[Coco] Surface Mount Soldering

[Rob Rosenbrock]

I never thought this would be possible. I've had a fair amount of practice soldering standard DIPs and leaded components, and even some surface mount Rs and Cs, but I thought SMD chips had to be installed by machine due to the tight spacing.

I'm still certain I'd have a lot of bridges. They make it look so easy!

On Jul 6, 2010, at 12:06 PM, Little John (GIMEchip.com) wrote:

> 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.
>>> 
>>> 
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