Phil
Hello and welcome to Board Talk. This is the three stooges, better
known as the Pick and Place brothers.
Phil Zarrow, Jim Hall, and Joe Belmonte.
Pick, place and feed and we're up in Mount Rialto. What
type of question do we have today, Jim?
Jim
This comes from
J.G. We are experiencing poor wetting on one OSP
coated PCB using a lead-free, no clean paste.
We see this problem on just one board part number. All other similar
boards reflow fine. Where should we look to solve this problem?
Jim
To your supplier.
Phil
That's right, it's a supply chain
situation, particularly your board vendor or board vendors. We don't know if you're getting the boards
from the same vendor or different vendors.
Jim
If this occurs on the same
board part number from different vendors, that would be very unusual. This seems to
be a classic example of the copper not being cleaned adequately before the OSP
coating is put on.
Phil
Most likely. We see that a lot. Talk about contamination or whatever or just
sloppy practice - process out of control.
Joe
I certainly agree with my
colleagues, Phil and Jim. This is a case
where you have to look at a process. We talk quite a bit about this in our
seminars, especially our new seminar called "Best Practices," that a
process involves inputs, operating parameters and outputs and one of the key
inputs, is the board itself.
We have to
understand every single input as well as we understand equipment that we're
using and all of the other factors. Nowadays, people try to save
every dollar they can but you can't shortcut understanding your
supplier; going to that supplier; qualifying that supplier properly by asking
the right questions, investigating their documentation, observing what they're
doing, asking the right questions and
spending enough time to fully understand the supplier. Lowest price is not the way to select a supplier. The way to select a supplier is by
value. To understand you're getting the
right quality for what you want, the right delivery and the right
specifications. Remember, the least
expensive price may cause you the most expensive problems.
Phil
Of course, sometimes trying to
convince management is an uphill battle but
persevere, 'cause as Joe's saying, we see that so many times. Pay me now or pay me a lot more later.
Jim
And document your defects
so you can back yourself up.
Phil
On that
note, whatever you do, don't sing like my brother.
Jim
Don't sing like my brother.
