Resource Library
A large electronics OEM near Chicago, Illinois was concerned about their stencil printing costs. Despite their best efforts, they observed persistent stencil printing problems which led to increased rework, reduced through-put and added costs. To respond to this situation, and as a general effort of “continuous improvement” they developed and deployed a systematic, reliable stencil…
Automated stencil printing is the heart of modern SMT production. The typical SMT line runs at 90-95% yield because the stencil printer is an incredibly challenging process to manage. Industry experts estimate that there are over three dozen different stencil printing parameters or variables that must be controlled. The whole system is so complex —…
The ChallengeBenchtop cleaning of PCBs is a tough challenge for process engineers. Dip-and-brush cleaning is an inexpensive but slow method that often leaves residues to migrate across circuits.Traditional high-pressure aerosols are convenient but can be expensive, environmentally wasteful and people don’t like breathing all those fumes. MicroCare offers a better way to clean circuit boards. There…
Aqueous cleaning is a common and reliable cleaning choice for many companies. But one of the big disadvantages of water cleaning is the cost of electricity. A general rule-of-thumb is that any aqueous cleaning system will use ten times the energy of a vapor degreaser of comparable capacity. Water cleaning systems use far more electricity…
NASA, the U.S. space agency, has a unique emphasis on reliability. NASA products are extremely expensive, have long operational lives, work with almost infinite sensitivity and operate in the harshest environment of all — outer space. So, it is reasonable that NASA is very cautious about introducing new technologies because problems, if any, may not…
A large repair company in the eastern U.S. is dedicated to maintaining satellite TV set-top boxes on behalf of one of the big satellite operators. This company cleans and repairs about 80,000 set-top boxes monthly. After repairing each box, they would use a fresh lint-free wipe and a liquid spray cleaner on each box to remove…