Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!samsung!xanth!mcnc!rti!tijc02!waw103
From: waw103@tijc02.UUCP (Alan Watson         )
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: PCB vs. wirewrap
Message-ID: <775@tijc02.UUCP>
Date: 13 Nov 89 14:31:50 GMT
References: <850@carroll1.UUCP>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Texas Instr., Johnson City TN
Lines: 21

From article <850@carroll1.UUCP>, by dnewton@carroll1.UUCP (Dave 'Post No Nicknames' Newton):
> 
>    I don't like routing PCBs by hand, but I don't like wire-wrapping large 
> boards either.  (Manual tool at this point)
>    Is either one of them better?  I've heard that a lot of critical circuits
> are wire-wrapped for reliability.  Is this true?
> 

GENERALLY SPEAKING,

Good wire-wrap is more reliable. PCBs suffer because they aren't very flexible.
Any excessive bending will break solder joints, possibly crack foil traces.
Also you have to worry about cold-solder joints, acid corrosion, etc.
A good wire-wrap connection is gas-tight so corrosion won't degrade the
connection and of course it can withstand quite a bit of flexing. Naturally
it is pretty easy to change a wire-wrapped layout.

I think that you need a good wire-wrap gun to get consistently good 
connections, plus it will really speed up the work.

waw