SMART Group

After attending this event engineers and production staff should be better equipped to handle lead-free. The workshop was a practical Hands-On and theory event which SMART Group organises so well. Rework and repair workshops have always been successful event for the Group and this was no exception. Even the new venue was greeted with praise from delegates, located on a picturesque golf course in Oxfordshire. Many of the exhibitors and delegates may have liked to be playing golf, but as it was raining, it was not an option. In fact there was a reported tornado on the BBC news at the workshop location, probably just hot air from the workshop instructor!!

The workshop provided over 2 hours of practical to discuss and experiment with a wide range of rework equipment. This provided the opportunity to see different repair procedures, handle different solder alloys and compare their existing processes. Many delegates took the opportunity to bring their own board assemblies to try out. During the event each delegate was also provided with a Lead-Free board and connectors, to gain first hand experience.

Lead-Free Rework and materials suppliers involved on the day included:

Parkheath Ltd
Intertronics
Pace Europe
OK International Ltd
Blundell Production Equipment
Altus Group Ltd
Heraeus Materials
Almit Technology
Fraser Cleaning Technologies Ltd

Lead-Free is still new to many engineers and production staff but, with the introduction of new techniques and the rework procedures provided during the day it should make the transition much easier. Each delegate received a copy of the presentations, copy of the rework procedures and results of the rework survey conducted during the day by Sue Knight of Global Electronics and Chairman of the SMART Group Technical Committee. Mike Judd, PR Director for the SMART Group was also on hand to capture many of the delegates on camera.

During the day the latest development in the LEADOUT project were presented along with details of the new online training modules dedicated to inspection and rework. SMART/LEADOUT is providing a series of one stop seminars to cover each of the issues and answer all the lead-free questions posed by the industry. These events have been running since 2005 and will continue through 2007.

Bob Willis coordinated the day and presented all the theory sessions. “The day was specially planned to provide as much practical time as possible. After each of the theory sessions listed below delegates had between 30-60min to use the latest rework equipment available in the industry. Equipment used ranged from standard soldering irons, hot tweezers, hot air and IR hand tools to the larger automatic rework systems designed for ball grid array, quad flat packages and event 01005 chip components.” commented bob.

Topics included:

Welcome & LEADOUT Update – LEADOUT Coordinator
- includes new online LEADOUT rework training courses

Hand Soldering & De-Soldering Conventional Component Procedures
Surface Mount Passive Component Removal & Replacement Procedures
Ball Grid Array & Quad Flat Pack Removal & Replacement Procedures
Cleaning Printed Boards after Rework & Repair
Lead-Free Inspection Criteria & Common Rework Defects
Reliability Impact of Rework on Lead-Free Assemblies

Three delegates were lucky enough to win SMART Group Lead-Free Training CD-ROMs. The CD-ROMs were presented based on the most interesting questions posed during the day.

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