and soldering the component leads to the PCB.
Even though BQ Products does a great deal of through hole assembly, a larger part of our production in with
SMT assembly.
Insertion of our through hole components in done by manual insertion.
Our through hole process goes through eight different stages, and they are:
Stage 1:Board Preparation
Prior to the components being inserted, the holes not used are masked with a non-solderable liquid solder
mask. This is to keep the solder from plating those holes.
Stage 2: Component Insertion
The components are inserted into the PCB, manually
Stage 3: Wave Soldering-Flux application
This is the first stage of the of the soldering process. This actually cleans the board and the component
leads with the flux. The flux is applied in a foam to the bottom of the circuit.
Stage 4: Wave soldering-preheating
The second stage of the wave soldering process is preheating the board and its components. This helps to
further activate the flux to further clean and ups the assembly temperature to helps prevent any thermal
shock that the solder would present if the board wasn't preheated.
Stage 5:Wave soldering-Soldering
The third stage of the wave soldering process is the actual soldering, this in itself is a two stage process
that consist of the rough wave and the smooth wave. The rough wave is a highly active, bubbling wave that
ensures any blockages within the holes are pushed out. This is specifically true with the flux bubbles that
commonly block the holes. The smooth wave provides the majority of the solder used to produce the
interconnects between the components and holes.
Stage 6: Wave soldering-Rough wave
The assembly first passes over the rough wave to ensure that all the holes are open and ready to take solder
Stage 7:Wave soldering-Smooth wave
The assembly then passes over the smooth wave where the majority of the soldering occurs. The height of
the wave is critical. Only the very bottom of the board comes in contact with the wave. If the wave is to high, it
would flood the top of the circuit with unwanted solder.
Stage 8:Finished Assembly
After the soldering process, the boards are then cooled down and then cleaned to remove any flux residue.
