaced by surface mount components, wave soldering has been supplanted by reflow soldering methods in many large-scale electronics applications. However, there is still significant wave soldering where SMT is not suitable (e.g. large power devices and high pin count connectors), or where simple through-hole technology prevails (certain major appliances).

Wave solder process There are many types of wave solder machines, however the basic components and principles of these machines are the same. A standard wave solder machine consists of three zones: the fluxing zone, the preheating zone and the soldering zone. An additional fourth zone, cleaning, is used depending on the type of Flux (metallurgy) applied.

Fixtures The printed circuit board with through-hole components on top of the board and/or surface mount components glued on the bottom side are sometimes placed on a fixture. The fixture is a fiberglass composite or titanium frame with openings exposing the components to be soldered. Wave solder fixtures are required for PCBs where bottom side components cannot be exposed to the solder, or the board is either too small or has a non rectangular shape and cannot be 'picked up' by the titanium fingers. The fixtures can also be used to incorporate clamping and alignment devices designed to hold components in place and prevent 'lifting' of the components as the leads hit the wave, whilst ensuring correct vertical alignment.The fixture is then placed on a conveyor which will carry the PCB through the machine. The conveyor consists of titanium fingers. Titanium is used because solder will not adhere to this metal.

The introduction of Restriction_of_Hazardous_Substances_Directive and the subsequent development of lead free solder (which has a much higher melting point than conventional solder), has caused problems for the manufacturers of material used in fixtures. The higher temperatures causes resin burn out which, in turn, compromises the structural integrity of the fixture. This has created a significant challenge to the manufacturers of both the material and fixtures.

Fluxing The PCB will then enter the fluxing zone, which applies flux to the underside of the board. Two types of fluxers are used: the spray fluxer and foam fluxer.

Spray fluxer Some spray fluxers consist of a robotic arm which travels from side to side while spraying a fine mist of flux onto the bottom side of the board. Other spray fluxers consist of a stationary bar with a series of nozzles that spray a fine mist. There are also additional ones that can consist of a single stationary ultrasonic head and/or an oscillating ultrasonic head. Some systems will then use compressed air to remove excess flux or to completely remove flux from some areas.

Foam fluxer The foam fluxer consists of a tank of flux into which a plastic cylinder with tiny holes is immersed; this is sometimes called a "stone". The plastic cylinder is covered with a metal chimney. Air is passed through this cylinder which causes flux foam to rise up the chimney, forming a cascading head of foam. As the PCB passes over the foam head, flux is applied to the PCB.

For either flux application method, precise control of flux quantities are required. Too little flux will cause poor joints, while too much flux may cause cosmetic or other problems.

Preheating The PCB will then enter the preheating zone. The preheating zone consists of convection heaters which blow hot air onto the PCB to increase its temperature. For thicker or densely populated PCBs, an upper preheater might be used. The upper preheater is usually an infrared heater.

Preheating is necessary to activate the flux, and to remove any flux carrier solvents. Preheating is also necessary to prevent thermal shock. Thermal shock occurs when a PCB is suddenly exposed to the high temperature of the molten solder wave from the ambient room temperature.

Soldering The tank of molten solder has a pattern of standing waves (or, in some cases, intermittent waves) on its surface. When the PCB is moved over this tank, the solder waves contact the bottom of the board, and stick to the solder pads and component leads via surface tension. Precise control of wave height is required to ensure solder is applied to all areas but does not splash to the top of the board or other undesired areas. This process is sometimes performed in an inert gas Nitrogen (N2) atmosphere to increase the quality of the joints. The presence of N2 also reduces oxidization known as solder dross.

Solder dross, its reduction and elimination, is a growing industry concern as lead (Pb) soldering is being replaced by Pb-Free alternatives at significantly higher cost. Dross eliminators are entering the market and may hold some solutions for this concern.

Cleaning Some types of flux, called "no-clean" fluxes, do not require cleaning; their residues are benign after the soldering process. Others, however, require a cleaning stage, in which the PCB is washed with solvents and/or deionized water to remove flux residue...

Process monitoring Due to the precise requirements needed for wave soldering, the soldering equipment must be closely monitored. Common tests include visually inspecting boards for signs of problems such as: bridging- if the wave is too high or too low then the board will not make proper contact with the wave and it can lead to undesirable bridging, causing short circuits. Ventilation does not affect the boards' quality, but if the ventilation in the machine is poor, the fumes from the flux as it goes through the pre-heat can lead to a fire, in which case a foam or powder extinguisher should be used. Due to to the extreme temperatures of the wave when it comes into contact with the water, the water flashes off so rapidly it can cause splashes or solder jumping into the air with heights up to 1 meter or even more. Smearing- another flux related problem, is caused by not enough flux being applied during the fluxing stage. Solder sticks to the board and causes streaking. Quality insurance often includes a electrical resistance test, to make sure no flux or other deposits cause conduction between traces, halide content tests to check for proper flux activation, and others. In modern equipment, virtually all control of the process is computerized, with little human interaction needed to monitor and adjust the equipment.

External links

• Tour of a motherboard factory, including pictures of a wave soldering machine
• Example of wave soldering machines (links to manufacturers)
• Tamura HA
• Essemtec WS330
• Use of composites in wave solder pallets - An informative article from Composites World on the use of composite materials in the manufacturing of wave solder pallets.
• RoHS and its impact on the use of composite materials in the manufacture of wave solder pallets An in-depth discussion on the problems of lead free solder and fixture design.
• Design rules for Selective Wave Solder Pallets An interesting article on the design of wave solder pallets.
• Examples of manufacturers of wave solder pallets (with photos)
• Ascentec Engineering
• Datum Dynamics USA
• Pentagon EMS
• Radian Technology Inc.
• Stone Mountain Tool
• V&T Machining Company Inc

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Wave soldering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wave soldering is a large-scale soldering process by which electronic components are soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB) to form an electronic assembly.

Blundell Production Equipment
Distributor of production machinery, printed circuit boards, soldering irons and tools to the UK PCB assembly industry.

PCB - Assembly - Wave Soldering - Contax Ltd - UK
Wave soldering equipment from Contax ... Entry level to High volume production; Suitable for flexible production environments

PCB - Assembly - Wave Soldering
Entry level to High volume production; Suitable for flexible production environments; Backed by training and maintenance support from Contax; Process support available

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Hands On Wave Soldering - Theory & Practice
Hands On Wave Soldering - Theory & Practice Wednesday 26 th November St Albans, Hertfordshire Do we have all the answers to successful lead-free wave soldering?