| I will be starting a conformal coating process soon, I am looking for any pointers on | 1) Best method for masking components, tape mask, liqued mask | 2) Which is best Spray or Dip? | 3) Compatiblity with no clean solder paste (flux residue) | I have Miller Stephenson MS-472 (DIP), and Dow Cor 1-2577 | Any feedback will be apreciated | Mike We are a UK company who has been conformally coating for the past 9 years using an Acrylic material called Humiseal 1B31. This material has full MIL spec, and has also been SIR tested by us over no-clean fluxes with no problems. We have actually been supplying our products with this coating over no-clean fluxes for the last 5 years. We have now transferred production from a Dipping process to a spraying process, with 3 Nordson Selectcoat machines and Vitronics curing ovens. I can recommend both Nordson and Vitronics, but there are very few alternatives to Nordson in the UK anyway! All of our products are certified by FM, CSA, BASEEFA, and various other bodies, and none of them specify that we must dip. Their only stipulation is that we apply two coats with a cure inbetween. The curing ovens should be 100% I.R., convection is not recommended as you will get skinning and bubbling. Our oven profile basically gives a slow ramp up (to avoid skinning) to a max board temperature of 90�C. The total time in the oven is @10 minutes. Please feel free to email me if you think I can help any further.
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