Selective vs wave soldering
Wave soldering treats the whole board. Selective treats the joint. Which one suits mixed-technology assemblies.
Wave soldering passes the entire underside of a board over molten solder, which is efficient for boards that are predominantly through-hole. Selective soldering treats individual joints or small groups, which suits mixed-technology assemblies where most of the board is surface mount and only a few through-hole joints remain.
Wave suits
High through-hole content across the whole board.
High volume, low mix, stable product.
Boards that tolerate whole-underside thermal exposure.
Selective suits
Mixed-technology boards with a handful of through-hole joints among surface-mount components.
Assemblies with heat-sensitive parts that must not see a wave.
Higher mix, where masking and fixturing for a wave becomes the dominant cost.
Where robotic soldering fits
A robotic soldering cell is selective soldering at bench scale — it treats one joint at a time with a taught path, which is why it fits low-to-medium volume mixed assemblies particularly well.
Commonly asked
Can a soldering robot replace our wave machine?
If the board is mostly surface mount with limited through-hole content, frequently yes, and it removes the masking and fixturing a wave demands. For a board that is genuinely mostly through-hole at volume, a wave is still more efficient.
Get the answer for your actual part
A guide can only take you so far. Send us the board, the fluid or the fastener and we will run it, film it, and come back with cycle times and a quote.
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