----- Original Message ----- From: "Dwayne Reid" To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 7:17 PM Subject: Re: [EE]Through hole plating PCB I must be missing something here. I was astonished to see written: "Yes, you are missing that you are not allowed to solder perpendicular surfaces. A piece of wire could be bent to make a surfaces parallel to PCB; component leads can't (at least on the component's side)." I've been giving this significant thought and have spent some time searching for relevant information via Google. And I just don't get it. There has to be billions of circuit boards that have been manufactured that consist of wire leads pushed through holes and soldered. Many of those are double-sided boards with plated-through-holes but I'd bet that the majority of those boards are single-sided with NO plated-through-holes. Now I'm being told by somebody (one person - Marechiare) that practice is all wrong. I can't find any relevant information anywhere that supports this claim. So: I have to repeat what Vitaly asked: "Can you reference any reputable source that supports your claim?" dwayne PS - I suppose that some of the modern LED lighting assemblies that I am now seeing are manufactured all wrong as well. Those consist of 4 small PCBs assembled into a square shape, with another PCB soldered across the end of the box thus formed by the 4 PCBs. All connections are solder bridges from one PCB to another. I'd be happy to look at some relevant standards if anyone can point me in that direction. Otherwise, I'm just going to have to assume that Marechiare is making stuff up for the fun of it. dwayne All, This conversation brought back a long dormant memory, so I just had to check it out. See this NASA standard. Specifically, section 8.4. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/doctree/NS87393.pdf It seems to support at least part of the original argument, especially as relates to non-plated through holes. For many reasons, not every device is built to NASA standards, but a standard does exist, none the less. My memory hasn't yet completely failed (yet). Richard -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist