Fred (FL) wrote: > The "hole" and Elecraft's 2-sided PCB's always puzzled > me a bit - as I was never sure if there were pads, > plated-thru hole, and lower pads - every time. In > other words when I soldered a component on the top > side of the RF Board - and got a great solder flow - > was I supposed to look to see if there was a pad > and "great flow" on the bottom side too? > > OR DOES THE PLATED-THRU HOLE, TAKE CARE OF THAT?
Very early in the PCB days, double-sided PCBs did not have plated-through component holes, so it was necessary to solder both sides of each component connection. PCBs have had plated-through holes for a LONG time, so this is no longer an issue. Nevertheless, insufficient heat and/or application time can cause the solder not to flow smoothly through the plated hole and create a good fillet on the other side of the board. This should ALWAYS happen, because otherwise you're depending on the integrity of the plated-through hole to conduct current between sides (or layers, in multilayer boards). Murphy sez this ain't a good idea! I always inspect all solder joints on both sides of the board to make sure they look right. Bill W5WVO _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
