Our sales personnel at Restronics Southern California has been involved in soldering procedures for several years. From hand soldering to robotic soldering, we have experience that helps our customers improve their soldering results. Soldering is the cornerstone of all PCB assembly, yet there have been a number of developments in recent years that we are happy to offer our customers. These include anything from new “smart” soldering equipment that help verify that operators are utilizing the correct soldering temperatures and that they are making excellent solder connections to modern robotic soldering equipment that is becoming more cost-efficient due to the cost of automation coming down year after year. With a shortage of skilled controllers that all companies are facing, the most typical question is how to optimize the soldering operations without counting on individuals. The need for selective soldering equipment continues to remain strong.

Because most component soldering is done in a reflow oven, soldering has become more of a rework job as component sizes continue to reduce. When it comes to rebuilding and restoring circuit boards with miniscule pieces, the primary problem is having the proper gear. New soldering gear that includes heated SMT tweezers are needed, which have the ability to remove and replace tiny parts as small as 0201. Our team at Restronics Southern California can explain and aid clients with these challenging applications.

In addition, certain applications need a significant amount of thermal power. For example, some new server PCBs can be as thick as 40 layers, requiring high-capacity soldering tools. However, hotter is not better for certain uses. High power at consistent temperatures is ideal. With our demonstration equipment, we can show how this can be addressed without causing damage to expensive components.

Currently, most printed circuit boards contain some bottom-terminated parts, where the solder connections lie underneath the body of the device. Operators are unable to solder or even check these solder connections. These components are typically BGA, LGA or QFN devices. Soldering can be done by using hot air or IR heat. The team at Restronics Southern California is experienced and has numerous alternatives to deal with bottom-terminated component concerns. BTC (bottom terminated components) require many other processes, like solder paste and flux type, reflow oven profile must be controlled and confirmed, and X-ray is the sole method to confirm the process. The salespeople at Restronics Southern California are trained and experienced in all of these areas.