SMT gluing and glue mask questions

pcb glue mask

Howdy,

I am using BoardStation to design boards and had a couple of questions about SMT gluing and glue mask layers. To date, we have been hand assembling our SMT boards (which are mainly low production runs) but I'd like to design for effective automated assembly.

(1) I have been putting via's under SMT components to conserve space but I am concerned that this might interfere with the glue (or visa versa). Is this OK even if a glue dot will be applied in the vicinity of a via?

(2) BoardStation has a glue mask layer that I have been (arbitrarily) setting up to fit comfortably under the components. Is this actually useful or will the board assembly shop just put a dot of glue down in the center of the board? What guidelines should I use for glue mask definition?

The boards we design are relatively low production runs that are modifications for radar. There would typically be a run of 50 - 250 boards on anything we produce.

Thanks much,

swright

swright,
I would check with your Assembly house to see what they want. We have never provided a glue layer and it was my understanding from the people we use that once we started using 603 and smaller components, gluing becomes difficult to control and that the solder paste is sufficient to keep the parts in place. Just for clarification, we are using double sided IR and not doing wave soldering.

Thanks much for the response. I'll check them out.

swright