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How to: Select an Appropriate Soldering Tip for your Application

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Soldering tips are available in an array of shapes and sizes and are used in every industry – from electronics to plumbing.

Metcal Soldering Tips, available from Ellsworth Adhesives Europe, have been uniquely designed to sense the specific thermal demand directly at the soldering pad. This feature enables the solder tip to deliver a precise quantity of energy without the need to adjust or calibrate.

When selecting a soldering tip, it is important to consider the tip’s shape. By comparing the shape of different tips, you can ensure the chosen one will fit between each component of your board.

Included in our range are a wide selection of Metcal tip geometrics to cater to all soldering, de-soldering and rework requirements. It is important to note that these tips must be used only with Metcal Solder Systems.

We hope we can assist you in choosing the most appropriate tip for your application by outlining the features of each type and suggesting the applications each tip is best suited to.

Chisel Tip

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe Chisel TipOne of the most common types of tip available, chisel tips are broad and thicker at the tip to help them evenly deliver heat to component leads and pads. Generally, chisel tips should be 60% of the width of the pad to ensure that the soldering process can take place as quickly as possible, yet with minimum thermal stress to the component. Chisel tips are ideal for applications which require soldering wires, through-hole components, large surface-mount components as well as de-soldering. For most soldering jobs, a chisel tip is the most effective option due to its tapered edge that can fit between most components.

Optimised for thermal performance, Metcal chisel tips are available in a fine chisel, bent chisel, long reach or fine bent option in 30° or 60° angles.

Conical Tip

Conical tips are usually used for precision electronics applications since its pointed tip helps deliver heat to small areas, such as tiny surface-mount components. Shaped in a cone, these tips work efficiently in small areas and are perfect for hard to reach places.

Metcal offers a variety of conical tips in 30° and 60° angles which can be supplied as a fine, bent, long reach or fine bent chisel, all of which are recommended for heavy duty applications.

Hoof Tip

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe Hoof TipThe hoof tip, also known as the bevel tip is not as common as chisel and conical tips but is used for solder jobs that require iron pre-loading with solder. The hoof tips large flat surface ensures it can hold more solder than most other tips. The use of a hoof tip is useful for soldering small-gauge wires together or dragging solder across surface-mount chips to solder multiple pins at once. Hoof tips are ideal for drag soldering, and soldering small gauge wire.

Metcal hoof tips are supplied in a variety of types and sizes including long reach, chrome plated and mini in 45° and 60° angles.  These tips have been optimised for thermal performance.

Bevel Tip

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe Bevel TipBevel tips are also known as single flat tips and incorporate features from both the chisel and conical tips. Manufactured with one flat edge and one round edge, these tips are cost effective and can cater to a vast array of applications.

 

Blade Tips

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe Blade TipLarger and wider than most, blade tips are most suitable for rework and pad levelling and pad cleaning applications. By using a soldering braid and a blade tip you can easily remove solder from multiple components at once, with minimum working time required.

 

Knife Tips

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe Knife TipKnife tips are ideal for multi-lead soldering and particularly suited to soldering of J-leaded components such as PLCCs and DRAMS. These fixed temperature tips are available in 45° angles to offer users a fully safe and thermally effective solution to their lead-free soldering needs, as well as complete process control.

Now that you are aware of the broad range of solder tips available, we hope that you will be able to choose the most appropriate tip for your project’s needs.

 

Shop Metcal Soldering Tips here. 

 

To make an enquiry about any of our Solder Tips, contact Ellsworth Adhesives Europe via email: infoeurope@ellsworth.com or alternatively call 01355 231122.

If you are still unsure which Solder Tip is best suited to your application, don’t hesitate to contact ‘The Glue Doctor’ who will be happy to analyse your joining and bonding requirements and help you select the most appropriate tip.

New Product: Robnor ResinLab Safety-Focused Resins

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Ellsworth Adhesives Europe is pleased to announce the addition of two new safety-focused resins to its material range.

Manufactured by Robnor ResinLab, GR100 and GR200 are completely free from hazard labelling, making them the safest resins the formulator has ever made.

GR100 is a two-part, low viscosity filling and jointing component, while GR200 is a cold curing elastomer, free from isocyanate or plasticiser.

Ideal for use in applications including electrical potting, cable jointing, off shore and low temperature potting, GR100 and GR200 are available to purchase in bulk, as a twin pack or as a kit and are guaranteed to offer end users a safer, more environmental solution than traditional resins.

Both products are easy to mix and pour, and cure at 0?, ensuring good low temperature flexibility. By curing at a much lower point than traditional epoxies and polyurethanes, GR100 and GR200 retain some stickiness post-cure, a quality which could aid adhesion to certain substrates.

These safety focused resins have fast gel and demould times – GR200 cures after only 1 hour while GR100 has a cure time of 3 hours. Furthermore, these materials enjoy the additional benefit of curing without exotherm, meaning that curing is possible in thick or thin sections.

GR100, is the softer of the two materials with a hardness of A10, compared to GR200 with a shore classification of A30-35. Thanks to their flexible property, the cured material can always be cut or dug out, enabling easy access to the protected components and the ability to replace the materials if required.

With a good tack and adhesion to plastics, good tensile strength and excellent electrical and water resistance, these new resins are set to be a popular choice in the market place.

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe is an official distributor of Robnor ResinLab epoxy and polyurethane resin systems. To enquire about GR100 and GR200 or any other Robnor ResinLab products within the Ellsworth range please contact us.

Visit the Ellsworth Adhesives Europe website: https://ellsworthadhesives.ie/brands/robnor-resinlab/

New Product: Dow Corning EA-5151 Adhesive

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Leading distributor of industrial adhesives and adhesive applicators, Ellsworth Adhesives Europe is delighted to announce the addition of the new Dow Corning EA-5151 to its product portfolio.

This ‘Quick in Connect’ (QiC) adhesive has been formulated to accelerate electronic assembly and increase production throughput.
Available as a one-part silicone formulation, Dow Corning EA-5151 is applied as a warmed liquid with a plunger-equpped gun or a robotic dispenser. It cools to a solid viscoelastic material, ensuring primerless adhesion to a broad range of metals and plastics, including substrates that are difficult for many alternative solutions to adhere to.

A neutral cure RTV adhesive, EA-5151 has been aligned with transportation electronics market trends to offer a key solution to support vehicle efficiency improvement with overall increased safety, enhanced comfort and entertainment. This adhesive has been designed for use in automotive electronics and industrial environments on energy control units, sensors, displays including entertainment, navigation and communications, battery packs and other components requiring attachment, gasketing, lid seal, connector sealing or adhesion.

A unique feature of EA-5151 is its utilisation of silicone technology, which in turn achieves instant green strength when dispensing. This green strength cures to become a strong mosutre-cured silicone adhesive and allows the user to handle assembled parts immediately after application. Overall this minimises waiting time, reduces energy costs and mitigates the need for assembly aids. Combining as a fast-green strength at room temperature, ensures a more efficient alternative to heat-cured adhesives, double-sided tapes and mechanical fasteners is always on hand.

Additional features of Dow Corning EA-5151 include: long open time and pot life, no part warm up time, service temperatures from -45 to 150°C and the option to be used in conjuction with standard heat assisted dispensing equipment.

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe is an official distributor of Dow Corning Silicone Products. To enquire about this system or any other Dow Corning products within the Ellsworth range please contact us.

 

Robotics and Automation in Fluid and Adhesives Dispensing

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Automation greatly impacts modern business and personal life, and this is particularly evident in applications involving machines used for dispensing and mixing. Modern advances in technology have resulted in highly specific and sophisticated fluid- and adhesive-dispensing robotics that have uses across a number of industries.

Such machinery – which can range from desktop units to robots incorporated into an assembly line – has become especially useful in today’s world. The increasing complexity of chemistries that are dispensed and the continued miniaturisation of important products (think flip chips and circuit boards for ever-shrinking consumer electronics) have demonstrated particular need and usage of automated dispensing solutions.

Key benefits of robotics

As can be reasoned in comparing any automated solution against a more manual-dependent process, chief benefits of robotic dispensing units include increased cost-effectiveness and time savings. However, these efficiencies are even more amplified given the applications robotics are used for, like small part assembly.

Advantages

Consistency: Quality is not a moving target for automated dispensers. The repeatability and consistency of dispensed chemistries is a key benefit that leads to greater savings due to decreased error.

Precision: Robots can be programmed down to the millimeter and have far greater ability to accurately and evenly dispense fluid or adhesives than other processes. Again, repeatability plays a big role here.

Production: Insusceptible to fatigue, dispensing machinery maintains a greater capacity for production, while not impacting quality, and is highly controllable.

Pattern: Because of the way they can be programmed, some, but not all, robots can be customised between various dispensing styles: beads, arcs, circles, dotted lines.

Internet of Things: An increasingly recognised benefit to robots is the ability for manufacturers and others to sync and link their machines throughout assembly. This interactivity between machines, made possible by the Internet of Things, can identify problems, collect data and ensure a consistent workflow.

 

What do these robots look like?

As mentioned, robotic dispensing units can take many forms. Among the most commonly used are desktop or benchtop units, which usually have a work area ranging from 200 mm by 200 mm to 400 mm by 400 mm. Such units are often used to increase productivity without adding labour, or improve precision in dispensing. Essentially all one has to do to operate is load the machine, position it and press start. Mobility and adaptability are also advantages to desktop units, which can be moved between stations and programmed to handle new dispenses and products by the day.

Such units are able to transition between tasks largely thanks to machine vision. Cameras embedded in or affixed to machines allow them to view and precisely measure the product, as accurate identification and placement is necessary for correct dispensing. Machine vision – which may also take the form of laser or sensor technology – also assists in ensuring that correct dispensing. Exact patterns and quantities of adhesives can be guaranteed by this spatial awareness. Users can also place fiducials as a point of reference for the machine, which can offset disparities between different units.

Another iteration of the robotic dispenser is the larger and more industrial-focused assembly line robot. Familiar to most as standalone, giant robotic arms that swivel on multiple axes, there is still diversity in assembly line robots: Models range from bench-top Cartesian robots to fully articulated 6-axis robots. With the latter, not only do some variances apply adhesives, but can be handled by operators through ingress and egress. Further, some units can offer users the choice to manipulate the part around a fixed dispense point, or conversely manipulate dispensing around a fixed part.

Relevance in industries

The advanced capabilities and efficiencies of robotics make them indispensable to certain industries and applications.

Electronics manufacturing is particularly enhanced by the use of automated fluid and adhesive dispensers. As smartphones and chips used to power all sorts of devices continue to get smaller, the need for specialisation and precision in dispensing grows. The ability of robots to scale with production (as demand for such electronics continues to grow) is another advantage baked into robotics. Small parts assembly is a highly exact process, and machines are specifically suited to these operations.

Other highly industrial applications exist for robotics. For instance, the aerospace, auto manufacturing, medical device manufacturing and renewable energy spaces all benefit from automated dispensing solutions.

 

The content for this month’s blog post was provided by Gluespec® – a partner of Ellsworth Adhesives. 

Gluespec helps engineers to discover adhesives and other materials for their industrial applications.

View our range of Dispensing Robots here. 

New Product: Dymax 1406-M Medical Adhesive

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Leading distributor of industrial adhesives and adhesive applicators, Ellsworth Adhesives Europe is pleased to announce the addition of the new Dymax 1406-M adhesive to its product range.

This medical device material has been designed especially for small needle bonding. As a next generation needle bonding adhesive, 1406-M is ideal for manufacturers looking to switch to LED curing in small gauge needle applications. Optimised for 385nm curing of plastics and metals, 1406-M allows for tighter standard deviations, enabling manufacturers to enjoy the benefits of LED curing without sacrificing speed or cured mechanical properties.

The ability of Dymax 1406-M to cure in seconds enables faster processing, greater output, and lower processing costs. Furthermore, 1406-M provides superior bonding performance on the reduced surface area of small cannulas, even after aging and sterilisation, to reduce the possibility of cannula substrate failure.

Typically used in the manufacture of medical device assemblies, Dymax 1406-M is designed to cure with broad-spectrum or LED UV 385 / 405nm wavelength light sources for the rapid bonding of multiple substrates. This medical device adhesive offers a sophisticated solution for needle gauges and most medical devices that are continually striving for smaller and smaller configurations for patient comfort and preference.

Dymax 1406-M can withstand greater temperature extremes and a broader range of temperatures than standard CAs or UVCAs. Typical common applications include pen needle bonding, syringe or needle assemblies and single use assemblies.

Additional features and benefits of the 1406-M include rapid bonding, fast cure speed, good adhesion to PP/PE and SS, low water absorption, low shrinkage and biocompatibility.

 

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe is an official distributor of Dymax UV Curing Products. To enquire about this system or any other Dymax products within the Ellsworth range please contact us.

 

Celebrating Two Years of the Blog

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It has been two years now since we launched our blog, and to mark this milestone we’ve been reflecting on our blogging journey so far.

The Ellsworth Adhesives Technical blog was created with the aim of sharing our knowledge and expertise with you, our valued customers and we hope that you have benefited from this when selecting materials and equipment for your adhesive application.

We believe it is our expertise that places Ellsworth Adhesives ahead of any competitor, and it has been a pleasure to be able to impart this knowledge to a growing global audience over the past two years.

We hope that you’ll agree that our blog has grown to become a key feature of our website and adds a new dynamic to the in depth technical service we are renowned for.

We want to take this opportunity to thank you, our loyal readers for supporting the blog and hope you will continue reading each month. We do our upmost to write posts with you in mind, therefore if you have any ideas or topics you would like to see featured in future posts then please get in touch.

In honour of our blogging anniversary, this post is dedicated to our ‘Top 5 Blog Posts’, from the past two years.

 

Potting and Encapsulation

Potting is, very simply, the process of covering a component with a resin to guard against potential environmental threats. The most common use for potting is to protect against water and moisture, or to insulate electrically. However, potting can also protect PCBS and other components from thermal and physical shock, chemical attack and tampering, as well as be a physical and visual shield to protect intellectual property and consumer information.

The terms “potting” and “encapsulation” are often used interchangeably, but technically, potting refers to a process where the shell or “pot” that is filled with resin becomes a part of the finished component. In encapsulation, the component and hardened resin are then removed from the pot to be placed in an assembly.

Look back on this post.

 

 

Mixing and Degassing Technology

The processes of mixing and degassing materials need not be labourious with the aid of a Centrifugal Planetary Mixer.

A Centrifugal Planetary Mixer is an automatic machine designed to revolve and rotate a container of materials with the end goal of mixing materials and removing any air from them. The beauty of this equipment is that it has been designed to both mix and degas in one simple and programmable machine. By putting the materials into the container, the revolution and rotation can be completed simultaneously. This machine type operates using a mechanism that allows the container housing the material to be revolved in a clockwise direction, while the material itself is rotated anti-clockwise.

Find out more about our Kakuhunter range in this blog.

 

Medical Device Adhesives

Ellsworth Adhesives Europe is a distributor of Medical Device Adhesives from top manufacturers including Henkel Loctite, Dymax and Permabond. In this modern day, medical devices are becoming more practical and refined, whether this be for in use outside the body, in the form of instrumentation or surgical tools, or inside the body, for diagnostic monitoring or therapeutic purposes. Medical devices typically consist of components and materials that must be joined in some way. Due to this, adhesives for bonding medical devices should be chosen with the utmost care.

Adhesive advancements have revolutionised the Medical Device industry over recent years. Previously it was thought medical devices were impossible to glue, however these advancements have seen their use in the production of specially formulated catheters and disposable medical devices grow annually due to their ability to join plastics, metals and glass simply and consistently.

Read this post again.

 

Sealants

Sealants, as their name suggests, are designed to seal assemblies and joints. By forming a barrier between itself and the substrate, a sealant should stop water, air, gas, chemicals and/or other media from penetrating through a surface or an object.

Generally speaking, sealants contain inert filler material and are formulated with an elastomer to ensure they meet the minimum flexibility and elongation requirement.

As a global distributor of industrial sealants, Ellsworth Adhesives offers sealants from 3M, Dow Corning, Bostik, Loctite, Dymax and Permabond, this blog post will provide you with advice on selecting the most effective sealant for your application.

Find out more about our sealants range in this blog.

 

 

An Introduction to Polyurethanes and Epoxies

Polyurethanes and Epoxies are excellent bonding materials with a vast range of applications, however at times it can be difficult to understand the differences between each, especially when browsing our extensive catalogue. This blog post will outline the key differences between Polyurethanes and Epoxies with explanations of the varying product types related to them and their typical applications.

Epoxies are found in resin form with high mechanical and thermal properties. One of the most impressive features of epoxies is their versatility – a quality which has created a niche for this material in a number of industrial applications. In contrast to epoxies, polyurethanes are polymers composed of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethanes create superior bonds which require minimal surface preparation for high performance thermoplastics.

Look back on our most popular post here.

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