Stress on surface mount components during depaneling

I am looking for information on the amount of stress a component sees during the depaneling process. I am currently specifying a new piece of depaneling equipment and I have not found any studies that quantitatively compare the amount of stress different depaneling methods put on surface mount components. Has anyone done such a study? Has anyone switched from depaneling scored boards with a pizza cutter depaneler to using a router to depanel a "tabbed" panel?

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| I am looking for information on the amount of stress a component sees during the depaneling process. I am currently specifying a new piece of depaneling equipment and I have not found any studies that quantitatively compare the amount of stress different depaneling methods put on surface mount components. Has anyone done such a study? | Has anyone switched from depaneling scored boards with a pizza cutter depaneler to using a router to depanel a "tabbed" panel? Don, The switch from routed to scored isn't usually made because of stress on components. It's done because routing bites butt on double sided surface mount processes. Both methods are going to cause "sagging" even with the most costly stiffeners. Routed boards really tend to bow / sag but the v-scored boards, when scored properly, are much more friendly to processing. Components shouldn't see any stress, EVER. Period. There are design issues if this is a concern. Sometimes it's not financially feasible to design for manufacturability but that's the cost that has to be accepted. Regards, Justin Medernach Flextronics International

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