Hand Soldering

In today’s world almost all printed circuit boards are assembled using surface mount components. These components are used because in higher volumes the process is automated as the components are picked out by a gantry robot at high speed and placed into solder paste. This solder paste is melted or reflowed thereby establishing the electrical connection between the components and the PCB. In addition, this connection mechanically affixes the component to the PCB to create a reliable interconnection. If there are high voltage connections or connectors around the periphery of the board, the devices need to be attached the PCB using a different process than previously-described. These through-hole parts are soldered by molten solder contacting the inserted parts leads or legs and running up through a plated hole in the PCB. This process is known as a wave or selective soldering. These connectors, high voltage or other through-hole (Figure 1) parts can be formed and placed into the holes