Wave soldering machines

01

Set the soldering profile the machine must hold

AIM's wave soldering profile supplement, following IPC-7530, IPC-9502 and J-STD-001, gives recommended starting points. Solder pot temperature for lead-free alloys is 255–300 °C (as low as 240 °C depending on alloy and application) against 230–260 °C for tin-lead. For lead-free alloys with medium-to-high-solids IPA fluxes it gives a topside ramp of 1–3 °C/s, topside maximum preheat of 80–140 °C, bottom-side contact time under 8 s, cooling under 3 °C/s and 60–180 s from 40 °C to wave contact; low-solids fluxes use 80–120 °C preheat and 60–90 s. [1]

AIM puts typical flux deposition at 500–1,500 micrograms per square inch, applied by spray, foam, brush or dip, and stresses that flux solvents must be dry before the board meets the wave. It recommends profiling with at least three thermocouples, one through the board to the bottom side for contact time and two on the top-side solder mask. [1]

Its troubleshooting matrix links bridging, insufficient hole fill, skips and solder balls to profile and process causes including preheat time and temperature, contact time, pot temperature, wave height, conveyor speed and angle, flux amount and pallet condition. [1]

Give the supplier the board size range and thickness, component heights top and bottom, solder alloy, flux type and solids content, required profile (preheat, contact time), throughput, use of pallets or fixtures, nitrogen requirement and available power and compressed air.

02

Size the preheat, conveyor and pot

NeoDen's ND250 is a PLC-controlled dual-wave machine with spray fluxing that adjusts coverage to board size, two preheat sections totalling 800 mm reaching up to 180 °C, solder temperature up to 300 °C with PID control, a 200 kg tin tank, 12 mm wave height, 0–1.2 m/min conveyor, 250 mm maximum board width, a 750 ± 20 mm conveyor height and a 4–7 kg/cm² air supply at 12.5 L/min. Both wave heights and the conveyor speed are set by stepless variable-frequency control. [2]

At the high-volume end, Ersa's POWERFLOW ULTRA is a full-tunnel nitrogen wave soldering system 5,700 to 7,200 mm long, about 1,400 mm wide and 1,580 mm high, with finger or frame transport at up to 2.5 m/min, a 406 mm maximum working width (520 mm on the XL and 610 mm on the XXL versions), component heights up to 150 mm, a preheat configurable up to 3,000 mm using convection, medium-wave and short-wave radiation, and 525 to 725 kg of solder depending on configuration. Its soldering module moves at up to 5 mm/s; nozzle-to-board distance, wave height and wave contact time can be stored per board sector in the program. [3]

Between those two, Manncorp's 45.400 dual-wave machine (turbulent chip wave plus smooth main wave) lists in its specification table a 50–400 mm pin conveyor, 500–2,200 mm/min conveyor speed, a 4–7° adjustable soldering angle, a titanium pot holding about 420 kg of lead-free solder heated from ambient to 300 °C with a start-up time of about 60 min, a 410 mm wave width, 10 mm wave height and 10 mm maximum lead protrusion. Preheat is forced hot-air convection in three individually PID-controlled 660 mm sections, listed as 2,000 mm in the table (the page headline says 1,800 mm), with a preheat temperature range of 85–110 °C; the servo-driven spray fluxer sits outside the heating chamber. Supply is 220 V three-phase 50/60 Hz with 39.5 kW total and 8–10 kW working power, air at 61 psi (4 bar), a 250 cfm solder-pot exhaust, and the machine measures 4,700 × 1,450 × 1,680 mm and weighs 1,900 kg net. Nitrogen soldering, top-side preheat and a second solder pot are options. [4] Editorial calculation: 3 × 660 mm = 1,980 mm of preheat at 2,200 mm/min gives 1.98 ÷ 2.2 × 60 ≈ 54 s, just under AIM's 60 s lower bound for medium-to-high-solids fluxes, so this machine reaches that window at about 1,980 mm/min or slower. [4] [1]

Editorial calculation: a board spends preheat length ÷ conveyor speed in the preheat zone. On an 800 mm preheat at the ND250's top speed of 1.2 m/min that is 0.8 ÷ 1.2 × 60 = 40 s, below AIM's 60–180 s from 40 °C to contact for medium-to-high-solids fluxes; if the preheat zone has to supply at least 60 s, the conveyor must run at about 0.8 m/min or slower, so preheat length can cap conveyor speed and throughput. [2] [1] By the same arithmetic, a 3,000 mm preheat at 2.5 m/min gives 3.0 ÷ 2.5 × 60 = 72 s, inside AIM's 60–180 s window, so longer preheat is what allows the higher conveyor speed. [3] [1]

03

Compare what suppliers offer

The suppliers linked to this page list wave soldering machines; their cards link to the pages reviewed.

Ask any supplier for the preheat length and power, maximum board width, conveyor speed range and angle adjustment, wave types and pump control, pot capacity and heating power, fluxer type, nitrogen option, cooling, controls and profile data logging, and the power and air supply.

04

Trace the machine parts

This is a functional reference built from the sources cited; it is not one maker's specification.

05

Fill the specification fields with values for your boards

A wave soldering machine quotation needs values for your products and line. The table explains each field, gives published values where a reviewed source states them, and says what to obtain from the supplier.

06

Send the board, process and plant data together

Paste it into your enquiry below or into an email to a maker, then replace every bracket.

Boards: [width range; thickness; component heights]
Process: [alloy; flux type; profile; nitrogen]
Throughput: [boards per hour; pallets]
Machine: [waves; preheat length; pot size]
Plant: [power; compressed air; extraction]

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