Wave Soldering Defects

Wave soldering is a large-scale soldering process by which electronic components are soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB) to form an electronic assembly. The name is derived from the use of waves of molten solder to attach metal components to the PCB. The process uses a tank to hold a quantity of molten solder; the components are inserted into or placed on the PCB and the loaded PCB is passed across a pumped wave or waterfall of solder. The solder wets the exposed metallic areas of the board (those not protected with solder mask, a protective coating that prevents the solder from bridging between connections), creating a reliable mechanical and electrical connection. The process is much faster and can create a higher quality product than manual soldering of components.

Wave soldering is used for both through-hole printed circuit assemblies, and surface mount. In the latter case, the components are glued by the placement equipment onto the printed circuit board surface before being run through the molten solder wave.

Make sure you check out our blog post titled "What Is The Minimum Pitch You Can Wave Solder a PCB?".


Common Types of Soldering Defects


Celebrating 70 Years of Manufacturing Excellence   Learn More →
America's Oldest. A History of Innovation.

Over the past 70 years, the electronics manufacturing industry has changed dramatically as the industry continues to adapt to evolving demands and technology. Epec is at the forefront of innovation, with the expertise and agility to move at the speed of today’s businesses. At Epec, the customer comes first, and everything we do must be put through that filter. Whether it is developing e-commerce platforms to make it easier to work with us or creating a new product introduction (NPI) process that helps our customers get to market faster, we must focus on building the new. By doing that every day, and by always making the customer our top priority, we plan on being here for another 70 years and then some.

Learn more about our 70 year story →





Celebrating 70 Years - Epec Engineered Technologies