Sunstone Printed Circuit Board Forum

The following is a list of different Sunstone stencils and their uses to help you choose the right stencil for your project needs.

Framed SMT Stencils (Cast Aluminum)
--are laser cut stencil foils permanently mounted in a stencil frame using a mesh border to tightly stretch the stencil foil taut in the frame. These solder past stencils are designed for high volume screen printing on printed circuit boards. They are recommended for printed circuit board assembly when doing production runs and provide optimum solder paste volume control. They have smooth aperture walls and can be used for 16 mil pitch and below and for Micro BGAs.


Frameless SMT Stencils
--are laser cut stencils designed to work with stencil tensioning systems also known as Universal Frames. These solder paste stencils do not need to be permanently glued in a frame. They are less expensive than Framed Stencils and reduce storage space requirements.


Prototype SMT Stencils
--are laser cut made for your own printed circuit boards using your Gerber Paste file. Prototype SMT Stencils come with a squeegee blade and board holders and are specially designed for manual printing.

Prototype SMT Stencil with Kit (Leaded or Lead Free) --comes with a Prototype SMT Stencil, squeegee blade, board holders, plus leaded or lead free solder paste, pick place tool, temperature marker (331-379 degrees), 1 pair of gloves and 2 alcohol wipes.


Hand Stencils
--are laser cut stencils typically used to manually print a single component on a printed circuit board. They are mainly used for PCB rework but can be used for prototype PCB assembly of simple boards. The flaps are for the purpose of holding the stencil between the thumb and finger.