The New Chapter: The Benefits of Continuing Education
It’s Only Common Sense: You’ve Got to Hustle
Estimated reading time: Less than a minute
The Short Scoop: Squeegee Blades
One often overlooked component of the soldering process is the squeegee blade, which is critical in solder paste application. The technology of the seemingly simple squeegee blade is as important as the stencil when it comes to the printing process. The application, type of stencil, and the printer set-up should all be determining factors in selecting the blade. Squeegee blades should:
- Provide consistent blade edge integrity over the blade life cycle;
- Prevent curtaining of solder paste; and
- Achieve high print speeds with tacky solder pastes.
Look for the life of the blade, the material it’s made of, the edge surface, the surface finish, and a blade design optimized to your stencil. You can have an excellent printer, stencil, and the correct solder paste, but if you have a blade that’s worn, or not optimally fabricated, it will have a significant effect on the end-of-line yield. The loss of profit involved in the downtime to diagnose and remedy the problem, plus rework, wasted solder paste, and low yield, can be considerable.Read the full column here.Editor's Note: This column originally appeared in the June 2013 issue of SMT Magazine.
Share on:
More Columns from The Short Scoop
Adapting Stencils to Manufacturing Challenges in 2015The Short Scoop: Stencil Printing in PCB Cavities
The Short Scoop: Printing Two-level PCBs in One Step with a 3D Electroform Stencil
The Short Scoop: Improving Stencil Printing Results
The Short Scoop: More Stencil Questions (and the Answers!)
The Short Scoop: Selecting a Stencil Frame
The Short Scoop: Screen Printing Solutions for Small Die & Precision
The Short Scoop: 10 Common Stencil Questions