An IPC ‘Blockbuster’: IPC-7711/21

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Dan Foster, Missile Defense Agency, has been instrumental in developing IPC-7711/21, Rework, Modification and Repair of Electronics Assemblies, over several revisions of this important guideline document. We talked to Dan and committee member Agnieszka Ozarowski, BAE Systems, about the most recent revision.

IPC-7711/21 is the replacement guideline for IPC-R-700C, a document last updated in 1989. In 1998, Dan led the first meeting for the creation of IPC 7711/21 and recalls why R-700 needed to be updated.

“We were using, like, two hair dryers to remove components by hot air at that time,” he says.

Technology had changed, and R-700 needed to be replaced. IPC-7711/21 is different from others in the IPC library. It is a guideline, not a standard, offering information on how to do rework and repair on boards and assemblies. IPC-7711/21D provides easier-to-follow guidelines, new visual aids, procedures, tools, methods, and materials for restoring electronic assemblies.

Each procedure has been reformatted to make it easier for the reader to understand, and the format is more in line with standards.

“The big thing about 7711/21 is that it has procedures, but they are flexible,” Dan says. “We wanted to give people core procedures to use, and those can be modified. People tend to treat it like a standard, and we need to remind them that it is not.”

The first thing he tells others is to read the front of the book. “Nobody wants to, but we changed procedures with a simple note up front, stating whether procedures will work for lead or lead-free,” Dan says. “But you need to understand the features—different fluxes and higher temps. We refer to all that in the front of the document. In revision D, you will see many changes to the General Information section of the document. Team Iron, the A-Team responsible for the content, worked to bring it up to date.”

To read the entire article, which appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of Community Magazine, click here.