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86 SMT Magazine • June 2014 can gasket to the board, and thus solder paste will release properly from the stencil onto the circuit board. Frames can range from large to small and thick to thin and be cast aluminum, welded aluminum, space-saving, or frameless systems, including VectorGuard™ and QTS. They can range from 8" x10" die cast (DC) frames to 29" x 29" tubular frames with many options in be- tween. It is usually the printer type and printing equipment that determines the overall frame dimensions/size to be used. Besides choosing the frame type that fits your printer, there are additional options. Frames can usually be pur- chased either from the printer manufacturer or from the stencil manufacturer. The overall size of a stencil frame is dictated largely by the size of the outside diameter of the stencil itself. Frame specifications should take into account the stencil's inside dimension, out- side dimension, corner hole locations (if appli- cable), hole thread size, frame thickness, flat and parallel dimensions, and the maximum print area. If you have a lot of option variability with the printer you are using, make sure to pick a frame size large enough to accommodate the foil size (stencil size), the glue border to mount the foil, and allow an additional 2" square spacing around the outside of the image which is neces - sary to print successfully. It is perfectly acceptable to have more than a 2" square around the image area before the glue border starts, but successful printing usually cannot happen if the spacing is less. Sometimes, extra-large board sizes can cause a need for an oversized frame to be used. We can accommodate any size up to 70" x 102". While there are multiple sizes of frames available, most frames fall into a few standard CoLuMn SeLeCTIng A STenCIL FRAMe continues