Manual soldering can seem a bit outdated and indeed is not used anymore for batch production. In some sectors, such as automotive it’s even not allowed anymore for reasons of quality assurance.
For components with special requirements or repair or in cases where the selective soldering robot cannot be used we still use a manual soldering process.
The skills and expertise of the soldering operator is crucial and we train all of our operators to the highest standards. One of the came second in the 2019 IPC hand soldering championship.
Watch the Video – Manual Soldering
Script – Manual Soldering
Through hole components can be soldered on a wave soldering line, with a selective soldering machine or robot, or manually.
We use manual soldering as well as our selective soldering machine for this step.
Manual soldering can seem a bit outdated, and indeed is not used anymore for batch production.
In some sectors, such as automotive it’s even not allowed anymore for reasons of quality assurance.
The main concerns with manual soldering are
- Where the result is only as good as the person who does the soldering
- That reproducibility is not guaranteed
- Where more flux residues remain on the board
- When higher thermal stress is applied to the small contact area of the soldering tip
But for components with special requirements, or for repair or in cases where the selective soldering robot cannot be used we still solder manually.
As told before the quality depends on the skills and expertise of the soldering operator.
We have well trained operators. One of our operators was second in the 2019 IPC hand soldering championship.
