A Synergistic Approach: Preheat &
Low Temp Soldering Equipment, PCB Fixtures, Specialty & Custom Soldering Accessories
Branded, and Marketed by Zephyrtronics.

In the early 1990's, Zephyrtronics  catapulted to its  leadership role in benchtop soldering with rapid-fire introduction of its innovative, award-winning and patented products. Zephyrtronics, for the first time, blended the disparate disciplines of electronics, metallurgy, thermodynamics, and chemistry with an uncanny ease -- delighting its expanding customer base.

Twenty years later, those paradigm-shifting PCB processes first introduced by Zephyrtronics have long become "industry standards" from Bangor, Maine to Beijing, China.

A source of great pride for the company is that our original equipment and products have played key roles in the production of the International Space Station and the three highly successful Mars Rovers and have been touted by NASA. Over the years, both NASA and the Department of Defense have required their sub-contractors to purchase Zephyrtronics equipment before awarding them contracts.

From scientists at atomic accelerators to engineers and technicians in aerospace, the Zephyrtronics brand is top drawer.

What a Customer Base! Today, Zephyrtronics products are shipped daily to our customers all over the world from our state of the art factory in Los Angeles, California.

Hundreds of Zephyrtronics AirBaths Used
to Build the International Space Station 

Zephyrtronics ZT-7 & AirBaths™ Used on the Mars Rovers Programs
Photos Courtesy NASA

Cross-Industry Applications: From such academic notables as Harvard and Stanford Universities to the prestigious national laboratories of JPL, NASA, Fermi, Sandia and Lawrence-Livermore; from leaders in the semiconductor industry as Xilinx, Intel, and National Semiconductor to the world class aerospace facilities of Hughes, Raytheon, Northrop-Grumman, Lockheed-Martin and Boeing; from such commercial giants as Sony, Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic and Phillips to even the U.S. Armed Forces...the science of Zephyrtronics became status quo at electronic benches transcending a dream of two mission-driven Californian engineers into an American success story. And transforming how printed circuit board assemblies are designed and made.

Zephyrtronics at Trade Exposition.
More Than 1,500 Written Inquiries at
a Single Show.

A Radical Concept! Identifying fundamental errors in the approach to benchtop soldering processes by older equipment makers, the two founders of Zephyrtronics, David Jacks and Randy Walston, developed the world's first truly comprehensive approach to PCB benchtops.

Jacks took to the road, traveling around the globe with a slide show pointing to a troublesome double standard of how PCB's were made with painstaking quality in high volume production versus how PCB's were processed, soldered or reworked on benches. And he single-handedly introduced thermal profiling to the electronic bench -- a concept first met with resistance.

With  chip miniaturization, multi-layer substrates and flexible circuits, the traditional high temp soldering tool methodology caused serious quality, reliability (costly) problems.

The editorial staff of the electronic devices trade journal, SMT Magazine witnessed the fever Zephyrtronics products were causing and singled out the young  company as one of the "three most innovative" in 1997 declaring Zephyrtronics produced a "simpler, safer way to remove and repair sensitive devices."

First at the Benchtop: Whether it was PCB thermal profiling, ramping, preheating, post-cooling™, patented single-spot BGA alignment and reflow, successful use of solder paste at the bench, or non-contact desoldering, Zephyrtronics was first at the bench to do so.

So Far Ahead of the Curve: Two decades later, every significant soldering equipment manufacturer on earth has been influenced by and (if possible without patent infringement) have acknowledged they incorporated Zephyrtronics' original concepts into their own products. Of course, this forced them to obsolete entire product lines they had marketed for years to "keep up" with Zephyrtronics.

And so it is still today where students of physics and electronics in university labs are employing the equipment, alloys, processes and PCB techniques pioneered by Zephyrtronics.

"Innovative...simpler, safer way to remove and repair sensitive devices"  -- Editorial Staff
SMT MAGAZINE

Zephyrtronics Wins 'Best New Product' at 1996 Surface Mount Int'l Expo in Silicon Valley

Zephyrtronics AirBath™
 is Featured in
Ray Prasad's 1997 Definitive Text
Surface Mount Technology

                                                              TM
Zephyrtronics Signature Design.
 The Patented ZT-2 AirPencil™
at Home in the Smithsonian

Our Customers Matter Most. When it comes to our customers, Zephyrtronics is old fashioned, which means they matter. Zephyrtronics equipment has the longest warranties in our industry.

We still have original customers from twenty years ago with us and we hear over and again how their original Zephyrtronics equipment is still working after all these years. Very few, if any, within the soldering industry can say that today. That customer loyalty is at the very foundation of our company.

"I have to laugh at it all now because, in hindsight, I can tell you that we never gave it a second thought," commented Jacks, president of Zephyrtronics. "Fortunately, we were just naive and foolhardy enough way back then to believe that technicians and engineers would respond favorably if we gave them better tools and solutions. And they did far more than we ever imagined. I never dreamed one day I'd have the honor to stand on the USS Kitty Hawk flight deck knowing Zephyrtronics gear was used below."

The USS Kitty Hawk Aircraft Carrier

Recognizing the reality that the benchtop market, like others, is not only highly competitive, but also imitative, Jacks and Walston remain nonplussed. Walston wryly adds, "I guess I should feel somewhat guilty knowing we inspired so many lousy imitations and how they can confuse the market a bit, and worse, frustrate poor technicians who get  stuck using them."

Still, engineers and techs continue to specifically seek out the Zephyrtronics brand as they have in the past.  Indeed, some of the most prestigious names in the electronic manufacturing industry schedule their budgets around upcoming products that Zephyrtronics has only shown at trade shows and yet to release. Jacks grins, "naturally, all of this drives our competition absolutely nuts with envy."

With detailed milestone charts for a host of future new product introductions, Zephyrtronics still remains dedicated to the same principles that fueled the company's impressive and rapid growth from the early days: simplicity through innovation, fanatical commitment to quality and premium products at affordable prices.

And adds Jacks, "we give the highest respect possible for our customers. Even after all these years of success, we are mindful that we are still just that little soldering and preheating company from Los Angeles. But did I tell you we forever changed and improved the way PC boards are made in labs and production facilities around the planet?"