Rinsing PCBAs under the tap?!
Rinsing PCBAs under the tap?!
To a lot of engineers that sounds about as responsible as leaving a circuit board out in the rain.
Yet that's exactly what DeltaProto now does for certain prototypes and small series.
Not because it's faster or cheaper, but because for this application it gave us a better-controlled process than our previous method. The result: a spotlessly clean #ProtoPCBA.
Our cleaning steps: * Clean with IPA. * Rinse under running tap water. * Post-clean with demineralised-water steam to remove any residue of minerals and contaminants. * Blow dry with ionised air to remove moisture without unwanted ESD build-up.
We used to use a modified dishwasher for this. That worked fine, but for prototypes and small quantities we found that a more manual approach gave us more control over the cleaning result and the handling of critical assemblies.
And the biggest challenge turns out not even to be the water.
As long as the right flux is used and the board is dried properly, water is often less scary than many people think. Far more important are: * leftover contaminants * moisture under components * preventing ESD during blow drying
That's why we use ionised air instead of standard compressed air.
Sometimes the improvement of a process isn't in a more complex machine, but precisely in a simpler and more controllable one.
#PCBAProtoLabLearnings #SuperfastProtoPCBA #HappyEngineering
