Metcal Blog

We know what you are asking yourself!!!

When looking at performance for hand soldering in electronics manufacturing, Operations Engineers need to be very focused on three key metrics: time to temperature, dwell time and thermal recovery. These three metrics together will identify the best soldering product for the production line and will help maximize throughput and lower scrap in the process.

This article was originally published in the May, 2019 issue of U.S. Tech and can also be found online at US-Tech.com. 

Soldering irons have been in use for a very long time, and they do the same job today as they did in the past - they make the electrical connection between components through the use of melted solder. But just as the components have become far more advanced, the soldering iron has progressed as well. This is why you should be using a smart soldering station for your electronic work.

Our own Robert Roush recently joined a panel on the challenges of proper solder joints with Indium Corporation’s Brook Sandy-Smith, technical support engineer, Andrew Nunenkamp, director of engineering at MC Assembly, and Vince Burns, quality engineer and an IPC Certified Trainer.

We're excited to be exhibiting at productronica 2017! We'll be at Hall A2, Stand 135, Nov. 14 – 17, 2017 at the Messe München in Germany.  We'll be showing the brand new Connection Validation (CV) Selective Soldering System at the show for the first time, along with a range of our new soldering tools. See below for the whole lineup!

Until the release of our CV-5210 power station, Metcal soldering stations have not featured a tip temperature display. Many customers, especially Contract Manufacturers have lamented this, because of their need to provide documentation and support for their customers and ISO or other process control requirements.

Let’s face it soldering tips and cartridges cost money. And when you combine that with operators forced to solder at 850°F or higher to keep up to speed, those tips are breaking down and costing you a bunch of dollars.  

We often get detailed questions from Process Engineers about how SmartHeat really works, and whether fixed (or stable) head soldering stations or variable heat is what they need.  Our expert, MetcalMan Ed Zamborsky himself has written this article about Metcal's SmartHeat first, to talk about how stable temperature soldering really works!

We are very excited to have received a 2017 SMT China Vision Award in the category of Hand Soldering for the CV-5200 Connection Validation™ Soldering Station. The award was presented to the company on April 25, 2017 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center during NEPCON China. This is the second award that the company has received for Connection Validation since its introduction in early 2017.