[Coco] Surface Mount Soldering

[Mark Marlette]

Trust me, 5 mil bumps are not easy to deal with.

As I recall, the DE1's FPGA has 584 pins on it, BGA form, about 1" sq.

As it is easy to put down a BGA, it is harder to do it correctly and be able to verify your workmanship which, IMHO requires xray.

Not to many hobbyist are going to drop $100k for Xray... :)

I avoid BGA packaging as much as I can. 

Mark
Cloud-9

----- Original Message -----
From: Little John (GIMEchip.com) <sales at gimechip.com>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:06:59 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: [Coco] Surface Mount Soldering

Uh Oh - I've started a debate :-)
J/K - I've often wondered how a hobbyist could work with BGA and then I 
decided this morning to look at youtube. Man there are all kinds of videos 
on there - some of the techniques by hobbyists such as myself don't look 
like they could possibly work, and yet they do. I am amazed at the ingenuity 
of some of these folks.
-John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Marlette" <mmarlette at frontiernet.net>
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 10:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Coco] Surface Mount Soldering


> james,
>
> How does one manually locate/align(x/y/z/theta,down force) of a BGA on to 
> the pads using a hotplate?
>
> I use our Air-Vac DRS25 unit and I am spoiled with it.
>
> Mark
> Cloud-9
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: jdaggett at gate.net
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:57:08 -0000 (UTC)
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Surface Mount Soldering
>
> The key to using a soldering iron for SMT work is having enough flux on 
> the board and not to
> much solder.
>
> There are other alternatives to the soldering iron approach.
>
> One is a hot plate. A 4in square hotplate by Thermalake is very good 
> alternative.
>
> Second is the few toaster oven reflow boards out there. The stand alone 
> controllers range in
> the $60 to $100 and then add what ever your local Walmart or Taget has in 
> a 1500 watt
> toaster oven.
>
> The lone issue with the toaster oven is that it should have burners on the 
> top and bottom and
> a circulating fan inside to reduce hot zones. ALso the toaster oven method 
> needs to work at
> max temperature to melt the newer lead free solders. Also the different 
> preheat times will
> need adjusting.
>
> I still like the hotplate for small boards. especially with BGA packages.
>
> james
>
> On 6 Jul 2010 at 0:30, Aaron Wolfe wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 9:39 PM, Little John (GIMEchip.com)
>> <sales at gimechip.com> wrote:
>> > This guy has some amazing videos on SMT soldering - I never get bored 
>> > just watching these. Some have sound, some are silent, but they are 
>> > beatiful nonetheless :-)
>> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQXhny3R7lk
>> > This is the vertical drag technique that my dad uses too.
>> > -John
>> > P.S. check out all of this guys videos if you have time. They are 
>> > amazing.
>> > -Lil' J
>> >
>>
>> That is interesting to watch.  I recently got a ham license and have
>> been soldering together some very simple circuits to reduce
>> interference when connecting a radio to an PC to decode digital
>> modes.. anyway, boy am I bad at soldering!  That guy is like the
>> maestro of solder.
>>
>> There are a lot of good "how to" videos on youtube for all kinds of
>> things, if you're in to do-it-yourself, its a great resource.
>>
>>
>> > --
>> > Coco mailing list
>> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>> >
>>
>> --
>> Coco mailing list
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.830 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2985 - Release Date: 07/06/10 
01:36:00


--
Coco mailing list
Coco at maltedmedia.com
http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco