Whether you run a PCB prototype house or a high-volume assembly operation, Techspray offers products to improve your electronic assembly products and processes.
Techspray offers the broadest array of masks in the industry. WonderMASK is ideal for protecting empty thru-holes in a wave soldering process and sensitive components in your reflow oven. It can also be used to cover contacts and other areas when applying conformal coating.
A wide variety of coatings is available including acrylic, silicone and urethane. Choose the viscosity that works best in your spray system, selective sprayer, or dipping process. Aerosols can be used for low volume production and rework.
Whether you are cleaning PCBs, stencils, or your SMT equipment, there are solvent- and water-based cleaners to fit every application. Eco-Stencil brand cleaners are alcohol-free and safely remove solder paste and adhesives from stencils. Eco-dFluxer cleaners effectively remove rosin, no-clean, and aqueous fluxes when used in an in-line or batch washer. Of course, several aerosol flux removers are also offered to give you the flexibility needed for smaller PCB runs as well.
Techclean wipers offer cleaning performance without worrying about lint blocking stencil apertures.
When hand soldering, Plato is the go-to brand for shear cutters and replacement soldering tips. Tips are available for the most common soldering stations, including Hakko, Weller, and Pace.
The follow are factor to consider when trying to avoid breakage: 1) Curing – Partially cured mask will have more of a tendency to break or leave residue. 2) Temperature and duration in extreme heat – Mask is designed for wave soldering, which is about a second of exposure to molten solder temperatures (generally 550°-650°F). If the mask is sent through a reflow oven the duration is much longer, which can lead to more mask brittleness. If the mask is exposed to high-temperature solder (e.g. silver), it can also lead to more brittleness. 3) Application method – When hand applying, we recommend holding the bottle at about a 60° angle, rather than upright at 90°. That tends to apply the material as a thick blanket over the areas to be masked. When the bottle is held at 90°, the mask is generally applied thinner, and is forced through holes and around components. Those thin areas are more likely to become brittle and stay behind, and mask pushed into holes and around components is harder to remove, so more likely to break.
No, not if your concern is only reliability problems from ionic contamination. No-clean flux contains minimal ionic material that is fully consumed when the flux is activated, or in other words, brought to soldering temperature. If all of the flux isn’t activated, like when you apply a lot of flux but only solder a small area, you still need to clean the PCB. If you are applying conformal coating, you should remove all flux residues, regardless of the type of flux. Most people understand that when painting something, the surface must be prepared so it is absolutely clean. Otherwise, the paint will quickly lift off the surface and peel off. The same logic applies to conformal coating, even when the contamination is from no-clean flux.
Conformal coating is a specially engineered polymeric film-forming product that protects circuit boards, components, and other electronic devices from harmful environmental conditions like moisture, thermal shock, static, vibration, and contamination. These coatings ‘conform’ to the irregular landscape of the PCB providing increased dielectric resistance, operational integrity, and reliability. There are a number of options for coating technologies, and the best option should depend mainly on the protection required. Application method and ease of rework are also important factors, but should generally be considered secondary to the protective performance needed.