SMD soldering... Not as hard as it looks!

• Jul 3, 2012

• #17

foulmist

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Those heaters are called preheating plate/ heater plate or similar.
You can buy them individually or there are some built in the hot air / IR rework stations.

I got one at work - they come in handy but I don't use it that much.

 

• Jul 3, 2012

• #18

benmwv

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I want to get a hot air station. I've been looking around for them, I will probably be getting one soon.

Right now I'm doing pretty good with a toaster oven though. Most of my reflows on "no pin ICs" are successful.

Sometimes when you get a pad that didn't have enough paste and didn't solder I've noticed you can just put a little dab of paste on the edge and touch it with a regular iron. Do it right and you can get the pin soldered without heating it up very much.

 

• Jul 3, 2012

• #19

tsteele93

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I have this and really like it...

"X-TRONIC 4040" HOT AIR REWORK SOLDERING IRON STATION | eBay

But I would like more options for holding the PCBs in place and manipulating the pcb to be easier to work on.

 

Last edited: Jul 3, 2012

• Jul 9, 2012

• #20

T

Things

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I got a few I2C thingies to play around with, including some 2ch digipots. They come in a 14TSSOP package, or MicroQFN. Obviously TSSOP is much easier to work with, so got those.

I don't have any SMD prototyping boards though, so I had to get a bit creative ...

Works well, and it's kinda cute too

 

Last edited: Jul 9, 2012

• Jul 9, 2012

• #21

tsteele93

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I much prefer TSSOP! I wish the TI 630X0 series were available in a better/easier package.

 

• Jul 9, 2012

• #22

AnthoT

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tsteele93 said:

I much prefer TSSOP! I wish the TI 630X0 series were available in a better/easier package.

Click to expand...

Yeah TSSOP is so easy to solder reflowing it is a joke, I don't even have to be precise with the solder but it will go where it needs to pretty much perfectly every time

 

• Jul 9, 2012

• #23

foulmist

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don't you love CQFP-196 :na:

 

• Jul 9, 2012

• #24

AnthoT

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That one is just a little PITA