rk wrote:

Yeah, and it will perhaps get to be even more interesting, as the European and
Japanese requirements for lead-free soldering take affect; this will also
affect component availability. Along with making the soldering just
different, for long duration equipment, as is often found in many aerospace
applications, the tin whisker problem is of concern to some.

--
rk, Just an OldEngineer


Considering that most of the electronics will be built with surface
mount components it will be very difficult to repair, let alone
troubleshoot the complex equipment being used these days.

I worked on Telemetry receiving equipment and did my own rework on
chips up to 288 pins under a stereo microscope. It takes time to learn
how to probe these boards by hand, and requires a very steady hand to
resolder the leads without causing even more problems. Processes that
can be used on the ground would introduce unwanted contaminants in a
closed environment and you don't have the luxury of a cleaning room to
run repaired boards through to remove the flux after a repair.

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida