Wave and Selective Solder

Wave soldering is a commercial soldering method where important parameters are controlled and high throughput rates can be achieved.

Technical knowledge of the components, PCB assemblies and the parameters of the wave solder machine itself is important to achieving a successful wave soldering process. The units’ major sections (fluxer, conveyor, pre-heat and solder wave) must all work flawlessly together to achieve a reliable zero-defect soldering operation.

Scheduled preventative maintenance on your wave soldering machine is critical to ensuring production quotas are met. Regular scheduled maintenance should be considered on all parts of the wave soldering system such as:

• Fingers and Pallets – Flux build-up on fingers and pallets can lead to solder defects such as skips, bridging and contamination on the boards with flux constituents. These defects can potentially lead to cross-contamination, corrosion and de-wetting of conformal coating
• Conveyor Chains – Conveyor chains also need scheduled cleaning.  Chains should be cleaned, rinsed, oiled and prebaked on a schedule specified by the equipment manufacturer. A poorly maintained wave solder machine will lead to increased personnel demand by forcing manual quality corrections to the solder joints, components and PCB assemblies.

To ensure that all surfaces are easily and effectively cleaned, we recommend using high-power cleaning solutions such as the KYZEN E and CYBERSOLV product lines.  These products will reduce the equipment downtime and ensure your wave soldering machines are quickly and efficiently returned back in service to meet your production goals: