> Hi All!

HELLO JIM !!!!!!

> I don't think cleaning component leads is too silly necessarily. Depends
> on why they're doing it such as to minimise 'hot time.' Granted I've never
> even -heard- of the practice in 40 yrs of soldering, but to each their
> own. :)

Components, especially resistors and capacitors, that have sat around
for a while do get tarnished leads. I keep an old nail file handy to scratch
them up a bit before soldering. Either soldering one lead then trimming
the other (to make a raw end) or trimming both before soldering reduces
chances of future dry joints

I made up a couple of dozen boards yesterday with resistors and diodes
from bandoliers and then wondered, when cleaning up the huge pile of
off-cuts, why these components always have such long leads. It's quite
rare to see the whole thing used, generally they're on 0.3" or 0.4" spacing.
I considered whether it's a handling issue, but pick and place machines
manage just fine with SMT

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