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Q.  What Are the Benefits of Choosing Micro•Wipe™ FP Paper Over Ordinary Stencil Rolls?

The standard stencil printing procedure involves wetting the stencil roll with solvent before the cleaning cycle. But new research shows the solvent can contaminate the solder paste, which reduces yields. Stronger and more absorbent papers can clean stencils without using solvents. This saves time, money and improves yield.

The differences can be huge. Here are some specifics about the Micro•Wipe FP rolls:

Less Cleaning, More Printing

 — The new rolls reduce the number of time-wasting cleaning cycles. Each cleaning cycle avoided creates time for five printing cycles (~30 secs. vs. ~150 secs.). In addition, since the cleaning cycles are more effective there are fewer stoppages for manual stencil wiping. This produces stunning improvements in productivity. At a major PCB subcontractor, Micro•Wipe FP rolls helped engineers move from 14 minutes of cleaning cycles per hour to nine minutes per hour. Overall, Micro•Wipe FP rolls boosted hourly production from 32 to 55 boards – a 60% increase in productivity.

Eliminate Solvents

The new FP paper can, in many (but not all) applications eliminate the need to wet the paper with solvents. This has many important and unexpected implications, but they all result in improving yield and reducing defects. It turns out that the solvents should be considered a form of contamination on the stencil. The solvent deprimes the apertures, resulting in "insufficients." The solvent can dilute the solder paste, resulting in slumping and shorts. The solvent weakens ordinary stencil rolls, increasing linting and misprints. Get rid of the solvents and you get rid of all these problems. This is the single most important benefit of switching to FP paper.

Stronger Solder Joints

 — A cleaner stencil allows more paste to flow onto the board, resulting in taller solder pads and stronger solder joints. In one prolonged test, Micro•Wipe FP rolls increased pad height an average of 11%.

Fewer Defects and Misprints

— Defective printing is a huge waste of time and money. But, in a large-scale trial with five SMT lines the defect-free yield jumped to 99.55% from an average of 97.25% — an 83% reduction in defects.

Lower Costs

There is no argument that Micro•Wipe FP rolls are more expensive than standard rolls. But Micro•Wipe FP stencil rolls last longer because cleaning is less frequent, which saves money. The net result is an average decrease in the cost of stencil roll-equivalents of 20%. In addition, these rolls generate other savings. They generate significant savings from the near-elimination of mis-prints. They also boost throughput with faster and less frequent cleaning cycles. The boards produced have a much higher rate of fault-free yields, which reduces rework and labor costs. These rolls also minimize the cost of solvents and other consumables.

In short, the cost savings, productivity gains and quality improvements allow companies using Micro•Wipe FP rolls to cut their total printing costs significantly.



Revised 1-9-2009