Tiny soldering - How I do it.

[four4875]

EDIT: the pics aren't available, the webserver they were on was destroyed in a flood. google for shelby ohio flood and you should find some info on it.

I've been doing a bit of soldering to TINY components lately, and I took a few pics of it and hope to offer a guide that you guys can follow. The pics aren't of Vmods, but similarly small, if not smaller, components.

A HUGE thanks goes to johan851 for his help in correcting my grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Preparation:

First, you'll want to get together all of the supplies you'll need. In my opinion, the most important tool you'll use is a magnifying glass. I have one from my dad that folds up and is like an inch and a half square, and unfolds to stand itself up at about an inch and a half high. One great thing about it is that my camera's lense fits right up against it, and it actually takes good pics (which inspired me to write this guide!). Heres a pic of it. (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2/PS2_2_015.sized.jpg)

Next is the soldering iron. For this I used a Radioshack dual 15/30 watt iron. You can make a 30 watt iron into a 15 the same way RS does it by sticking a diode in one of the 110V lines. The switch just bypasses the diode. I used the tip as it came out of the box, didn't even have to file it to a better point or anything.

Solder, wire, desoldering braid. I have a roll of solder that is quite old, it's a pretty fine diameter, and I dont know what mix it is. All I know is that it is small and has rosin flux in it. I sacrificed one of my rounded IDE cables that I got from Newegg a couple years ago. It has some nice fine wires, and they are all free from each other. I bought a roll of desoldering braid (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2-works/PS2_2_041.sized.jpg) from RadioShack (referred to as RS from now on) and it's serving me pretty well. I also have handy a RS desoldering iron, but its only good for big things. Another handy tihng to have around is super glue or hot glue for a less permanent mod. If you have it, flash tac or another super glue accelerator is suggested.

Now is a good time to prepare yourself. Work in a well-lit, clean environment; I chose my kitchen table. I noticed that when making connections at 6 PM as opposed to 6 AM the next morning, I had much more success on the first shot, obviously because I was tired and running on BAWLS. My back was sore from hunching over for the last 12 hours and my eyes were burning from being tired and from superglue fumes....so basically be in a good mood, not tired or anything. I forgot to add, If you're fat like me, it makes a huge difference in comfort to take off your belt. Might as well take the keys and wireless card out of your pockets while you're at it.

Get your stuff out and handy, and get the board or whatever out of the case and cleaned up of dust and whatnot. Get the iron in a conveniently reachable spot, preferably sitting on its stand or in its holder if it's a station, plug it in and get it heated and tinned, and clean the tip with the damp sponge that I didn't mention up in the supplies list. I position the board i was soldering with the region I was soldering facing either away from me or to my right. This way I can use my left hand to hold the wire in place and hold the iron in my right. Have solder, your magnifier, and everything else in convenient reach.

Now to the actual soldering.

[four4875]

I like to touch the iron to the pin im soldering to to be sure there isnt some kind of coating that will make things difficult on it. Then prepare the wire. I start with a piece of wire with 7 strands in it, strip about 3/4 inch from it (pic) (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2/web_ps2_031.sized.jpg) , and pull 4 of them back so i have 3. you can cut off the spare strands, or leave them, it doesnt matter. I cut them off usually. then i twist the 3 remaining strands (pic) (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2/web_ps2_032.sized.jpg) . i hold the strands in my right hand, between the pointer finger and thumb, and spin the whole wire in the left hand. After it's stripped, seperated and twisted, I tin it. I have a habbit of just sticking the wire up from bottom through a screw hole on the board im working on to hold it. Then come from the bottom of the wire with the iron and put the solder on top of the wire. I start at the end of the wire and work my way towards the insulation, I've found that this minimizes the amount of melted / burnt insulation. I then trim the wire to 3 to 5 mm in length. (pic) (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2/web_ps2_035.sized.jpg) In the pic, the dark line is one of my hairs, for a size reference we can usually relate to. above the wire is a piece of solder.

Once I have the wire ready, I get it good and lined up on the pin. It is usually helpful to make a 45 degree or so bend on the end of the wire we'll be using. Then I lay the wire on the chip, bent part down parallel to the pins, and get it lined up. Magnifier is really handy here. After it's good and lined up, I hold my left index finger over it nice and snug (pic) (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2/web_ps2_034.sized.jpg) , and check that it's on the right pin again. When I'm lucky, the wire will be bent so it's laying right on the pin at the same angle as the pin.

From here, check that it's the right pin one last time, then gently touch the iron to the wire. Be very careful not to push it to either side, just straight down. I like to be looking through the magnifier while doing this, another reason the free standing one is handy. If you do it this way, be careful if you have long hair, it might fall and hit the iron, and a facefull of burnt hair smoke isnt a good thing when trying to solder a delicate joint. The wire should heat and the solder melt very quickly, and you should be able to see it flow and stick down just a little. For me, I dont have the iron any longer than 2 seconds. Any longer and the heat could damage the chip, as the copper wires inside the IS or the silicon itself can melt and cause it to isfunction. Here is the part I hate. The wire is likely to heat up and get hot under your finger. I tough it out, for the connection's sake. When you lift the iron the wire should be stuck on the pin, and now you can glue it in place so it dont get ripped off. I try to get just a dab of super glue around the wire's insulation, as close to the connection as I can get it, to hold it long enough for me to get my finger off. After the little dab of glue is dried, you can FINALLY lift your finger, and glue the wire in place a little better without worrying about glueing your finger in place.

If you messd up the conenction, like you bridged the wire with another pin, heat up the wire and pull it off. Be sure to let the chip have some time to cool off before putting the iron to it again. Everything should feel cool to the touch, if not wait a little longer. This way you dont build up heat in the IC and kill it. If there is solder between the pins on the chip (like this) (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2-works/PS2_2_036.sized.jpg) , lay the desoldering braid over it (pic) (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2-works/PS2_2_039.sized.jpg) and stick the iron on tip. Get it hot and solder should flow into the braid. You may have to use the iron to slightly bend the braid so it makes a better contact with the pins. I move the braid and the iron back and forth to be sure it gets it all. then I swipe the iron's tip up each pin in the area from the PCB up, and then inspect with magnifier. after I'm satisfied that they're clean, I try the connetion again. Sometimes you'll have to redo the wire, others you can use it again and save that little bit of time.

Once you have it in place and glued down nice and firmly so you dont yank the wire off, you're pretty much done. pic. (http://www.copperfast.com/jim/albums/ps2/web_ps2_036.sized.jpg)

I hope i didnt forget anything, if so lemme know and ill add it. If you'd like to see a larger version of any of the pics, take off the .sized from the link and you'll get a 5 mp one. i did compress the jpegs a little to save space and transfer.

I hope this helps someone get the Vmod done to their components, any questions on my method ill be glad to answer.

Thanks to 3Dflyer and SolidxSnake for their additions, eobard for stickin it, and everyone for the props :D

[jcw122]

wow that's incredible stuff, I've always wondered how people solder stuff SOOOO tiny. Very useful guide!

I vote sticky here!!!!


I KNOW I'll be coming back to use this someday

[SolidxSnake]

THIS IS A GREAT SOLDERING GUIDE.

I've used this with my radioshack 15w and messed around with a spare motherboard I got, worked VERY well.

Some of my own technique:

http://www.fritzilldo.com/~solidxsnake/Comp%20Pics/VoltModding/practice.jpg
http://www.fritzilldo.com/~solidxsnake/Comp%20Pics/VoltModding/practice%20(1).jpg
http://www.fritzilldo.com/~solidxsnake/Comp%20Pics/VoltModding/practice%20(2).JPG

Some of my shots after reading his quick how-to in my thread
http://www.fritzilldo.com/~solidxsnake/Comp%20Pics/VoltModding/15wIronPractice.jpg
http://www.fritzilldo.com/~solidxsnake/Comp%20Pics/VoltModding/15wIronPractice%20(1).JPG

[Superjed]

I vote sticky too. This is very interesting. Ive always wanted to see something like this. Thanks for the info four4875.

[wizard james]

i vote for grammer fixing , then sticky...

very nice very nice

[Son1990]

Sticky! great pictures!

[jcw122]

i vote for grammer fixing , then sticky...

very nice very nice


LOL mabe some titles, color, dividers, and slight organization

It's already sticky material to me, but ^^ would make it GREAT and easy to read

[eobard]

Stuck.

[four4875]

WOOT! my first stickie. I said at the beginning that my grammer would suck :P I'll try to find any mistakes and fix them. anyone wanna hit me up on aim with suggestions on what kind of titles and organization would help? unfortunately english and cmmunication is one of my weak points. to me a big unindented block of text looks fine :D I can get the caps and punctuation stuff pretty good, after that my creativity sucks.

edit: i almost forgot.. thanks for all of the positive comments guys!

and solidxsnake: to me it looks like you're using wire with kindof big fluffy insulation... i mean its somewhat thick and soft. in my experience this stuff seems like it LOVES to melt with the slightest heat. You might wanna hunt around for small wires, it took me a few different ones to find something that worked good. the round IDE cables are good, and parallel printer cables, if you have a bunch layin around like i do. they're a great source for 6 foot long ones that seem about the same as the ones from the IDE cables, just 25 of them instead of 80, and they're a pin to get out of the insulation. Or i guess one could go buy wire, ive never done that tho.

[SolidxSnake]

WOOT! my first stickie. I said at the beginning that my grammer would suck :P I'll try to find any mistakes and fix them. anyone wanna hit me up on aim with suggestions on what kind of titles and organization would help? unfortunately english and cmmunication is one of my weak points. to me a big unindented block of text looks fine :D I can get the caps and punctuation stuff pretty good, after that my creativity sucks.

edit: i almost forgot.. thanks for all of the positive comments guys!

and solidxsnake: to me it looks like you're using wire with kindof big fluffy insulation... i mean its somewhat thick and soft. in my experience this stuff seems like it LOVES to melt with the slightest heat. You might wanna hunt around for small wires, it took me a few different ones to find something that worked good. the round IDE cables are good, and parallel printer cables, if you have a bunch layin around like i do. they're a great source for 6 foot long ones that seem about the same as the ones from the IDE cables, just 25 of them instead of 80, and they're a pin to get out of the insulation. Or i guess one could go buy wire, ive never done that tho.


lol, I'm usin wire from a small stereo-stereo headphone wire. It is small gauge (around 28AWG). I do have many many wires laying around (a few of those CD-Rom/Audio wires). And this is only practice, you do know :D

hehe, btw, its capitalize and grammar hehehe :D

What you could do is make a header (in big letters and a different color), center it, and then write something like "Guide to small soldering" or something of the likes. Then, split it up into sections, like materials, preparation, soldering/tips, finishing up etc. For each section, make a medium sized and different colored header, centered as well.

[JasonDTM]

I would use 22 to 20ga minimum for voltmodding.

[johan851]

I'd be happy to go over this whole thing and edit it for grammar/spelling/punctuation later tonight. PM me your email or something and I'll attach it and send it to you.

[3DFlyer]

I've done alot of soldering myself because I've built small electronic speed controls for mnay years.

This is good material for people who are not used to soldering small parts. It shows how to get a good mechanical bond and proper techniques of heating and getting a good joint.

One thing that people may also want to be cautious of is the thermal specs of some of these components. Do not heat small IC's for long periods of time. Most of these chips like the ones shown have thermal specs of like 300-500 degrees only for a matter of a few (3) seconds. It's not the pins that will fail,but the IC they are connected to.

You have to be neat, precise, get good heat, but be quick at the same time. High wattage irons should be avoided. I have an adjustable iron that can go up to 80 watts, but I don't go anywhere near that with small IC's. More like 25-30 watts at the most.

Practice makes perfect, and the best bet is to use the lowest wattage setting that will allow a good joint. If the solder is shiny and you have good penetration the joint is good. Higher heat will not help, and in some cases will actually hurt the joint and the solder can be overheated.

[four4875]

jason, 20 guage is pretty huge for this kind of soldering. in a Vmod (aside from the 3.3V ddr one) there is almost no current running over the wire, just enough to change what the Vsense is seeing on the PWM IC. 20 or 22 guage would be much more difficult to work on than this smaller wire.

Johan: thanks, YGPM :D

I will be adding some more pics later tonight, gonna be doing another chip install, actually partially through it right now.

[d94]

very nice guide :D
now all i gotta do is get the balls to mess w/my hardware lol

[four4875]

get ahold of like a GF3 ti200 or an old radeon, not much to lose, only ton ofconfidence to gain when you sicessfully Vmod it and put a big ole CPU heatsink on it and get its clock speeds waaayy up over stock, and its good real world practice. or just molest an old mobo like solidxsnake. i did it to my asus after it died, just to see if i could.

[3DFlyer]

Oh yes. Practice indeed. Those little pins are harder to solder than you might think. It's tedious. Those pictures make it look real easy cause he did such a good job. Also remember that the solder joint can be perfect, but the mod has to work aftwerwards. You have to be careful not to overheat the chips. Only use just enough heat to do the job over a very breif period. Don't hold the solder iron on the pins or pads too long. :)

[four4875]

the pics also make it look easy caus they dont shw me redoing it 4 times haha. im going to add pics of me goofin one up and how to fix a bridge between 2 pins, as soon as i get them upoaded. but breakfast calls my name right now haha. i forgot to add the heat / damage thing up there, just mentioned that i work quickly, thaks 3dflyer ill add that.

[SolidxSnake]

One other note I must add.

If you solder something on an IC Leg the wrong way at first, like its in the wrong position, DON'T TAKE THE IRON TO THE JOINT RIGHT AFTER. Wait at least 5-15 seconds before going back to the joint.

[flamerail]

i vote for grammer fixing , then sticky...

very nice very nice

**** the grammer fixing!
Sticky now!!!! :p

[3DFlyer]

One other note I must add.

If you solder something on an IC Leg the wrong way at first, like its in the wrong position, DON'T TAKE THE IRON TO THE JOINT RIGHT AFTER. Wait at least 5-15 seconds before going back to the joint.

Very good advice! I never thought about that, becasue I'm used to doing it automatically, but that is very good advice. Reheating before an IC has a chance to cool down is just as bad as holding the iron to it. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to make sure these IC's are not overheated. Some of them have very critical thermal specs, and if you go outside of them, you can ruin the IC. Heating a pad too long can cause delaminination of the printed circuit board also. Use ***just*** enough heat to do the job. This is very very important.

[SolidxSnake]

Very good advice! I never thought about that, becasue I'm used to doing it automatically, but that is very good advice. Reheating before an IC has a chance to cool down is just as bad as holding the iron to it. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to make sure these IC's are not overheated. Some of them have very critical thermal specs, and if you go outside of them, you can ruin the IC. Heating a pad too long can cause delaminination of the printed circuit board also. Use ***just*** enough heat to do the job. This is very very important.


So true. this is how I ruined my Creative Zen Xtra... I was resoldering the headphone jack, and I had too much heat cause my iron tip was dirty as sin. I ended up heating the PCB so much, that when I placed the PCB back in the case, I had to move the jack a millimeter. Did that, and it snapped the trace right out of the board!

[Son1990]

I use a handy item that you can get at RadioShack called "helping hands":

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a236/Son1990/helpinghand.jpg

one of the best investments i have made. sorry for the quick and somewhat blurry pic.

[four4875]

son, i had one of them that i lost somewhere in a move. i tihnk its in a storage unit. but this ine seems to get a bit better magnification, which is good for lookin for bridged pins. arent they less tha $20 at RS? i have a different branded one, with a levered suction base thingy, it looks like its about 20 years old, and i got it from my dad, so it probably is.

[Son1990]

Yea, they are the cheap ones at RS. I used it when I did mods on my paintball marker chips. I only using the magnifying glass tho because it cant realy clamp video cards lol but for soldering LEDs and Resistors its perfect

Its funny to hear u call me son lol somin only my dad does heheeh

~Ken

[four4875]

hey... your sn is son1990... leave off the numbers and its son. and i know a guy who's first name is son, so it just seemed like your name... lol...

those clip things re good for soldering resistors, caus they are good at transferring heat RELLY fast, and get really unpleasant on the fingers. I wouldnt try to hold likea VC in there anyways, if you were to push too hard or anything, it'd tip and probably jsut get annoying. but holding the magnifier is fine, and it could even hold a wire still while you solder it to the board, but prolly be alot easier to move than holding it with a finger.

[3DFlyer]

So true. this is how I ruined my Creative Zen Xtra... I was resoldering the headphone jack, and I had too much heat cause my iron tip was dirty as sin. I ended up heating the PCB so much, that when I placed the PCB back in the case, I had to move the jack a millimeter. Did that, and it snapped the trace right out of the board!

Oh no. :( I sounds like the heat delaminted the trace, and when you pushed it nothing was holding the actual land at all anymore. Thin copper and gold will do that. Sorry that happened man. That's the aggravating part of OC'ing and modding. You try and get more performance, and then something like that slaps you in the face. I've had stuff happen to me before. I smoked a CPU doing something I shouldn't have been doing...it's called SNDS. :(

[SolidxSnake]

Oh no. :( I sounds like the heat delaminted the trace, and when you pushed it nothing was holding the actual land at all anymore. Thin copper and gold will do that. Sorry that happened man. That's the aggravating part of OC'ing and modding. You try and get more performance, and then something like that slaps you in the face. I've had stuff happen to me before. I smoked a CPU doing something I shouldn't have been doing...it's called SNDS. :(


meh, i'm over it. I kinda threw out everything on my zen anyway. Only have the harddrive and the battery remaining. The harddrive is a 4200rpm 40gb laptop harddrive (2.5" Form factor, its not even 1cm in height). It retails for over $100, i'm almost positive.

[four4875]

could always buy a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter and use it for storage :D

[SolidxSnake]

Meh, too much work LOL

[{PMS}fishy]

I would use 22 to 20ga minimum for voltmodding.

I think you mean max.

I prefer to use 24g.

[SolidxSnake]

I think you mean max.

I prefer to use 24g.


That's a hard thing to determine. I'd understand it better with minimum, as in, that should be the biggest you use. confusing :0

But yeah, I like 28ga. It's easy, and most of my headphones, and most of my USB cables (mini-B-->A) are 28ga, just rip em open, strip and set.

[four4875]

i like a ripped open parallel cable or a round ide cable

[Pie-rate]

Do it yourself Helping Hands:

Materials:
Block of wood
Solder
Soldering iron
large staples/stapler
thick copper wire
2 alligator clips

Instructions:
Self explanatory I think...
staple the wire on to the block. solder the alligator clips onto the wire
don't make the wire too long or it'll be too hard to keep from moving
if the wire breaks from being bent too much, simple! staple on another one

Why spend $10 at radio shack when you can just make it yourself, for a mere $5 in materials plus $5 in time?

[g0dM@n]

You guys should see what I do at my job. We have leet soldering irons, and the TINIEST resisitors that you can imagine. We have to make 2200 boards this weekend at my job, between about 8 people.

Hopefully, someone has a digi here so I can show you guys.

[four4875]

if i could afford the money for a SMD rework station.... i would be a happy man. but im poor, so nothin fancy for me. If i had better tools, i could worm smaller and stuff, but it would be reall hard for people to follow along and do it themselves.

[mich43L]

After it's stripped, seperated and twisted, I tin it. I have a habbit of just sticking the wire up from bottom through a screw hole on the board im working on to hold it. Then come from the bottom of the wire with the iron and put the solder on top of the wire. I start at the end of the wire and work my way towards the insulation, I've found that this minimizes the amount of melted / burnt insulation

This is where flux is very useful even if you use rosin core solder. To tin a wire: brush a little of the flux on the bare wire, get some solder on the iron and touch it to the wire's end. Solder will flow like butta towards the flux. This is especially useful for ~30 awg wires where the method of feeding the solder on the wire to tin it is not practical.

Weller sells these specialty soldering irons for doing very fine soldering work. But I find that usually a regular radioshack iron (what I use) will do the job because it's more about control than the tool you use.

[four4875]

ive personally never used much flux, only once a long time ago when i was still terrible at soldering, didnt like it so i never touched it since. plus i dont think it can be had at radioshack (at least not my local one) so i wouldnt want to include it in here, its supposed to be somethin anyone can easily get the tools for and do, so if they have to searc around for flux, it becomes a pain in the rump.

I'll have to find some somewhere and play with it, see how i like it ow that im moreexperienced. i hear its handy when mounting SMD ICs, it'll stickthe ic in place and help pull in the solder. i hvnt tried puttin SMD ics back on after ripping them off lol.

[g0dM@n]

You guys have no idea as to what I've been up to all day/night. I'm at my job putting together electric boards... it's been about 14 hours and i'm still goin. We have a HUGE shipment tomorrow of 2200 electronic interfaces, and all weekend ppl have been working.

The pick-and-place machine that puts all the tiny resistors/transistors/diodes onto the electric boards is not placing all of them completely perfect, so I have to look over them and fix them with insanely fine tweezers and a magnifying lens.

You know all those TINY, LITTLE electronic things on your mobos, vid cards, etc? Yes, that's what I'm playing with!

[mich43L]

plus i dont think it can be had at radioshack (at least not my local one) so i wouldnt want to include it in here, its supposed to be somethin anyone can easily get the tools for and do, so if they have to searc around for flux, it becomes a pain in the rump.
Radioshack does sell it but it's the non-spill kind:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=64-022
Both lowes and homedepot only sell water soluble flux (looks white) that's mostly used for plumbing soldering. It's not recommended for electronic work because it is conductive.


You know all those TINY, LITTLE electronic things on your mobos, vid cards, etc? Yes, that's what I'm playing with!
Assembly machine machine usually does these things, correct? Science channel had this piece on how computer motherboards and cards are made: the card is slightly dipped in molten solder and, voila, every component soldered. Virtually no human involvement except for placement of some components.

[four4875]

he just said the assembly machine occasionally misplaces them :-P

its one thing to strick 'em in place, but use an off the shelf radioshack iron to solder them ion place :-P

I know my local RS dont have the sflux, ive searched, and i dunno wabout others, havnt been to any others.

[cozmo_d]

I troubleshoot & solder all day long, through hole & SMT (surface mount technology) PCB (Modules & Panels)

Yes there is a soldering machine Its called "wave soldering" all components are loaded into the pcb using other machines that are programmed to load the components into the right circuit/node then humans load all other components that the machines cannot load which are many) then the pcb with the components is passed into the wave solder machine which heats everything, including the board, then the bottom of the board travels over a molten hot solder pool that just skims the bottom of the board & components which instantly solders everything, the solder only sticks to the metal & not the pcb, then it travels out to a slow cooling station, Problem is that the machines & the humans loading all the components are not perfect so then that's where I come in, we locate solder bridges (shorts), overvolted circuits usualy a resister missing or wrong ohm in circuit, components loaded in wrong direction in circuit, IC's with bent or lifted contacts ETC ETC..........

So first you have to locate the problem then desolder components & replace & solder cleanly then benchtest some of the modules & panels Its Interesting & tedious work sometimes I want to snap the freaking modules in half cuz it can be frustrating you have to have allot of patients which sometimes I run out of :)

Some tools we use are

Dental Pic
Exzacto Knife
Small Brushes (that we trim very short for cleaning flux off solder joints & pcb with Alcohol.)
No-Clean Liquid Flux
Rubbing Alcohol

Soldering Iron
Desoldering tool (basically a soldering iron that has vacuum in the tip)

Its tedious work been wanting to do a vmod on my ic7g but I cant afford another one so I'm always reluctant to do it.

At work if I botch something there's more of the same part, at home If I pull a trace or burn an IC Ill be offline for a good long while :(

This is an awesome mobo would hate to screw it up
Maybe Ill get some backbone & take my mobo to work & do the vmod after hours.
I really need to do the modd cuz my ram is starving for voltage

[cozmo_d]

You guys have no idea as to what I've been up to all day/night. I'm at my job putting together electric boards... it's been about 14 hours and i'm still goin. We have a HUGE shipment tomorrow of 2200 electronic interfaces, and all weekend ppl have been working.

The pick-and-place machine that puts all the tiny resistors/transistors/diodes onto the electric boards is not placing all of them completely perfect, so I have to look over them and fix them with insanely fine tweezers and a magnifying lens.

You know all those TINY, LITTLE electronic things on your mobos, vid cards, etc? Yes, that's what I'm playing with!

Who do you work for ?

I work at DMP (Digital Monitoring Products) (Alarms & fire)
http://dmp.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=F64282D6-6C12-11D5-94A60020781CE8D5

[threeme2189]

my grandpa gave me a tip for soldering once. he told me that if the head is too fat for the soldering you are doing get some (prefferably) copper wire (about 1 mm thick and pretty sturdy do it doesn't bend on its own) wrap it around the soldering thingy a few times and then make it go forward so it sticks outin front of the soldering tip.
and vwalla! an instand 1 mm thick soldering head.

sorry for the poor grammar and stuff. im tired.

[Cap'n Pedro]

You can wrap electrical tape around a paper clip. Heat the clip and touch it to the joint.

[SolidxSnake]

Electrical tape won't melt?

[Rpkole]

Yes there is a soldering machine Its called "wave soldering" all components are loaded into the pcb using other machines that are programmed to load the components into the right circuit/node then humans load all other components that the machines cannot load which are many) then the pcb with the components is passed into the wave solder machine which heats everything, including the board, then the bottom of the board travels over a molten hot solder pool that just skims the bottom of the board & components which instantly solders everything, the solder only sticks to the metal & not the pcb, then it travels out to a slow cooling station,

at work i have run the solder wave and one thing that we have to do is put flux on the hand load parts like the dimm slots and pci slots to make sure that all the pins get solder on them. There is also a oven that the boards go through when the SMT parts get put on the board and melts the solder paste that the SMT parts are sitting on and all the parts get soldered at one time. I wish i had one of the rework station that we have at work cause the temp of the iron is controled by which tip is being used

[mich43L]

we locate solder bridges (shorts), overvolted circuits usualy a resister missing or wrong ohm in circuit, components loaded in wrong direction in circuit, IC's with bent or lifted contacts ETC ETC..........
In that piece, the Science channel (sorry I'm only a hobby solderer) also showed the testing/QC phase - also done by a machine - nothing mechanical, just put the card in the regular pc (I think it was a pci modem :D) and run a test program

my grandpa gave me a tip for soldering once. he told me that if the head is too fat for the soldering you are doing get some (prefferably) copper wire (about 1 mm thick and pretty sturdy do it doesn't bend on its own) wrap it around the soldering thingy a few times and then make it go forward so it sticks outin front of the soldering tip.
and vwalla! an instand 1 mm thick soldering head.
I thought about doing the same thing in order avoid buying those specialty irons. But my idea was to use a needle. Copper is better though because the needle didn't tin that well. But like I said before, in most cases it's not the size of the tip that matters, it's how you use it.

[four4875]

i have tried to modify a stock tip by stickin it in a drill press and filing it down to a better tip, worked like a ghetto lathe. i think this killed the nickel plated finish and the tip wore out extremely fast.

[FrankGehry]

Does anyone know how to access the SMBus on an Asus P5GD2 mb. Thx - FG

I've found some info about using memory slots. I was hoping to find a method using a pci card, parallel port, or existing header. Still searching.

[four4875]

while this isnt really the place to ask (should have been in a new thread)

i started an effort to build a PCB to interface to SMbus via ram slot, but with my TERRIBLE attention span, i stopped putting forth effort after a few days.

i may pick up the project in around 4 months like i tend to do, for maybe a week tops. so reallyim not that viable of a source for info. ram is the only place i really know of to tap in at, possibly around the PLL IC, but thats all i can suggest.

[Beginner]

guys, i've been reading four's guide for months. i finally did the vdd mod on my nf7 board and man, IT WORKS! i didn't kill my board. all the tips on how to solder in four's guide were so helpful along with enduros nf7 vdd guide.

thanks for your guide four. now i'm of to do the vdimm mod and vtt mod if i can actually find a vtt mod link that works.

this newb does read the stickies :)

[EvilCloudStrife]

what is tinning? also, is super glue conductive at all? also, should i bother getting a new tip for my dual wattage radioshack iron? do they make smaller tips? thanks, great guide, i appricate it

[four4875]

tinning is when you heat the wire, and feed solder to it, and the flux in the solder will like penetrate the wires and then burn off, and when it burns off it sucks solder into the wire. its basically getting the wire nice and prepared so its easy to get a nice solder joint.

when you tin the tip of your iron, you clean it off and get a nice thin layer of solder on there. this helps get easy thermal joints between the tip and what you'r trying to solder, and prevents the tip from oxidizing nad makes it last longer.

the super glue that i used wasnt conductive. i stuck a drop on a piece of paper and stuck the multimeter in it to test it once, and it wasnt anything my multimeter could register.

i dont remember if the tip on the dual wattage is the longer one that has liek a 45 degree taper on the end or if its the one with a long taper, but i foind out that while the one with a longer taper seemed better at first, it had a little flat spot on the end, where the other one came to an actual point. i know the one that ended up working out best was liek the stock one that comes on a 30 watt iron. i dont remember which tips came with what any more lol.

if you want to try, you can put a tip in a drill and file it down to a really fine point (drill acting like a lathe), but this murders the nickel plating and the tip will like desintigrate itself after a while.

[EvilT]

son, i had one of them that i lost somewhere in a move. i tihnk its in a storage unit. but this ine seems to get a bit better magnification, which is good for lookin for bridged pins. arent they less tha $20 at RS? i have a different branded one, with a levered suction base thingy, it looks like its about 20 years old, and i got it from my dad, so it probably is.
i knew a place were u can get one of those for like 2bucks :(

[g0dM@n]

I need a magnifying glass... anywhere cheap, reliable? I'd probably rather order cuz i'm lazy and don't wanna go shopping... i'd take advice on online shopping and local shopping, though. :)

[ThePCGuy]

Are you looking for a cheap magnifying lense? I bought two in a package at my local Ace for $1.00 if I recall. A large one that sits near my new WES51 Weller soldering station, and another slightly smaller one that is in my toolbox. Most smallish hard-ware stores carry that "made in china" $1.00 rack. I find lots of little usefuls in there. Saves my eyes the strain of trying to read small print on motherboards :).

- Jim

[Tyranos]

I remember doing vmods for my NF7S with a HUGE soldering GUN with at least a half inch thick tip and some really heavy guage flux filled solder. God, that tried my patience, but it was all I had and I got it to work.

[lorax26]

Man, even with this guide I can't hold the iron steady enough to get down there and simply "touch" the wire. Any tips for someone with tremors? :bang head

[apt403]

I use a handy item that you can get at RadioShack called "helping hands":

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a236/Son1990/helpinghand.jpg

one of the best investments i have made. sorry for the quick and somewhat blurry pic.
Heh, I just used one of those whilst trying to fix a headphone cable, it helped ALOT, I dont think I could have gotten by without it. Sadly, I forgot to insulate the individual wires, so the thing is all screwed up... All that time and all that lead-laden smoke I inhaled... all for nothing.:cry:Wasted a bunch of heatshrink too.

Well, I am a little better at soldering now, and I now what that thing is called.

[fireandice]

+ 1 for that. I love me a good set of helping hands.

heres where i got mine. Best $699 i ever spent http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=319 There just down the street from me. I love that place.

[SolidxSnake]

+ 1 for that. I love me a good set of helping hands.

heres where i got mine. Best $699 i ever spent http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=319 There just down the street from me. I love that place.


best seven hundred dollars?

:D

[g0dM@n]

best seven hundred dollars?

:D
i was gonna say... lol

fireandice, ship one out to me! :)

[fireandice]

lol. it was late and i was half asleep. missed that . lol.

[Clockwork_Apple]

An excellent guide, I need to brush up on my soldering skills for some planned vmods.

Am I correct in thinking these pictures are of you modding PS2s? If so, then tsk tsk. :rolleyes:

[treatmentx]

Thanks! I've been searching all over for a good tiny-soldering guide........... .... .... ... ..... ..... >=)

[Bender]

FYI harbor freight has helping hands on sale for $1.99 and if you have Marc's they have it for $2.47.

[SolidxSnake]

yeah, look at harbor freight's site, linked above. $2 for the helping hands

[PsySc0rpi0n]

Here is a nice guide and tips for soldering


PART 1

http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/k2.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/equipment.html)http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/k1.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/flux.html)http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l1.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/hole.html)

http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l2.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/bad.html)http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l3.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/surface.html)http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l4.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/wire.html)




in The Uber Computers

[PsySc0rpi0n]

PART 2


http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l5.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/inline.html)http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l6.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/tran.html)http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l7.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/remove.html)

http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l8.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/sensitive.html)http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l11.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/care.html)http://www.theubercomputers.com/images/articles/guide_solder/l10.jpg (http://www.theubercomputers.com/articles/guide_solder/safety.html)


in Uber Computers

[Gid]

Darn. The OP's pics/links and many others on this guide aren't working any more.

:(

[hank123]

is there any way that you could re-upload the pics? they are not working any more.

[four4875]

sorry about the pics guys, flood took out the server that they were hosted on.

If anyone can suggest a host to use, I just found a copy of the previously thought to be long lost originals, and i'd gladly get them up for you guys, and i apologize to the guys that wanted to see them but couldnt. so is there any image hosting services that will hopefully be around for good, and are free of course. hotlinkable might be good too, so the thumbs can be embedded in this thread.

[SolidxSnake]

sorry about the pics guys, flood took out the server that they were hosted on.

If anyone can suggest a host to use, I just found a copy of the previously thought to be long lost originals, and i'd gladly get them up for you guys, and i apologize to the guys that wanted to see them but couldnt. so is there any image hosting services that will hopefully be around for good, and are free of course. hotlinkable might be good too, so the thumbs can be embedded in this thread.


www.imageshack.us, hotlinking is good.

[hank123]

www.imageshack.us, hotlinking is good.

for pop ups.

photobucket.com much better.