Central Tendency of K2 PCB Solder Pad Widths?

[Jeff T. Casey]

Hi gang,

This document on the Elecraft web site,
http://bit.ly/solderingtips
says,
"[Soldering iron] tip width will normally be in the range of 1/32" (0.79mm) through 1/8" (3.2mm), depending upon the width of the pad to which you are soldering. The width of the tip selected should be about 75% to 90% of the width of the pad."

What would you estimate to be the median or modal (or just typical ;-) solder pad width on the K2's circuit boards?

Or, to be more direct, which of the following soldering tip widths would be best for use in building a K2: 0.80 mm, 1.19 mm, 1.60 mm, or 2.40 mm?

Or am I just splitting hairs?

Thanks very much, 73 & 72,
Jeff
NE2J (formerly WB5GWB)

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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Jeff,

You may be splitting hairs, but I prefer a 1.60 mm ( 1/16 inch) chisel
tip for most of my soldering.
The flat on the tip allows sufficient area to conduct heat onto most
solder pads, and work well for me.

More important than the size of the tip is to heat both the solder pad
and the component lead so you can see the solder flow out to an almost
invisible edge on both the pad and the lead.  If that happens in less
than 2 seconds, the iron is too hot, but if it takes longer than 3
seconds, the iron temperature is too low.  The temperature required will
vary depending on the surface area of the solder pad and the 'weight' of
the component lead - the larger areas will conduct heat away from the
point to be soldered more quickly and require a tip with more mass or a
higher temperature.

Experiment a bit until you are comfortable with the task.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jeff T. Casey wrote:

> Hi gang,
>
> This document on the Elecraft web site,
> http://bit.ly/solderingtips
> says,
> "[Soldering iron] tip width will normally be in the range of 1/32" (0.79mm) through 1/8" (3.2mm), depending upon the width of the pad to which you are soldering. The width of the tip selected should be about 75% to 90% of the width of the pad."
>
> What would you estimate to be the median or modal (or just typical ;-) solder pad width on the K2's circuit boards?
>
> Or, to be more direct, which of the following soldering tip widths would be best for use in building a K2: 0.80 mm, 1.19 mm, 1.60 mm, or 2.40 mm?
>
> Or am I just splitting hairs?
>
> Thanks very much, 73 & 72,
> Jeff
> NE2J (formerly WB5GWB)
>  
>

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[Tom Hammond-2]

Hi Jeff:

I don't believe it has to be quite that 'analytical' an
approach.  The intent of my comments in the article were to try to
urge builders to use a soldering iron tip width which would not
easily overlap the pad width, thus promoting the potential for
dragging excess solder between pads or pads and lands.

I've built numerous K2's and other Elecraft rigs and, for the most
part, I think I've just about always used a 1.6 mm width tip.  I
believe I did go to a somewhat more narrow tip when I built the KX1,
because it was more densely populated, and thus more prone to
offering chances for shorts between pads/lands.

The idea is to just use a tip that's large enough to carry as much
'heat' to the joint as possible, while not being so wide that it
easily allows you to overlap the pad with the width of the tip.

Hope this helps.

73,

Tom Hammond  N0SS

At 21:09 10/28/2009, Jeff T. Casey wrote:

>Hi gang,
>
>This document on the Elecraft web site,
>http://bit.ly/solderingtips
>says,
>"[Soldering iron] tip width will normally be in the range of 1/32"
>(0.79mm) through 1/8" (3.2mm), depending upon the width of the pad
>to which you are soldering. The width of the tip selected should be
>about 75% to 90% of the width of the pad."
>
>What would you estimate to be the median or modal (or just typical
>;-) solder pad width on the K2's circuit boards?
>
>Or, to be more direct, which of the following soldering tip widths
>would be best for use in building a K2: 0.80 mm, 1.19 mm, 1.60 mm, or 2.40 mm?
>
>Or am I just splitting hairs?
>
>Thanks very much, 73 & 72,
>Jeff
>NE2J (formerly WB5GWB)
>
>______________________________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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