IMPROVING YOUR WAVE SOLDERING
S-DS300 Automatic dip soldering machine
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6 Basic Steps of
Wave/Selective Soldering
• Component preparation
• Insert components
• Apply Flux
• Preheat PCB
• Soldering
• Cool down
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Preforming THT components
• Cost saving
• Higher production output
• Quality
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The effect of hole sizes
• Hole size less than 1.5 times
lead thickness – bend of slightly
less than 90º
• A dimple is formed on the lead
for hole size more than 1.5
times lead thickness
• Raised from PCB to allow for
cleaning or heat dissipation
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Selective Pallets
• Stable support platform for PCB
• Eliminate masking by hand
• Eliminate glue dotting for SMD’s
• Reduce solder defects such as skips and bridging
• Pockets and channels promotes solder flow
• Standardize conveyor width – reduce setup time
• Multiple PCB’s on a pallet – higher throughput
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Wave Soldering Process
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Fluxing
Why do we need flux?
• Prevents oxidation
• Acts as a wetting agent
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Fluxing – Wave Solder
Two common types of fluxing methods
in wave soldering:
Foam fluxing Spray fluxing
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Foam fluxing – Wave Solder
• Flux control required
• Ideal contact area = 20mm
• Ideal flux stone pore size =
3um - 10um
• Air pressure 2 - 3bar
• Raise or lower the whole flux
station to achieve the right
contact
• Never use a foam fluxer
without an air knife
• Not suitable for water based
fluxes
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Flux Control (foam fluxer)
Critical parameters:
• Flux density (solid content)
• Water content
• Temperature
• Contamination from PCB or
compressed air
• Replace flux in foam fluxers
completely every 40 hours
• Cleaning of foam pipe
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Spray fluxing - Wave Solder
• Single side PCB requires 100 Micro
Gram per Cm2 of PCB surface (Check
Flux Data Sheet)
• PTH PCB’s will require 20% more
• Check the spray pattern by wrapping a
piece of photo sensitive fax paper
around a bare PCB and let it run
through the fluxer
• Combination of airflow, flux flow,
moving speed, distance of nozzle to
PCB
• Paper must be evenly gray from flux,
not wet and certainly not dripping
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Advantages of Spray fluxing
• Quantifiable application of
the flux deposit (SPC)
• No in-process QC of the flux
• No thinner consumption
• Direct application from can
• Reduced flux consumption
• No flux drippings over the
preheat zone
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Conversion to Spray flux
• The ‘Plug ’n Spray’ spray-
fluxer
• Stand alone fluxer
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Incorrect Flux Volume
• Too little flux can cause soldering
defects such as bridging and skips
• Excessive flux can lead to solder
balling and unwanted and uncured
residue left on the PCB
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Flux Classification - IPC-J-STD-004
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Flux Types
Alcohol based (100% VOC)
• Long history of reliability & process know how
• Modest in preheat requirements
• Can be applied by spray or foam
• High residue safety and wide process window
• Hazardous & flammable material
• Contributing to the "green-house" effect
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Flux Types
Low-VOC (40% water / 60% alcohol)
• Modest in preheat requirements
• Safer to the environment
• Can be applied by spray or foam
• High residue safety and wide process window
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Flux Types
Water based (100% VOC-free)
• More soldering power
• Environmentally safe
• Non-flammable
• Requires more preheat
• Spray fluxing only
• Some process adjustments required
• Risk for corrosion if flux is not properly polymerized by
the heat of the wave (flux under pallets, on topside or
just too much flux applied) www.smthelp.com
Preheat
Functions of Preheating
• Evaporation of the solvent in the flux
• Activating the flux
• Minimizing the Delta T between the PCB and the solder wave
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Preheat
Types of Preheating
Infra Red elements
Quartz elements
Forced Convection
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Pictures courtesy of Seho
Preheat Profile
• Preheat temperature is measured on the top side of the PCB
• Typical max. preheat temperature Sn/Pb = 90ºC - 120ºC
• Typical max. preheat temperature Pb-Free = 100ºC - 130ºC
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Measuring Preheat Temperature
Temperature Profiler /
Thermocouples Adhesive
Temperature
Strips
Infrared
Thermometer
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Measuring Preheat Temperature
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Incorrect Preheat
• Preheat too high or too long may break down the flux
activation system and cause shorts / icicles
• Preheat too low may cause problems such as skips or
unwanted residues left on the PCB
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Soldering Phase
• Wetting Phase
• Wicking Phase
• Drain Phase
>>
CB ------
P
e
av
Drain
W
Wick
Wett
ing
ing
ing
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Soldering Phase
• Nominal angle = 7º
• Contact Width = 20 to 40mm wide for Delta Wave
• Contact Width = 15mm wide for Chip Wave
• Dwell time Tin/Lead = 3.5 sec @ 235ºC solder pot temperature
• Dwell time Tin/Lead = 2.5 sec @ 250ºC solder pot temperature
• Dwell time Pb-Free = 2 to 5 seconds @ 260-270ºC solder pot temperature,
depending on the application
• Conveyor speed = 0.8 – 1.5 m/min
• Conveyor speed (m/min) = Contact width (cm) x Dwell time (sec)
• Wave height = 1/3 – 2/3 of PCB thickness
• High temperature glass plate is used to measure contact width and parallelism
to the wave
c t w idth
Cont a
7º
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Wave Nozzle Configuration
Delta Nozzle
• Standard Nozzle for through hole components
• Fast moving solder moving in the opposite
direction of PCB for wetting action
• Small volume of solder moving along with the PCB
for wicking action
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Wave Nozzle Configuration
Chip Nozzle
• Turbulent wave
• Can be added in addition to the Delta Nozzle
• High Kinetic Energy
• Avoids shadowing
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Wave Nozzle Configuration
Dual Wave
• Turbulent chip wave combined with a
slow moving horizontal wave overcomes
the limitations of other wave types
• Solution for overcoming the shadow
effect on SMT components not aligned to
the wave
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Wave Nozzle Configuration
Other Nozzles
• For components requiring high wave
pressure or high flow dynamics
• For PCB’s with high thermal mass
• To optimize contact time
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Solder Alloy
Lead Containing Alloy Sn/Pb
• Contains Tin / Lead
• Sn63/Pb37
• Melting point of 183ºC
• Solder pot temperatures from 235 - 250ºC
• Eutectic alloy – melts and solidifies at the same temperature
• Low surface tension – good wetting
• Low viscosity – great hole fill and top side fillet forming
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Solder Alloy
4 Popular choices for Lead-Free
• SAC (Tin/Silver/Copper)
• SAC + X (Tin/Silver/Copper + X)
• SnCu (Tin/Copper)
• SnCuNi (Tin / Copper / Nickel)
Your choice of alloy will be dependant on your
specific requirements
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Solder Alloy
SAC
• Tin / Silver / Copper
• Typical: Sn96.5/Ag3.0/Cu0.5
• Melting point of 217 - 221ºC
• Solder pot temperature 260ºC
• High silver content
• Solder joints looks different than Tin-Lead
• Dull joints due to shrinkage
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Solder Alloy
SAC + X
• Tin / Silver / Copper + X
• X = Co, Fe, Bi, Si, Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, Ge, and Zn
• Typical: Sn98.3 Ag0.3 Cu0.7Bi0.7
• Melting point of 216 - 225ºC
• Solder pot temperature 265ºC
• Lower material costs vs higher silver SAC alloys
• Performance and appearance similar to higher silver SAC
alloys
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Solder Alloy
SnCu
• Tin / Copper
• Sn99.3/Cu0.7
• Melting point of 227ºC (Eutectic alloy)
• No silver content - lowers alloy cost
• Lower tendency to leach copper - less loss of
conductive copper in tracks and pads
• Poor fluidity at typical lead free temperatures
• Poor through-hole filling and forming of solder bridges
between components
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Solder Alloy
SnCuNi
• Tin / Copper / Nickel
• Sn99.25/Cu0.7/Ni0.05
• Melting point of 227ºC
• Eutectic alloy – free of shrinkage
• Solder pot temperatures from 265ºC
• Does not contain silver - running costs are low
• Small addition of nickel in to the SnCu alloy improves fluidity
• Good fluidity – less bridges and better hole –filling
• Dross rate equal or lower than tin-lead solder
• Lower aggressiveness towards stainless steel
• Bright smooth solder joints
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Solder Bath Analysis
• For Tin-Lead, every 3 to 6 months
• For Lead-Free, every 4 – 6 weeks after initial fill during the first 6
months, thereafter every 3 to 6 months is recommended
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Transition to Lead Free Alloys
• Higher preheat
temperatures required
• Corrosion of metal parts
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Solutions for Lead-Free
• Pause the PCB in the
preheater
• Coated parts available,
pumps, solder nozzles and
solder pot www.smthelp.com
Cooling Phase
• Forced cooling or not?
• No improvement in joint quality
• To speed up production
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Nitrogen or Not?
• Displaces oxygen
• Reduced dross formation
• Increase surface tension
• Improved flow of solder
• Better wetting
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Most common causes of problems
Skips Bridges Insufficient Solder Balls Blowholes
Hole Fill
Component leads too long X
Insufficient flux X X X
Excessive flux X X
Flux density too low X X X X
Flux density too high X X X
Moisture trapped in PCB X X
Preheat temperature too low X X X X X
Preheat temperature too high X X X X
Conveyor speed too low
Conveyor speed too high X X X X X
Conveyor angle too small X X
Solder temperature too low X X X X
Solder temperature too high X
Solder is contaminated X X
Uneven or erratic solder wave X X X X
Solder wave height too low X X
Solder wave height too high X X
Solder mask properties X X
Poor solderability of the PCB or component X X X
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Shenzhen Southern Machinery
Sales and Service Co., Ltd
Add:Room 1806 Block 3 Jinyun COFCO, Qianjin 2nd Road， Xixiang, Baoan District, Shenzhen ,China
S-DS300 Automatic dip soldering machine
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Shenzhen Southern Machinery Sales and Service Co., Ltd
Add:Room
Add:Room 1806 Block 3 Jinyun COFCO,Qianjin 2nd Road，
Road， Xixiang, Baoan District, Shenzhen ,China
* Help you in Long lead insertion
welding
* contrast high wave soldering energy
saving operation cost nearly
28000USD a year
* contrast double wave soldering save
running cost 16000USD each year
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Shenzhen Southern Machinery Sales and Service Co., Ltd
Add:Room
Add:Room 1806 Block 3 Jinyun COFCO,Qianjin 2nd Road，
Road， Xixiang, Baoan District, Shenzhen ,China
Product features :
7 inch touch screen + PLC intelligent control and temperature control system
Intelligent precision step by step +Imported wire rod system
Tracking step type automatic spray system 85 kg small capacity lead-free tin
furnace
Maintenance free spray system + automatic welding supply system
Three sections of transmission system + manual adjustable width
Pure tin slag function automatically
Tin stove liquid level automatic detection technology
New type of far infrared heating technology, high efficiency and energy
saving heating
Ductile cast iron heating plate (Energy saving 40%)
Strong wind cooling device
Automatic into the PCB
Tin furnace overtemperature protection +Preheating overtemperature
protection
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Shenzhen Southern Machinery Sales and Service Co., Ltd
Add:Room
Add:Room 1806 Block 3 Jinyun COFCO,Qianjin 2nd Road，
Road， Xixiang, Baoan District, Shenzhen ,China
www.smthelp.com
Shenzhen Southern Machinery Sales and Service Co., Ltd
Add:Room
Add:Room 1806 Block 3 Jinyun COFCO,Qianjin 2nd Road，
Road， Xixiang, Baoan District, Shenzhen ,China
Details of some parts:
Far infrared heating technology
(more rapid heating rate + hot High quality control
air heating system)
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Shenzhen Southern Machinery Sales and Service Co., Ltd
Add:Room
Add:Room 1806 Block 3 Jinyun COFCO,Qianjin 2nd Road，
Road， Xixiang, Baoan District, Shenzhen ,China
Precision welding system .The users
can control at will, suitable for all kinds
of welding length of foot Step tracking precision spray system
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Shenzhen Southern Machinery Sales and Service Co., Ltd
Add:Room
Add:Room 1806 Block 3 Jinyun COFCO,Qianjin 2nd Road，
Road， Xixiang, Baoan District, Shenzhen ,China
Welcome inquiry
1,Please visit : www.smthelp.com
2, Find us more: https://www.facebook.com/autoinsertion
3, Know more our team: https://cn.linkedin.com/in/smtsupplier
4, Welcome to our factory in Shenzhen China
5, Looking forward to your email: jasonwu@smthelp.com
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