I have been asked this a few times by viewers of the channel and decided to make a video on how I smd solder with just a standard solding iron. Hope you all like it and have a great weekend!
[youtube width=640]https://youtu.be/_FFNZu4l2CA[/youtube]
Great video! And bang the FV-1 is on, no sweat.
The only thing I do differently is adding liberally liquid flux with flux pen and clean off after that with alcohol.
Quote from: cooder on July 14, 2022, 09:03:45 PM
Great video! And bang the FV-1 is on, no sweat.
The only thing I do differently is adding liberally liquid flux with flux pen and clean off after that with alcohol.
Thank you! With adding the flux and using the alcohol does it leave any residue behind or stickiness?
Quote from: jjjimi84 on July 14, 2022, 09:57:38 PM
Quote from: cooder on July 14, 2022, 09:03:45 PM
Great video! And bang the FV-1 is on, no sweat.
The only thing I do differently is adding liberally liquid flux with flux pen and clean off after that with alcohol.
Thank you! With adding the flux and using the alcohol does it leave any residue behind or stickiness?
Not with the one I use, the flux is pretty thin and watery, so easy to clean off.
Nice video, what temp to you like to run your iron at and do you have a tip type you like to use?
Quote from: Hefty on July 15, 2022, 04:46:36 PM
Nice video, what temp to you like to run your iron at and do you have a tip type you like to use?
Great question! I use a Hakko fx-888D and run it at 750 degrees. I use the standard thin tip not like pencil thin but thinish.
That is the same Iron I have. Is it the standard tip that comes on the Hakko FX-888?
Yes it is, i for some reason cannot remember the tip name
That seems a lot less daunting now. Thanks!
Quote from: mattc on July 20, 2022, 11:27:57 PM
That seems a lot less daunting now. Thanks!
If I can do it anyone can, its super easy once you get the hang of it.
Looks great, thanks for sharing. Similar no-nonsense method I did in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5XwpNuIvf0).
I've gotten endless messages about using flux, though, as I'm guessing you have too. Here's a quick follow up that's the same basic method but with paste type flux for smoother and quicker joints: https://youtu.be/YsB2gPcPRWY?t=165 (https://youtu.be/YsB2gPcPRWY?t=165)
Nice one. Thanks for the video!
Much easier than suffering while holding the chip in position with tweezers.
Do you have a suggestion of how to solder SMD small-ish resistors?
It's a nightmare. Too much pressure on the tweezers and they fly away and I have to look for them on the carpet.
If you know of a better way of handling such parts it would be very helpful!
I do not have an effective method at all for resistors, I still live in the land of through hole resistors
In taking apart and re capping vintage computers, I discovered that factories would often use a small dab of glue for things like smd can caps. Not sure if they did that for other components as well...
It's a pain, full stop. Many folks in the vintage computer repair world have microscopes or magnifying goggles to aid in positioning and even then a steady and patient hand is required (something I really struggle with).
Whatever you do, don't use those (forgive me if there's a proper word) reverse sprung tweezers to hold parts! Learned that the hard way. I find it helpful to gently scoot parts instead of picking them up like a crane, if that makes any sense.
I've had luck with tantalum smd caps this way: put down flux (the proper answer yo 'how much?' is always "yes") then tin the pads, just like jjjimi84 did, and use what solder is there to just get one side soldered on (properly aligning the part, of course), I've found it helpful to gently press down on the part to make sure it's not "floating". Once that side is secure, solder the other side. IME if you tin the pads just right you won't need to add any additional solder, leaving you an extra hand for tweezing.
QuoteI've found it helpful to gently press down on the part to make sure it's not "floating".
Yes, otherwise some weird stuff happens. When the parts are really small the have their own will, and sometimes that means 90 degrees to the solder pad.
It must be something with the wettability of the solder, because if you don't press them down they will just turn up or get stuck to the soldering iron. I will try using glue to position them first.
When someone who's done it for ages gets in a groove, it's rather like witchcraft haha.
Another method is using solder paste and a heat gun, but I haven't had much luck that way. It's a whole other level. It's amazing to watch, though, since the components just seem to seat themselves properly—it's mesmerizing!
Another approach I've seen involves not even pads with at all. Just be nice and liberal with the flux and go slow: keep a bit on the iron tip and tack down one side—doesn't have to be final, just so it doesn't move around. But you do the other side, then reflow the first and you've got a nice and seated component.
I've also found, especially with smaller boards like these, to orient the board to how your hand like to naturally be so you're not expending extra dexterity ...that sounds like you're making a D&D roll, but the less you're contorting your hand, the better.
I've had to scav for junk boards to practice on, since I've damaged a vintage board once (or twice). Nice to not have to worry about lifting pads or anything if you don't care about it; you can just focus on repetition.
Quote from: thomasha on November 05, 2022, 12:04:01 PM
Do you have a suggestion of how to solder SMD small-ish resistors?
It's a nightmare. Too much pressure on the tweezers and they fly away and I have to look for them on the carpet.
If you know of a better way of handling such parts it would be very helpful!
I just pre-solder one pad, hold the resistor down, heat it to tack it down, then solder the other side properly, then usually come back and redo the first since it has no flux.
I don't often have pieces go flying (even tiny 0402), and I have really shaky hands too.
Maybe try something else to hold it down, like a screwdriver or something?
Magnifier helps immensely, by the way.