Coventry, West Midlands -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/12/2013 -- Electronic design and manufacturing services company Arrowvale Electronics faced a challenge when they were presented with some memory card PCB’s with several fine pitch micro BGA’s. When attempts to solder them in a convection reflow oven failed, they contacted Blundell Production Equipment who recommended they try vapour phase soldering.

After trials at Blundells’ Coventry demonstration room, they purchased an IBL SLC 509 vapour phase system and now they can solder not only the micro BGA’s but much more complex PCB’s with Land Grid Arrays and also a CPU card with a 256 pin BGA.

Arrowvale’s production manager Colin Wood says ‘The Vapour phase oven works consistently over a wide range of different products with hardly any changes being needed to the program. It is easy to use and our initial fears that it would use a lot of expensive Galden Fluid have been dispelled. We haven’t had to top the Galden up since it was installed a year ago’

The big benefit of vapour phase is that you get even heating across the whole assembly, irrespective of the density or complexity of the component layout, and IBL’s patented Soft vapour phase gives the user complete control over the thermal profile. ‘We have recently started using LGA LED’s and they are heat sensitive. If they are subjected to over 260 degrees it can shorten their life, so once again vapour phase is ideal for these as it is impossible to over-heat them’.

Colin Wood adds: ‘We won’t be parting with our convection reflow oven – it still has its place for higher volume lower technology boards, but the vapour phase had proven to be invaluable for the more complex work.’

About Blundell Production Equipment
Blundell Production Equipment areas of expertise include SMT Placement machines, wave soldering, selective soldering and vapour phase soldering, PCB rework and inspection, fume extraction, low humidity storage and aqueous cleaning. For more information visit http://www.blundell.co.uk