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technology blog

Wednesday 16 November 2016

SMT Repair For Printed Circuit Board

SMT Repair of PCB

SMT Repair of printed circuit boards from an assembly point of view is an operation, when completed, allows the printed circuit assembly to meet the boards’ original form, fit and function. The board may not necessarily meet the original inspection criteria but it will function properly.
SMT repair of printed circuit boards from a repair depot service or from an already placed in to service, standpoint is a different story. This refers to the troubleshooting and part replacement or board repair so that the original function of the PCB can be confirmed prior to sending it back to the end user.

Most of the repairs performed on a PCB from an assembly standpoint have to do with “fixing” physical damage to the board. This physical damage to the board can take on many different forms. Some of the more common forms of SMT Rework include repairing or replacing of pads or traces, repairing solder mask that was damaged, repairing a corned which has been damaged due to the board being dropped and replating of gold on the gold fingers on the board.
The type of personnel performing SMT repair is truly the most skilled and those having “artisan-like” attributes. As a minimum, they will also be an advanced or expert level solderer with tremendous patience. Some of the more advanced personnel performing SMT repair are true artisans in their craft.

All of the BEST “artisans” have an extensive background in soldering as well as the formal training required to get SMT repair job done. BEST rework and repair technicians have been performing SMT repair for many years honing their skills at larger EMS companies before coming to BEST were they could specialize in and practice their craft. The PCB soldering technicians performing SMT repair at BEST have been trained in IPC 7721 processes. This is the industry standard for learning how to perform PCB physical repairs including replacement of pads and traces, gold finger replating, laminate repair, plated throughhole repair and more.


In terms of equipment, each of the SMT repair technicians, besides having a fully-equipped professional soldering station have other tools required of an SMT repair technician. These artisans will have specialty materials such as replacement traces, replacement pads and eyelets for throughhole repair in their “tool box”. In addition, they will have resin/epoxy to glue these materials to the board in addition to forming devices like orange wood sticks and tweezers. The toolbox will also be filled with a variety of colorants to match the color of the solder mask on the board, have a gold replating power supply as well as all of the consumables to make the repairs in addition to other wet sanding materials.

1 comment:

  1. Do you want to join SMT, THT, Hand Soldering workshops in Canada/ USA? Look no further. At Wireless Training Center, we offer PCB, SMT Rework, reflow, and repair training to help you properly evaluate solder joints by using a soldering station and a variety of different style tips for the installation and removal of components.         

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