Question: I am an IPC certified J-STD-001 and A-610 Trainer and have a question that I’m hoping you can help clarify for me. It is in regards to the interpretation of the acceptability of the top side solder filet requirements for a soldered in thru hole turret terminal. My understanding is that due to the configuration of the terminal, the base of the turret terminal would tend to sit flush to the top side (destination side) of the PCB and therefore, there may not be any top side filet around the base of the terminal. My interpretation is that as long as the bottom side (solder source side) has an acceptable filet and wetting is evident between the base of the Turret and the top side (solder destination side) the joint would be acceptable. Can you clarify this for me?
Answer: I checked all the information I have regarding the soldering of the top side or solder destination side of the terminals and there is no requirement for top side soldering.
The only table I can find is table 6-1 on page 6-8 of IPC-A-610 Rev E and all the soldering is done on the solder source side. There is no requirement for solder on the top.