EmblePCB

Cleaning a PCB i.e. printed circuit board after the soldering process typically produces a board that shines and looks ready to proceed. The areas that are not clearly visible contain details that could ruin this sparkling clean picture. It’s not enough just to put the boards through a wash cycle. It takes a particular combination of chemicals, temperature, washes cycles, and timing to get the boards clean. Companies have begun to research these issues and some have funded significant resources to finding the best results. In many cases, it was discovered that a combination of comparatively minor points, when combined, pointed to processes that solely did not work as well in today’s manufacturing conditions, though their performance in times past was satisfactory. Minor changes in component packaging layout, materials, CAD/CAM software, board fabrication, and chemicals combined to slowly change the robustness of the manufacturing methods. Even the most beneficial intentions have often ...