Overview of our first seminar 22-03-2012 and dates for future seminars.

We started with a warm welcome and the registration of our participants accompanied by a cup of coffee. 19 out of 20 preregistered participants found their way to ARCOSS for our first seminar on reflow soldering of SMD PCB prototypes.

Dirk Stans spoke a word of welcome and gave an overview of the planning for the day. Dirk continued with the Eurocircuits history for the last 20 years followed by a brief overview of Eurocircuits services.

The introduction of the eC-prototype-equipment was the next item on the agenda. Here Dirk explained why Eurocircuits have entered into this venture and explained the two machines eC-stencil-mate and eC-reflow-mate and their specification in detail. Special focus was laid on the difference between reflow chamber soldering and its solder curves and reflow soldering in a throughput oven.


 

 

Next Ben Verwaest, MD of ARCOSS, explained the process of reflow soldering with all its phases in great detail, accompanying his exposé with many practical tips and do”s and don”ts.

Ben also explained the correct use of the screen printing process and the materials and consumables to be used. This led into an explantion of the specially developed eC-kits of consumables and tools for every function in the process: eC-stencil-mate-kit, eC-reflow-mate-kit, eC-equipment-starter-kit and the eC-ESD-kit.

Lunch time. The company ARCOSS pleased the group with a nice sandwich lunch. As the weather Gods were favoring us with some nice sunny skies, we could enjoy it all outside on the terrace.

After lunch, it was Uwe”s turn. Uwe Dörr, our application specialist for the eC-equipment and project manager for the development of the eC-equipment, demonstrated the screen printing with the eC-stencil-mate.

Ben then showed the quality of the printing under a microscope and proved that he still possesses a pair of skilled hands by mounting the components with tweezers.

Some customers participated in the population of boards as we made more than one. After that only the reflow soldering with the eC-reflow-mate remained to achieve a finished assembled prototype board. This went smoothly convincing all of the soldering qualities of the eC-reflow-mate.

All materials used during the workshop are available from Eurocircuits :

Spare parts and starter kits

eC-solder paste (140 gr)

– eC-stencil wipes and eC-wipes

 

 

The next part was dedicated to the practical skills of the ARCOSS team.

Hand soldering of a fine pitch PQFP-208 pins gull wing component made quite an impression on the participants. The ease with which Ben Verwaest soldered this component to the board with a mini wave soldertip left an impression and convinced people this was not rocket science but something of which one should learn the practical tricks and then start doing it. In the second part, the BGA soldering of individual components, ARCOSS application engineer Sven played the main role. Sven used the PACE solder and rework BGA/QFN station to perform the job.

 

All was inspected with the companies X-ray machine, which by itself made a good demonstration of what is possible with that technique. All together it proved to be a useful day which brought us many positive and useful feedbacks.

This positive feeling and the fact that we already had more candidates for attending the seminar than we had available places led us to decide to repeat this seminar another 3 times. The dates we planned for this are the 15th, 22nd and 23rd of May. Registering for any of these days can be done using the registration link below which will open a registration page and form. Please fill in your details and the day of your choice. Please use the form to register as it will help to smooth the process and keep an overview of who registered when. The places for each day are limited to 20 and are assigned on a first come first served basis. The limit of 20 participants is of a practical nature and helps us to keep the quality of interaction with the audience high.

Update 10/05/2012 : There are no places available anymore for the seminars on May 15, 22 and 23. We will keep you informed about future seminars we organise

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