Solder Quantity Calculator Tutorial

Solder Quantity Calculator is used to calculate the amount of lead used in PCB manufacturing in advance based on the design data imported to PollEx PCB.

For the wave soldering, solder mask area is calculated to estimating the lead amount. By using the solder mask information of the PCB design data, you can easily calculate the area on the Solder Quantity Calculator. For the reflow soldering, the lead amount can be calculated according to the area of the metal mask, the thickness of the metal mask, and the material of the solder cream.

  1. Launch PollEx PCB.
  2. Open the design file.
    1. From the menu bar, click File > Open and open the PollEx_PCB_Sample_r<revision number>.pdbb from C:\ProgramData\altair\PollEx\<version>\Examples.
      Refer to the PCB for how to use the PollEx PCB viewer.
  3. From the menu bar, click Manufacture > Solder Quantity Calculator > Solder Mask.
  4. In the View Setting section, select Top or Bottom and click Calculate to calculate the Solder Mask area.
    Figure 1.


    You can check the solder mask area per SMD, DIP (Through Hole), and board figure.
  5. Check the Solder Mask area per each component pin.
    1. From the menu bar, click Option > Display Solder Mask Area List.
      Figure 2.


    2. Click Export MS Excel to export the solder mask area per each component pin as an Excel document.
  6. From the menu bar, click Manufacture > Solder Quantity Calculator > Metal Mask to run Metal Mask.
  7. Calculate the Metal Mask Area.
    Figure 3.


    1. In the View Setting section, select Top or Bottom.
    2. In the Mask Volume Calculation section, select the material of the solder cream from the drop-down menu and enter Mask Thickness.
    3. Click Calculate to calculate the lead amount.
      Select Advanced when selecting a solder cream material to set the composition ratio of the material.
      Figure 4.


  8. Select a component pin to check the pad size and metal mask size.
    Figure 5.


  9. Check the Metal Mask area per a component.
    1. From the menu bar, click Option > Display Metal Mask Area List.
      Figure 6.


    2. Click Export MS Excel to export the metal mask area per a component as an Excel document.