These feature articles explore new techniques, innovative concepts, and operational issues affecting circuit board rework, repair and assembly. Many of these feature articles first appeared in popular trade publications.
4 Techniques for Removing Solder Mask
Seems like a reasonable request. You've asked your board supplier to apply solder mask only where you want it. Now you're up against a deadline and you hear "we've got a problem". It could be ...
Operation Strip It
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A Cure for BGA's Warped Sense of Humor
Rework can result in BGA warpage—find out how it can be prevented. Most would agree, I’m sure, that BGA rework is nothing to chuckle about, but some of the antics performed by large BGAs ...
Operation BGA Warp
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A Time Saver, But Beware - How to Use a Solder Fountain
A complicated, time-consuming procedure is transformed into a quick and easy fix. Rework departments regularly encounter large through-hole components on ...
Operation Solder Volcano
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All That Glitters
Gold edge contacts can become worn, damaged or contaminated by solder and must be either repaired and restored, or replaced. Generally, two options are available to ...
Operation Gold Finger
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Am I Dreaming... 2600 Pin BGA Rework!
The following is a true story. Can you imagine being confronted by this challenge? It’s a dubious honor; being designated the company BGA rework guru, but it’s your ...
Operation BGA Big Time
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As the Solder Flows
Soldering to gold has never been a flawless exercise. Concerns about the quality and quantity of gold finishes buzz around the soldering process like annoying ...
Operation Gold Pins
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Backplane X-ray Analysis
This is one of those things that drive people in this business mad. A very expensive and difficult board, which once on the job has to endure in a harsh environment, was manufactured successfully. All the ...
Operation Peek Inside
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Beyond the Standards
In the world of rework and repair there can never be a standard procedure for every emergency. Things can happen too quickly and "on-the-spot" there can be an urgent ...
Operation On The Spot
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BGA ECOs - Nifty Solution or Rework Nightmare?
Here's a situation that you may experience someday, if you haven't already. It's a true story, and experience from real life. A startup electronics company discovered ...
Operation BGA Jumper
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BGA Footprint Mismatch: Daughter Card to the Rescue
have a new board and the BGA component doesn't fit the board footprint. Is this a nightmare of a problem? It is one we see every other month or so. It seems to ...
Operation BGA Piggy Back
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BGA Pattern Footprint Mods... Are They Possible?
BGA rework is a topic about which volumes have been written, and in most cases the focus has been on component removal and replacement. However, equally important ...
Operation BGA Modification
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Choosing The Right Operator for BGA Rework
Can every operator handle your BGA rework equally well? In real life, in all but just a few situations, the answer is no. Why is this so? Many factors come into play, including ...
Operation BGA Rework Skill
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Circuit Board Modifications: Odd But True
Some of the odd twists and turns occasionally needed to modify assembled circuit boards can be surprising. Modifications that at first glance might seem almost ridiculous or jury-rigged, are often ...
Operation Odd Ball
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Circuit Brain Surgery
Metal suspended in space. That phrase may evoke an image of high tension wires humming with megawatts of electricity from massive generating stations, but there are many other reasons ...
Operation Challenge
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Counterfeit Detection
Bogus, fake, false, forged, yes, counterfeit components. That's what I'm talkin about! Working in the electronics industry is like sailing on the broad sea. No matter how skillfully ...
Operation Counterfeit
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Counterfeit Detection Part II
A while back we wrote an article about "Counterfeit Components", a hot button issue. Quite a few people responded with concerns about identifying counterfeits...
Operation Counterfeit II
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Damage Free Pad Removal
The proliferation of high-frequency and microwave printed circuits, generally used in the communications, automotive and aerospace industries, is underway. Anyone familiar with...
Operation Tight Spots
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Edge Milling to Reduce Board Thickness
It's not unusual for circuit boards that have been fabricated with a thickness greater than .062" to require additional milling to reduce that thickness on certain ...
Operation Trim Away
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Exploding Solder Balls
Could such a thing occur? People are soldering tens of thousands of BGA components a day. Most of this activity occurs in the flow of manufacturing and some during ...
Operation Solder Voids
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Extra Strength Repair, Not Just Hype
Extra Strength! How often do you hear it in your everyday life? Extra strength medication, extra strength glue, extra strength (fill in the blanks)! It's ...
Operation Super Strong
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Getting the Job Done With "Creatively" Customized Tooling
Once involved in rework and repair, you quickly realize that all the tools you need to get the job done are just not always available. It occurs to you that unless you're prepared to ...
Operation Creativity
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Going Haywire
Oops! Somebody goofed. Happens all the time. Surface mount connectors' connections were accidentally swapped. How in the world can that be corrected?
Operation Bundle of Wires
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Hey, Good Lookin': Making Cosmetic Repairs
Cosmetic surgery is big business today, but our discussion here is not about facelifts or tummy tucks. We're concerned with the cosmetic touch ups we must often apply to circuit boards...
Operation Makeover
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Hot Air Rework
When using hot air units, the proper nozzles must be selected, and the circuit assembly must be positioned properly...
Operation Hot Gas
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Jumper Wires Basics
The twists and turns of working with jumper wires. The need to attach jumper wires to circuit board assemblies is inevitable...
Operation Jumper School
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Large Voids are Hard to Fill
In the electronics industry, gold plating is ancient technology and the problems encountered in plating are just as ancient. Unfortunately that doesn't ...
Operation Gold Defect
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Masking the Solution for BGA Rework
Every now and then an error will occur at the most inopportune time; in this case it was in the design phase of the printed circuit board. When circuit boards are ...
Operation Missing Mask
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Medusa's Head Rework
A customer was in a tight spot, literally and figuratively. He needed 23 connections to be pulled out from under a BGA location. The BGA component involved was ...
Operation BGA Reroute
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Multi-Pin Connector Removal and Replacement: Tackling "Goliath"
with "math anxiety" knows, just the sight of an ultra-thick calculus textbook can be intimidating, but armed with a methodical approach and the right procedure...
Opeartion Connector Replace
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Overcoming Press-in Fastener Damage
Press-in Fasteners are a simple, yet very important element of printed circuit assembly. They are self-clinching fasteners that permit the mounting of heavy ...
Operation Press Fit
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Pinned Down in Silicon Valley
Sometimes all you need to get through the darkest part of the day is a ray of hope. When you're awakened in the dark pre-dawn hours and a threatening day is ahead, hope can start your ...
Operation Broken Pin
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Profiles in Courage
Why do you need an extra board to do a BGA rework profile anyway? I've had millions of different types of through hole and surface mount parts placed on boards and the rework people never ...
Operation BGA Profile
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Psycho Hot!
Here is something you haven't heard before, "This job, is hot, burning hot, blazing hot, psycho-hot!" That's what this job is, hot, hot, hot. So let's get to ...
Operation Want It Yesterday
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PTH Repair - How to Select the Right Eyelet
One of my favorite circuit board repair procedures is Plated Hole Repair. Even in today's high tech world there are still thousands of circuit boards being used made with through hole ...
Operation Plated Hole
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Rebuilding the Foundation: Base Material Damage
valuable circuit boards are scrapped due to base material damage. Actually, boards with base material damage can be reliably repaired. Now that ...
Operation Ground Zero
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Reliability Relationships
How reliable is your rework? Can you fix a broken corner on a circuit board reliably? Do you consider re-balling ball grid array (BGA) components to be a reliable procedure? Your opinion and ...
Operation Conformance
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Restoring Gold Edge Connectors
From time to time, gold edge contacts become contaminated with solder. This most often occurs during reflow of an assembly, and may be caused by solder spatter, or solder paste contamination ...
Operation Gold Mine
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Salvaging Hidden Treasure from Assembled Circuit Boards
Have you heard this one before? A manager walks into a meeting and is told that there is one million dollars worth of circuit assemblies that are scrap because of... fill in the blank ...
Operation Treasure Hunt
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Scrapes, Dings and Cavities Repaired
Millions of dollars are spent each year on the care and handling of circuit assemblies. Nevertheless, inevitably - and to the frustration of everyone involved - handling damage occurs ...
Operation Dent Away
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Signals Return
In every industry there is a gap between conception and execution. It doesn't take much time in the business to learn that ideas are very important, but they are usually the easiest part of the ...
Operation Tight Squeeze
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Silver to Gold
Flexibility, the ability to change, is a valuable asset. Anyone can tell you it's easier conceived than executed. Take BGA devices for example. When engineers are developing or upgrading ...
Operation Plating Switch
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Size Matters
Please forgive me, it's football season and researching the infinitely detailed IPC and Joint Industry Standards can make one cross-eyed and promote day-dreams...
Operation Chip Shape
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Solder Mask Touch-Up At BGA Sites: An Ounce Of Prevention
Over the centuries, I'm sure that there have been proverbs written in every language about how the neglect of one small, seemingly insignificant thing can mushroom into much bigger ...
Operation Cover Up
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Soldering Tips and Tricks for Successful Rework
Although soldering, the process of joining two metals by the use of a solder alloy, is one of the oldest know joining techniques, manual or hand soldering is still a process highly dependent upon ...
Operation Rework Magic
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Stereo Zoom Microscopes: Rework’s Essential Tool
Microscopes have become essential tools in the rework and repair department. While there have been (and still are) many applications for other types of manually-operated vision systems, such as ...
Operation Magnify
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The Case of the Missing SMT Pads
Everyone loves a good mystery, unless, of course, that mystery has to do with something important that's missing from your valuable circuit boards! We often discuss methods of repairing ...
Operation Detective
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The Unkindest Cut of All
Quite often, a rework department is confronted with the task of cutting, rather than establishing, connections. Often called etch cuts, such procedures involve breaking connections both ...
Operation Slice It
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The Via that Wasn't - Adding Vias to Assembled Circuit Boards
We've all heard of via in pad, blind vias, even buried vias, but have you ever experienced the "Via to nowhere" phenomena? Well, here's how it goes ...
Operation Via To Nowhere
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Three Options for BGA Rework Solder Paste Application
No matter how much we attempt to streamline and automate the process, BGA rework has been, and will likely always be, a mixture of art and science. The need for a predictable...
Operation Triple Try
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When Appearance Counts
Repairing a damaged circuit with a wire is commonplace, but the repair will shout out "Look at me, I've been repaired!." When you want to repair a damaged circuit but don't want ...
Operation Good Looking
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X-Ray Finds Short Route to Failure
Drilling boards in the post-production environment is tricky work. Certainly if the board is populated with components and other hardware the setup alone can be time consuming...
Operation Hole Shorts
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X-Ray Provides a Picture of Imperfection
A couple of months ago Circuit Technology Center had the good fortune to obtain a Dage 7500 X-Ray machine. For years we had been using a 2D (two dimensional viewing; x and y) machine that ...
Operation X-ray Update
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CircuitMedic