In a message dated 8/15/2004 2:33:20 PM Central Standard Time,
tomg@... writes:
I am interested in trying to solder whole pcboards at once, with something
like a solder pot. Has anyone here had any experience with that? Has anyone
done it "at home"? Anything to share about it?
If you have never DONE that for hours in a "professional assembly house", you
are asking for PAIN and damage!
This process is done by "wave soldering" where a WAVE or "linear bump" of
solder is pumped up with the rig, in the middle of a tank of molten solder, so
that the crest of the wave just-touches the bottom of the PCB as it moves along
on a speed-controlled track.
Go trying to "dip-solder" an entire board will WARP the boards, NOT solder
every point, cause a general mess with lots of "solder-bridges" that will have
to be cleaned off manually, which will take even LONGER than simply soldering
the entire PCB with a good clean iron of the correct size/tip!
Solder-alloy (tin/lead) costs a FORTUNE, these days, and if OSHA ever gets
wind of your hopes of doing this, they will come knocking at your door, asking
for the assay of your solder, to insure there is less than 0.003% lead in it
(or whatever bureacratically-chosen number), and that all the equipment you are
using is approved by the FDA, FEC, surely several federally sanctioned
labor-unions, etc. Next, DOING a few boards, assuming you manage to get it working
as you want, will result in contamination of the solder-pot, requiring some
metal-purification proceedures I don't even KNOW where/what/ how-much! Not to
mention the effects dissolved COPPER has on the solder (same story).
COOKING UTENSILS are not DESIGNED for melting 20 kG of solder, and even if
you DO manage to find something that will make a giant solder-pot that will melt
60-40, it probably won't remain mechanically intact long enough for you to
shut it down, after the first trial, and you will become an involuntary
track-star, running from the giant hungry puddle of molten solder chasing you across
the floor and out into the street!
If you think I sound like a pessimist, read this again while you are laid-up
with your feet bundled in greasy medicated gauze in a "cranked up"
hospital-bed, as you read your medical invoice!
Jan Rowland, OLD troll who has BEEN there, but (barely) had sense enough NOT
to have DONE that!
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