Laser Soldering Iron

Hello fellow laser addicts...

Idea just popped into my head. Would it be possible to use a laser to melt solder over a joint?

I will try my idea out in the next few days but I want to hear your opinions

Cheers! :beer:

LaZeRz said:

Hello fellow laser addicts...

Idea just popped into my head. Would it be possible to use a laser to melt solder over a joint?

I will try my idea out in the next few days but I want to hear your opinions

Cheers! :beer:

Click to expand...

No.

Solder is metalic. It reflects most of the light that hits it. Not only is this dangerous, but it won't work.

Put on glasses, then touch the underside of a spoon with your thumb. Shine a powerful 445 on the other side of the spoon, on the reverse of where you thumb is.

You can sit there doing this for as long as you want, you won't feel any warmth.

Ahhh, Oh well...

I've seen people cutting solder so I was kind of curious...

Thanks anyway

It works: Diode Laser Soldering - YouTube
But i believe that you'll need alot of powaaaaa

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


Nice find!

^ hmm, i guess it's a CO2 unit, not a "diode" .....

probably...

its regalis' link btw

If I remember correctly there was an youtube video where someone melted solder with an 2W handheld...but i'm not sure :thinking:

btw.: thX for +rep...very appreciated

CO2 doesn't show up white on camera.

I've melted solder with a laser, too. The difference is that the two components you solder together sap a LOT of heat from the joint.

Hmmmm, maybe the dull surface texture of solder is enough to cause it to absorb some heat?

I still think that the moment it liquefied even the surface of the solder, the reflectivity would become incredibly high, and heat would cease to be absorbed. In the soldering video, there were non-solder items in the beam path that probably heated up (like the pole). Perhaps that's the secret.

I have cut and melted solder with my DHOM labby and 445. I don't see why people say its not possible. I have also gotten a penny so hot I could not hold it anymore. I have also got a brass spring from a pen cherry red!

In all of reality though it is not eficient to solder small components but it is possible. Laser diodes = NO because they would die under the heat.

That's just my 2¢

Also what another member said. It probably has to do with the metal being dull. Normal metal will not absorb heat and large objects have too much mass to absorb the heat produced by lasers.

I assume it's just brute force. No material is 100% reflective.

jeffreythe00 said:

it is not ethical to solder small components

Click to expand...

I don't think ethical is the word you're looking for

Well, there's another thing that you must consider, in soldering components, that is very important ..... is the heat transfer rate of the leads of the components that you are soldering.

This is the main reason for which a good soldering iron must be able to transfer a lot of heat in a very short time to the soldering point, so the solder melt and "wet" the contact points quick, then you can take the soldering iron away and the whole thing start to cool fast .....

If instead you use a soldering iron too low power and too low temperature, you need to keep the soldering iron tip on the place for longer time, this cause a lot more heat transfer to the component, and if the component is a heat-sensitive one, you can burn it just soldering it.

With a high power CO2 laser like the one in the video, you can melt the rings of solder very fast ..... but using a relatively low power beam, say, 5W or similar, you need a lot more time, so once the solder is melted, also all the rest of the component is at the same temperature, and probably already damaged, if is not a resistor

Cyparagon said:

I don't think ethical is the word you're looking for

Click to expand...

I am a member of PETIO (People for the Ethical Treatment of Inanimate Objects)!

Guyfromhe said:

I am a member of PETIO (People for the Ethical Treatment of Inanimate Objects)!

Click to expand...

This means you don't care about the animated ones, right ? ..... *turning on the chainsaw with an evil grin on the face*

(just kidding, ofcourse )

HIMNL9 said:

This means you don't care about the animated ones, right ? ..... *turning on the chainsaw with an evil grin on the face*

(just kidding, ofcourse )

Click to expand...

Yup I use my giant "laser" to melt them