Soldering hints

[hit]

posted this on another thread, but here it fits too, just in case, someone is looking for some visuals:
Lead-Free SOIC 20 Installation | B.E.S.T Corporation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TGg7...eature=related

some more tutorials you'll find in "related videos".

[chiark]

I bought an AOYUE 738 from buyaoyue.com and got what I considered a very good deal. Service was great - the unit arrived in 2 days - and it's a superb piece of kit.

Now looking for things to practise on prior to butchering the 4000

[Eclipse]

Hi,
I can advise you to not solder any 680xx directly.
Although some people do it, it's not good practice as the heat quickly travels the legs and can either damage the processor or shorten it's life.
This is a Kickstart IC but the 68000 shouldn't be soldered the same way:



Ideally they should be used in conjuction with a DIL (Dual In Line)socket:



The later 68000 series was surface mount and these chips are designed with SMT (Surface Mount Technology) in mind and the different way the heat is applied.
Even SMT variants are nonetheless socketable using a PLCC (Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier)socket.
Using a socket whether PTH (Plated Through Hole) or SMT also has the advantage of being an easy,quick and solderless exercise.
You will also save damage and wear and tear of your motherboard by not soldering and de-soldering only having to place the socket once.

[Dimlow]

Here is a good tip for you all, NEVER SETUP YOUR SOLDER IRON ON THE FLOOR!

When i was young and living with my parents, I used to do a lot of soldering on the floor next to the only empty plug socket in the house. This was in the kitchen next to the fridge (Mother loved it).

I Plugged in the soldering iron and left it to warm up, went to get myself a coffee. Then went to the Fridge to get some milk, opened the fridge door stepped on something really cold or so i thought! when i went to step away i had a hot soldering iron melted into my foot, still have the groove in it! It was so hot i thought it was something cold from the fridge and didn't bother to take my foot away! but when i removed my foot from the iron that's when it started to hurt! And it hurt bad for weeks.

Its funny but i never new what i had done until i smelt the burning flesh.

So always put the soldering iron in a stand on a table were it wont get knocked over. Burns can take a long time to heal.

[Eclipse]

Originally Posted by Dimlow

Here is a good tip for you all, NEVER SETUP YOUR SOLDER IRON ON THE FLOOR!

When i was young and living with my parents, I used to do a lot of soldering on the floor next to the only empty plug socket in the house. This was in the kitchen next to the fridge (Mother loved it).

I Plugged in the soldering iron and left it to warm up, went to get myself a coffee. Then went to the Fridge to get some milk, opened the fridge door stepped on something really cold or so i thought! when i went to step away i had a hot soldering iron melted into my foot, still have the groove in it! It was so hot i thought it was something cold from the fridge and didn't bother to take my foot away! but when i removed my foot from the iron that's when it started to hurt! And it hurt bad for weeks.

Its funny but i never new what i had done until i smelt the burning flesh.

So always put the soldering iron in a stand on a table were it wont get knocked over. Burns can take a long time to heal.

Also never try to catch the Iron if it falls! Let it drop and pick it up by the handle.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

@All

I found this Deal on Fleabay, and its that good i figure i would mention it here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SMD-KADA-852D-...QQcmdZViewItem

Its a KADA 850D+ (the bigger brother to mine) for £65 to your door



features include

• Hot Air Rework (upto 400c)
  • 3 Hot Air Nozzels
  • Digital Temperature Display
  • Air and Heat Controll
  • BGA nozzle compatible
• 5pin Ceramic Core Soldering Iron
  • Digital Temperature Display
  • Upto 420c
  • Variable Temperature Controll
  • 2 solder tips
  • Tip Compatible 907 (most tips on the market)
    (i bought 12 in a set for £4 and there all compatible!)
  • Stand and Cleaning Sponge
• 1 Year Warranty
• Guaranteed against DOA
• includes 2 extra Hot Air Elements!
• Pefect for QFP, SOP, PLCC or SOJ and through hole!

I am seriously thinking of getting this bad boy!

if anyone wants to really get into this level of stuff, this really is a great bit of kit for the price![*]

Jeez, £65, thats crazy. I remember when these came out (well just the hot air type), my company had to pay over a £1000, . Best of all the piece of crap didnt even work, cause the IC's were always glued to the board.

I remember the sales guy demonstrating it to us and he ended up burning a hole in the board, awesome way to sell a desolder station.

Alas the Desoldering Station was destroyed the stupid work experience kid, who decided he would rather burn holes in the bench, what a silly boy. If I remember correctly the bench caught fire and set off all the fire alarms.

[Dimlow]

I have one of these, they are great, well worth the money and more

[Visper]

Never, never, never use a 25W iron with a big tip to solder a PS2 modchip. I spent 5 hours tonight installing it and I will never repeat the experience

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Dimlow

I have one of these, they are great, well worth the money and more

Dont get me wrong, the desoldering part is great, IF the ic's arent glued. You end up having to leaver the corner and you can guess what happens next. Yep you guessed it, broken track / print for everyone, .

[Charlie]

Desoldering question:
After many years of modding computers with power tools for the last few months I've been doing soldering in a small / semi-competent way...

...Among the things I bought from Amigakit a few days ago was a 60mhz dil-8 oscillator + a couple of matching sockets.

Now, the job is neatly done even though I say so myself but it took ages & I wonder if there is a better way - especially given the 'technique' I used would never work on a package with more than 4 pins. Also the process seems to have killed the original 50mhz oscillator...

What I did:
-Apply soldering iron to each pad in turn. Melt solder & suck away as much as possible.
->This did not free any of the pins, just less solder.
-Next I gently pushed a flat-head screwdriver in between PCB & oscillator. While giving that a gentle twist I used the iron to repeatedly remelt the solder on each pin in turn & sort-of walked it out of the PCB.
->Nice 'n neat, no PCB damage, but took quite a while & I suspect the repeated heating is what killed the old oscillator.
-Insertion of the dil-8 socket was a reversal of that process. Nice result, no damage, but took a while.
->60mhz oscillator plugged into that.

As it's much smaller than my Blizzard '060 this 'practice' was done with the ARM3 upgrade card for my A3000 as it's size made it easier the handle...
...compared to Blizzard boards these cards are like rocking-horse poo - so no pressure then!

I'm glad to say it's still working, and a bit faster for the new oscillator. I can't help feeling there's a better way that's less likely to result in dead components.

Back to Amigakit for an oscillator for my Blizzy...

Thoughts? Thanks.

FYI:
-My intention is only to mildly overclock my Blizzy 'because I can' as it's got an old '060 in it which may be prone to cooking - Also I don't want the SCSI card to pack up.
-My ARM 3 is a 25mhz jobbie now running @ 30mhz. Again a bit conservative but as my card has an FP10 FPU which don't like too much overclocking & are again like rocking-horse poo compared to standard ARM3 upgrade boards...
-An ARM3 is very roughly as fast per clock as an 060...

[Zetr0]

@Charlie

Desoldering Through Hole components can be tricky, more so pending on the type of solder, some of that lead free stuff is an absolute arse to heat properly.

i have a few methods of attack, first is to cover the component leads in plumbers flux, (this is more caustic than battery acid if left so CLEAN AFTER USE!!!)

I dip the solder wick / mop in plumber flux also, using a HOT iron (around 320-380c) and tap for 2 seconds each lead with the solder mop in between the iron tip and component lead.

the other method i use can be a little more dangerous if you are not use to hot air, so practice on JUNK first as bunring boards is NOT a good thing..

again cover the area in plumbers flux paste (again this stuff is EVIL if left uncleaned but the results are worth the effort) using hot air (around the 360c mark with low air flow) gently circle the area for a few minutes untill the flux begins to smoke, at this point you know the solder is ready to be sucked up...

again, keep the hot air nozzle moving, if you stall and concentrate on the sucking its likely you will blister the board.

finally the last method can be anyone of these, but having the board on its side and adding a small amount of pressure, gently pulling the component away from the otherside.

again ALWAYS CLEAN the board if you use a caustic flux paste or you wont have a working board in the morning!!!

*ahem*

[Charlie]

Thanks Zetr0.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

@Charlie

Desoldering Through Hole components can be tricky, more so pending on the type of solder, some of that lead free stuff is an absolute arse to heat properly.

i have a few methods of attack, first is to cover the component leads in plumbers flux, (this is more caustic than battery acid if left so CLEAN AFTER USE!!!)

I dip the solder wick / mop in plumber flux also, using a HOT iron (around 320-380c) and tap for 2 seconds each lead with the solder mop in between the iron tip and component lead.

the other method i use can be a little more dangerous if you are not use to hot air, so practice on JUNK first as bunring boards is NOT a good thing..

again cover the area in plumbers flux paste (again this stuff is EVIL if left uncleaned but the results are worth the effort) using hot air (around the 360c mark with low air flow) gently circle the area for a few minutes untill the flux begins to smoke, at this point you know the solder is ready to be sucked up...

again, keep the hot air nozzle moving, if you stall and concentrate on the sucking its likely you will blister the board.

finally the last method can be anyone of these, but having the board on its side and adding a small amount of pressure, gently pulling the component away from the otherside.

again ALWAYS CLEAN the board if you use a caustic flux paste or you wont have a working board in the morning!!!

*ahem*

I have my own method which works also. This is to resolder the legs with lead solder, you will then find the braid gets the solder off easier.

[Charlie]

I've just found out something very interesting:

My mother-in-law of all people is d*mn good with a soldering iron!

It seems a few years ago a lot of housewives made a bit of extra money by making up PCB's @ home for electronics companies...

...Looks like I've got someone to help me out with the tricky stuff & hopefully some hands-on teaching too.

You never know, I may even get good @ this myself.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Charlie

I've just found out something very interesting:

My mother-in-law of all people is d*mn good with a soldering iron!

It seems a few years ago a lot of housewives made a bit of extra money by making up PCB's @ home for electronics companies...

...Looks like I've got someone to help me out with the tricky stuff & hopefully some hands-on teaching too.

You never know, I may even get good @ this myself.

Lmfao, thats awesome.

All I learnt from my mother was, ironing, cooking, cleaning, knitting and sowing, . I could knit an awesome santa for the christmas tree decs, .

[Charlie]

Well, my mother-in-law has been round for my first lesson - it was a short one...

...one of those: 'you'll never get anywhere with that stuff' conversations. So off to eBay for some better equipment.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Well, my mother-in-law has been round for my first lesson - it was a short one...

...one of those: 'you'll never get anywhere with that stuff' conversations. So off to eBay for some better equipment.

lol, great stuff, . Im sure zetr0 will give you some ideas on some nice equipment.

[Zetr0]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Well, my mother-in-law has been round for my first lesson - it was a short one...

...one of those: 'you'll never get anywhere with that stuff' conversations. So off to eBay for some better equipment.

LMAO!!!! to damn funny!!!!

[Charlie]

Glad to amuse. How about this?

Cool

Now I know how to remove surface mount components without the aid of hot air...

...my next question:

I have two double-sided 72pin 128mb simms - both have blown the same two chips, so I'm thinking here's a chance for a bit of practice...
...remove the damaged chips from both, then cannibalise one of the simms for a couple of good chips to repair the other.

If I make a Horlicks of it I've lost nothing, if it works I get one of my 128mb simms back.

Now, being double-sided simms the above trick isn't going to work, and the SM chips are the type where the pins are folded under the package...
...how-in-the-h*ll do you remove them with just the standard equipment when you can't get at the solder pads?
ie: iron, solder, wick, flux-pen.

Is there a 'dirty-trick' like the above clothes iron link..? I'm not after perfection here - if it works I'm happy.

I've seen a 'trick' where you deliberately bridge all the pins with solder, melt solder, then lift one side @ a time...
...very messy & would that work for longer packages?

Oh, yes - how do you re-solder such chips with 'folded-under' pins? Splash on a load of solder then wick-out the bridges? There must be a better way...

[Zetr0]

@Charlie

ahhh the Iron Hot plate, i know this technique VERY well... i use it regularly in reworking dead boards.... its so damn easy and quick... although I also use flux and hot air on the top as well... much quicker / smother

now... to get at those types of components... stop torturing yourself... you need HOT AIR, if you dont wanna splash out on a Hot Air Rework station, then I suggest you borrow some ones Paint strippers and Fab yourself a small nozzle using a coke can or something (thank merlin its his baby )

once you have had / used hot air..... there is no substitute my friend...

[Charlie]

Thanks again Zetr0, I had a feeling there was going to be no alternative...

...as it happens after my last post I remembered my wife has a 'hot air gun' that she sometimes uses for enameling stuff. Bodge a nozzle & bob's your uncle I guess.

Ok, next probably daft question:

Resoldering surface mount components - I've seen videos on various ways to do this where the pins stick out if you see what I mean but none on how you do the packages where the pins are underneath (where there's no room for the tip of an iron).

My guess is if my new found 'hot air gun' actually works you could tin the feet by hand, place the package on the contact pads, apply hot air & wait for the solder to run...
...a good plan?
or
Am I looking @ buying some solder paste too..?

Oh, yes - d*mn lead free solder! Horrid stuff, I think I'll stick with poisoning myself...

[TheCorfiot]

@charlie

If you are concerned about your hot air equipment (Fnar )

Use this method. Using a sharp stanley knife, run the blade along the top edge of the chip legs (by it's casing) Until you gently cut through.
Then remove the casing leaving all the soldered legs in the air which you can then remove with a very small tipped iron & tweezers

TC

[Charlie]

Thanks

[Zetr0]

@Charlie

okay, I think i see what you are trying to do now...

first run the hot air over and around the component in a small circular motion, using tweezers gently nudge the component from time to time, eventually it will come off...

Important ALLOW TO COOL ON A METAL SURFACE

do not force cool the component by dropping it in water or that IC will be destroyed... allow to cool for 5 minutes on a bit of tin or something, I use a bit of tin plate cut out (shaped into a thin tray) from a dead PSU.

Now to get a component like this to BOND properly back to its new home, first flux the area liberally, then using wick clean off all the old solder... (hot iron at 360c should do) just dont leave the iron in one place to long..

Now again throw a load of liqud flux on the area, drop the temperature of the iron to around 250-280c pending on the thickness of your solder, now... re-solder all the contacts required with small beads of solder... add a load of more flux.. swamp the area

place component in the proper orientation... using tweezers to steady the unit... now Hot air... again low air, medium heat... move the air around slowly, eventually the surface tension of the molten solder will pull the unit into place....

NOW.... allow it to cool for a few moments.... now clean it with everything you have... allow to dry.... now test the component!

[TheCorfiot]

Doh,

I must be half asleep today, My tip was fine to remove the "dead component" but not much use for transferring a good component

Zetro is the JEDI Master for this

Where's the Coffee

TC

[Charlie]

Thanks, I guessed it would be something like that - I suspect the details will save me.

My equipment:
-Wife's 'Heat-it' craft tool.
Looks like a very small hair-dryer - bloody hot!
You can tell it's for 'girls' - there's a do not use as a hair-dryer logo on the side.
-Small bread tin - the baking variety.
-Needle-nosed pliers - they'll do...
-Flux pen - I guess that'll have to do too.

So far...
One dead simm into the tray.
Balance 'hair-dryer' within 1cm of the chips to remove.
Go to fridge for beer.
Pour beer..
Back to baking tray & 'hurrah' two mobile chips.
Carefully remove chips & bin them (the bad ones)
Drink some beer.
Proceed to remove the other good chips from that side of the 'donor simm'.
Drink some beer.
Remove the two bad chips from the simm to be fixed.
All has gone well.
Finnish beer in celebration of a job well-done.

As a bonus nerves now steadied for the 'tricky bit'.
My God those pads look small, glad I got some thinner solder - maybe another steadier or three will be required...

[Zetr0]

okay Charlie.... assume the position and give us PICS!!!!

[Zetr0]

okay.... knowing some of the type that frequent this board, I think its best to say that (a) the position is behind the camera and (b) pictures of the hacking involved.

[Charlie]

Ok, photo's in a bit.

[Charlie]

Here's the photo:

Click for a biggun.

Ignore the mangled end of the 'donor simm' - that was yesterday.

Note the 'do not hair dry' logo - I'm almost tempted to change my Avatar.

[Charlie]

Hey, treble post!

Where was I?

Newly surface-mounted chips:


Try in Amiga, no go - *sigh*

Quick fondle of the packages revealed another hot one.

Ho, hum,

Out with the old:


And in with the new:



...I am your surface-mount soldering God!

Bow down and praise me as your Almighty!!!

Ahem, pardon me while I wipe the froth from my mouth...


...yes, it seems to have worked. Isn't that nice?
My thanks for all the advice.

[Zetr0]

Anyone that can SMT with a childs hair dryer gets Respect!



well done Charlie, some good work indeed

so its all working now?!

[Charlie]

As the dog says:
Oh-Yes!

Sorry for the slightly erratic posts - I've been quaffing a 'steadier-or-two' between stages for most of the evening...
...to help my nerves you understand.

[Zetr0]

Some awesome work there my friend, if i dont sound too condecsending I would say proud as well!

truly great work!

now take all the steadiers that you need/want job well done

[TheCorfiot]

@charlie

Nice one mate.......... Success


TC

[Charlie]

(^$*%^£$££& computer!!!

I'm kind of pleased with myself for ressurecting one of my 128mb simms & learing a bit of surface mount in the process - thanks for all the kind advice chaps...

...Having tested it in my A1200 I plugged it back into one of my RiscPCs (Firefox consumes a lot of memory you know) - all still good...
...reboot to the smell of magic smoke escaping...

D*mn computer's popped the simm AGAIN!!!
(This is also the computer that allowed a suicide woodlouse to explode it's HDD a few months back)

Frantinc swappage of simms - Ahhh, it still works.

So I've spent another evening re-re-replacing chips - no sucess this time...
...I think I've had enough practice now.

If I can be bothered tomorrow I'll pull all the chips from the 72pin simm & cannibalise yet another 168pin simm & start from scratch.

So here's my contribution(s) to the Soldering Hints thread:

1) A craft heat tool hairdryer thingy is + a loaf tin is enough to do SMT.
2) For God's sake don't put the simm you just repaired back in the b*stard computer that popped it in the first place!

[Charlie]

128mb Simm working again - Oooo, getting lots of practice:
Next?
Convert 2x1mb VRam modules to 1x2mb VRam module. (more useful).

Piccies:
1) 2)

3) 4)

1) Two indentical modules..?
2) Nooo, one has no chips on the other side, but all the traces are there - ah, ha! More practice.
3) Here, I've prepared all the pads with flux, then blobs of solder, then more flux as kindly outlined by Zetr0...
...Now I thought doing this with the 72pin simm was fiddly - apart from the pads for what I assume are SMT capacitors (you see I really have no idea what I'm doing) the other pads are about 1/3 the size of the last lot - hell fire! The end of my iron looks enormous in comparison, this looks impossible!
Drag-soldering to the rescue! This was REALLY easy - I wish I knew about this when I was fiddling with the 72pin simm...
...as it happens I just used this technique to tin the pads in preperation to using hot air for the soldering - why?
-I discovered the drag technique by accident so it never occoured to me to do it all in one go.
-When you've got a technique that works, is trying a new technique really a good idea with something you don't want to break? Besides the package pins are so small I'm not so sure I could do it with what I've got.

Then:
-Place the SMT 'capacitors' & hot-air them down - in the process nicely evening up the pads ready for the chips.
-Hot air the chips down one at a time.

4) The finished article:
-Top: How the reverse of a 'real' 2mb VRam looks.
-Middle: The donor 1mb VRam.
-Bottom: My attempt - not bad, eh?

So why am I posting this?
-To hopefully add something useful to this thread after all the help I've had.
-To encourage others to have a go: 2months ago I was a clueless soldering iron butcher, last week I'd never tackled anything to do with SMT, now look!
The more of this I do, the more I realise being able to solder is going to be very useful - how did I cope all these years..?



Oh, and to ask for some help...
...Um, depite the 'prettiness' of the above it doesn't acutually work.
Having checked things the job's a gooden - no bridges, no poor contacts, no burning...
...In a fit of lazyness I robbed the SMT 'capacitors' from a donor 72pin simm as it was easier...
...I suspect with hindsight I should have used the ones from the donor VRam...
...is this a fair assumption?
Do the 'capacitors' again, buy with the ones from the donor-VRam & all will be well..?
Please don't tell me they also have +/- ends - how on Earth would I tell..?

[xc8]

hi ya all.

check this site, has some soldering tips..

http://www.circuitrework.com/guides/guides.shtml

[Charlie]

THanks - looks a very useful site.

[JackTheKnife]

I'm looking to buy a soldering station. Any tips, etc?