Taperssection.com

Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: Swampy on December 06, 2004, 08:28:27 PM

Title: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Swampy on December 06, 2004, 08:28:27 PM
So, Im going to attempt to gain mod my DMIC-20 as per dr.ph0b's instructions: http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=23659.0 and Im a little nervous... I don't think that it is above my skill level, but I've never soldered to a circuit board before, so I have some questions... Specificly, does anyone have any advice. Im kind of afraid to drop some on the board. Im assuming to de-solder you just heat it up and suck it up ASAP. How do you solder to the board. Thanks so much for any help you can give me!!!
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Mojowill on December 06, 2004, 08:35:49 PM
Swampy, Get yourself a nice large table mounted magnifying lens.  less solder the better and try not to keep the heat near the board for too long.  Are you soldering wires or resistors or caps or what?
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Swampy on December 06, 2004, 08:59:32 PM
See this thread: http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=23659.0
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: radioboy1977 on December 06, 2004, 09:02:32 PM
don't fuck it up, r00kie :P

i wish i had something of substance to post, but oh well.  it's fun just to mock you ;)

SWAMPY PAYS FOR GAY SEX!!!
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Swampy on December 06, 2004, 09:04:13 PM
Thanks for the help ass :P ;D
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: F.O.Bean on December 06, 2004, 09:06:06 PM
good luck bud, i wanted to do this awhile back like i was telling ya saturday but everything was on backorder :P

just keep patient and relax, and dont get too much solder in your face

and like has been said, dont keep heat on the board too long
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Swampy on December 06, 2004, 09:08:09 PM
ya, Im just gonna make sure I go REEEEEEALLLLLLL SLOOOOOWWWWWWW
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: radioboy1977 on December 06, 2004, 09:10:18 PM
ya, Im just gonna make sure I go REEEEEEALLLLLLL SLOOOOOWWWWWWW

you sound just like a girl i used to date :P ;)

good luck, hippie :P
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Ed. on December 07, 2004, 02:37:58 AM
may i suggest getting some flux.  it'll make the solder stick to the board better.  and use the finest point tip in your soldering iron.
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: leegeddy on December 07, 2004, 02:58:00 AM
like a girl sucking chrome off a tailpipe, soldering braid will suck the molten lead from the circuit board.

it takes a bit of practice, but it's quite easy once you get the hang of it. 

good luck, swampy.

marc
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Billy Mumphrey on December 07, 2004, 12:57:53 PM
FIND AN OLD PCB BOARD AND PRACTICE ON IT

can't stress that enough, try to recreate the final solder on the old board
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Daryan on December 07, 2004, 01:20:57 PM
I would reccomend desoldering braid as opposed to the sucker pump style things, it works much better and is fun tio use as well.

Good Luck, watch out for cold solder points.

D
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Swampy on December 07, 2004, 01:22:40 PM
Okay, so Im doing okay so far. Ive got the wires soldered to the pots, and the oldd 2 internal gain pots removed. But now on the board where the holes are, I cant get the holes clear of solder... See in this pic, hes got 6 nice little holes, how can I do that? Ive tried the solder sucker, any suggestions? (http://www.routeflap.net/dmic-mod/PICT0037.jpg)
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: fozzy on December 07, 2004, 02:02:55 PM
wipe the tip of your soldering iron clean w/ some newsprint and then lightly heat up one of the ~holes.  rinse repeat.  This is assuming you don't have a de-soldering bulb or air/vacuum soldering iron.

Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Lil Kim Jong-Il on December 07, 2004, 02:12:45 PM
FIND AN OLD PCB BOARD AND PRACTICE ON IT

can't stress that enough, try to recreate the final solder on the old board

In the absence of an old PCB, go to Radio shack and buy a handfull of cheap assorted parts and a project board.  For about $10 you can practice soldering/desoldering for many hours without risking your gear on your first try. 

And get your self some flux cleaner.
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: F.O.Bean on December 07, 2004, 04:18:46 PM
the braid will take care of that alex, it gets everything really clean

also, keep a wet towel/sponge around to wipe the tip of the soldering iron off and keep it hot as hell
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: Daryan on December 07, 2004, 05:13:37 PM
Yeah, agree with Bean here, run to the shack and grab some braid.  Then place the braid on top of the solder point, apply heat, and watch as the solder completely soaks in and disappears.  This will leave you with an empty, nice looking hole from which to work.
FWIW, I found 4 percent silver solder to work better for pcb stuff.  Just what I found though.
D
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: F.O.Bean on December 07, 2004, 05:40:37 PM
Yeah, agree with Bean here, run to the shack and grab some braid.  Then place the braid on top of the solder point, apply heat, and watch as the solder completely soaks in and disappears.  This will leave you with an empty, nice looking hole from which to work.
FWIW, I found 4 percent silver solder to work better for pcb stuff.  Just what I found though.
D

d, shoot me your damn addy, we need to exchange a few tapes :)
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: sml42 on December 08, 2004, 05:24:52 PM
In my experience, braid works OK if you have a relatively hot and large tip on your iron. You can buy braid impregnated with flux, or just the raw copper braid. If you are new to this, you probably want the flux-impregnated braid.

One tip I recently came across (after being involved in electronics, one form or another, for 20 years!) is thus:

Have a hard work surface to hand. Apply heat to the solder for a few seconds... and when it is good and molten, quickly slip the iron to the side and BANG the board down HARD on the work surface. Provided there is a small gap between board and work surface, the solder will splodge out. This does actually work very well, a fairly clean solder removal, no flux required.

I normally do this on PCBs I designed though... so even though my career is in electronics, I would be VERY wary of doing this with anyone elses boards.  G-forces can fuck up many crystals, you have been warned!

best regards,
stephen
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: F.O.Bean on December 09, 2004, 07:11:46 AM
ive done that stephen,m even when no hard surface is around, i just snap my wrist and it usually goes flying out

especially useful when doing 3/4-pins ;)
Title: Re: Soldering to a circuit board...
Post by: nic on December 09, 2004, 11:07:16 AM
paint thinner is also a great flux cleaner