Last week I set you a little test on your soldering skills and, on the same subject, have you ever wondered what NASA recommend for standards of soldering techniques? Well wonder no more here is a document on the NASA website on soldering electrical connections.
As you can imagine it’s very detailed and fairly identical to the IPC Class 3 standards that are probably most familiar to most of us. What is interesting is that the document reads like a legal paper!
I find these types of documents fascinating because it’s like a window into a whole other world, a world where commercial pressures don’t exist and you can have all the time in the world to do the job as well as it is possible to be done. Using only the very best tools and equipment in facilities that are cutting edge.
I am sure the reality is probably somewhere closer to a usual high-Tec workshop under time and budget pressures but it’s great to imagine being part of the best of the best. I also like to secretly imagine that one day that call is going to come through and the voice on the line says “we’ve heard good things about you and would like you to join our team”. I know a guy can dream but the important thing is that we have this vision of being the best that we can be.
What NASA does inspire is the idea that we all want to go further to produce better quality of workmanship to provide the very best and most reliable equipment available. Striving to reach better standards to find that nirvana the point of perfection is a most admiral target.
