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#photo-notice #qcxp40 #problem #photo-notice #qcxp40 #problem
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Chris, those spots are all on the ground plane and are all far enough away from solder joints to easily avoid shorting while constructing it. They shouldn’t cause you any problems. If you want to re-mask them you might try a small dab of fingernail polish on each spot but it is not necessary in my opinion. Have fun with your build. 73….. Ron
On Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 02:40 <chrisjames.jewell@...> wrote:
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Honestly, you don't need to worry about that exposed mask. I personally would not do anything to them. It will make no difference if you do cover them or not. But if you insist, a clear lacquer paint is probably the best way to cover those areas up. Fred W0FMS
On Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 6:56 AM Ronald Taylor <wa7gil@...> wrote:
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The chipping all seems to be on ground plane areas. I think if I had this I would try to stabilize each spot with a tiny amount of clear nail polish. Let's see what the pros here think first though. 73 Phil WA8YAN Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message -------- From: chrisjames.jewell@... Date: 1/19/22 4:40 AM (GMT-05:00) To: QRPLabs@groups.io Subject: [QRPLabs] #photo-notice #qcxp40 #problem Quick question here - I'm very early in the assembly of my QCX+ 40m kit (getting ready to solder in T1), and I just noticed that on the bottom side of the PCB there are a couple of small spots where the solder mask is chipping away from the board, exposing copper beneath (circled in the picture below). They are not immediately on or near traces or solder pads, but they are close enough that there's a chance some stray solder or continued chipping may result in a short. Anyone else experienced this/have any thoughts on the best way to fix? My initial thought is to carefully solder the components around the exposed copper (avoiding shorts), and then cover over the spots with some hot glue, but I'd imagine there's a better/more permanent solution. Appreciate any help you all can offer! Thank and 73, Chris KC3RNE
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William Smith
I'm not sure what failure mode you are trying to prevent. How is the area that soldermask peels off going to 'short' to something else?
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73, Willie N1JBJ
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I don't think he's asking about a specific failure mode; rather, just asking if this has any potential significance.
Chris, the solder mask doesn't, in and of itself, matter: it may simply mean that the track wasn't clean when the mask was applied; BUT flaking occurs when the manufacturing of the trace underneath isn't perfect. Taking a general look for copper track whiskers would be a good investment of ten minutes. Check for obvious shorts from before you start assembling, such as track around the power regulator (make sure the input DC line doesn't go anywhere it shouldn't), or from a 5V point to a ground point, and to points around the output transistors. If you have a magnifying glass, spending ten minutes looking at general track integrity is worth the effort. Once you put components on (yes, there are already SMTs mounted) it gets much more difficult. -- Julian, N4JO.
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