soldering SMD's
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I ordered K6XX's CW indicating light for my Elecraft k2 and it has some (resistors and caps) SMD's I am going to have to work with. I have been reading on the internet about ways to instal these comments. I have read about using solder paste as this helps to place them and kinds steady’s them while soldering. Any thoughts on this method?? The only SMD work I did was on my K3 with the DC mod for powering the P3 with the K3. The soldering job was not pretty at all any input on soldering SMD's would be appreciated. Mike VE3WDM http://ve3wdm.blogspot.com ______________________________________________________________ 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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Mike,
Tom Hammond (SK) wrote the assembly instructions for that kit and included detailed instructions for soldering SMD parts. I suggest you try that method before investing in solder paste or any other special tools. You can fine the instructions at Tom's website http://www.n0ss.net/k6xx_cw_tun_ind_smd_v2_assy-align_k2_ver.pdf I use a variation of that method. Instead of any "holding stick", I use tweezers to pick up the part and hold it in place on the board. Be careful not to apply too much pressure to the tweezers or you will launch the part into unknown places and it will become vacuum cleaner fodder. I put a bit of solder on one solder pad for any particular part, then position the part and re-melt the solder to tack the part in place. Then I solder the other leads and if necessary go back to the first pad and add a bit of flux and solder to assure a good connection. The use of small diameter solder will help allow you to more easily control the amount of solder applied. 73, Don W3FPR On 11/15/2012 6:51 AM, Mike Weir wrote: > I ordered K6XX's CW indicating light for my Elecraft k2 and it has some (resistors and caps) SMD's I am going to have to work with. I have been reading on the internet about ways to instal these comments. I have read about using solder paste as this helps to place them and kinds steady’s them while soldering. Any thoughts on this method?? The only SMD work I did was on my K3 with the DC mod for powering the P3 with the K3. The soldering job was not pretty at all any input on soldering SMD's would be appreciated. > Mike > VE3WDM > ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by VE3WDM
Hi Mike VE3WDM,
I reccomend you to watch this solder tutorial on Youtube, to provide you tips to a good solder result for SMD tacking methods: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCwK40KUNRg The advantage of the bump-tack-method is that you will only have to steady the component for a few seconds while re-heating the first pad, until the component is tacked in place. There is an entire youtube channel for BEST Inc. called "SolderingGeek" that is a good ressource to improve our craftmanship in soldering techniques, SMD as well as leaded technologies. 73' Brian OZ2BRN K2 # 6936 and Kx3 # 1118 Den 15-Nov-12 12:51, Mike Weir skrev: > I ordered K6XX's CW indicating light for my Elecraft k2 and it has some (resistors and caps) SMD's I am going to have to work with. I have been reading on the internet about ways to instal these comments. I have read about using solder paste as this helps to place them and kinds steady’s them while soldering. Any thoughts on this method?? The only SMD work I did was on my K3 with the DC mod for powering the P3 with the K3. The soldering job was not pretty at all any input on soldering SMD's would be appreciated. > Mike > VE3WDM > http://ve3wdm.blogspot.com > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by VE3WDM
There are a bunch of videos on the web on this subject. I got some
ultra-fine solder at Radio Shack, put a dot on one of the pads, and held the chip cap or resistor down with a pencil eraserwhile melting the solder with a fine-tip iron, then applied solder in the conventional way to the other end. Works fine. You have to look out for surface tension in the solder blob, which is why the pencil eraser - otherwise you'll find some of your chips standing up on end once the solder goes molten. 73, Pete N4ZR Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com. For spots, please go to your favorite ARC V6 or VE7CC DX cluster node. On 11/15/2012 6:51 AM, Mike Weir wrote: > I ordered K6XX's CW indicating light for my Elecraft k2 and it has some (resistors and caps) SMD's I am going to have to work with. I have been reading on the internet about ways to instal these comments. I have read about using solder paste as this helps to place them and kinds steady’s them while soldering. Any thoughts on this method?? The only SMD work I did was on my K3 with the DC mod for powering the P3 with the K3. The soldering job was not pretty at all any input on soldering SMD's would be appreciated. > Mike > VE3WDM > http://ve3wdm.blogspot.com > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by VE3WDM
Here are the instructions from some other kits:
Install surface-mount inductor L3. Pre-tin the inductor pads on the PC board sparingly with solder before installing the part. Place this component on the two pad locations and restrain carefully in place with tweezers. Tack one end down with the soldering iron, solder the other end sparingly, and retouch the end originally tacked down. Good component alignment is important to ensure that there are no short-circuits- check your work carefully for solder bridges. U1 Installation: It's important to install the Surface-mount IC (U1) first- it's more difficult to install when surrounded by other components. Remove U1 from its protective packaging and place it over the pads on the board. Do not pre-tin the pads. 'Tack' down one of the IC corner pins while holding the device down with a fingertip. Move to the opposite side of the IC and solder all pins down. Note: it's easiest to use an excess of solder and remove the excess with solder-wick. (Solder the second group of 4 pins and wick as needed. I have built both kits and had no problems. I didn't use solder wick on the 8 pin U1 chip, just careful use of a narrow chisel soldering iron tip and thin solder. I use a temperature controlled, ESD safe soldering station. Cheers - Bill, AE6JV On 11/15/12 at 3:51 AM, [hidden email] (Mike Weir) wrote: >I ordered K6XX's CW indicating light for my Elecraft k2 and it >has some (resistors and caps) SMD's I am going to have to work >with. I have been reading on the internet about ways to instal >these comments. I have read about using solder paste as this >helps to place them and kinds steady’s them while soldering. >Any thoughts on this method?? The only SMD work I did was on my >K3 with the DC mod for powering the P3 with the K3. The >soldering job was not pretty at all any input on soldering >SMD's would be appreciated. Mike >VE3WDM >http://ve3wdm.blogspot.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | If the site is supported by | Periwinkle (408)356-8506 | ads, you are the product. | 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com | | Los Gatos, CA 95032 ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by VE3WDM
I use the method (with one change) that is described by Don, W3FPR.
I use 0.025 inch diameter solder. I tin the pad that I want to solder, first, with a tiny bit of solder. Holding the iron on the pad so the solder is fluid, I use small tweezers to hold the part on the surface of the pc board and slide it into the solder. Hold very still and remove the iron. After about 5-sec release the tweezers. Then solder the other contacts of the part, coming back after doing that to reheat the original solder point. Often that initial soldering needs a bit of reflow. I avoid soldering the ground side of any part as the first contact as ground plains typically take more heat to flow solder. Get the part attached and finish soldering the grounds. Use good temperature on grounds to speed the process. Heating the device too long can destroy them. A bit of flux can help the ground soldering. Also one should clean the surface of a new pc board before soldering anything. It can be as easy as using a pencil eraser which will remove surface oils which prevent good heat transvfer. I sometimes use a bit of alcohol with an acid brush to accomplish the same. GL, Ed - KL7UW ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by VE3WDM
I wanted to take a moment to thank all who gave me great feedback on my SMD question. Lots of great suggestions, web links and Youtube suggestions. I am now able to tackle the SMD boogieman and I am hoping that these posts will also assist others who come to the group with similar questions about SMD's.
Thanks again everyone!! Mike http://ve3wdm.blogspot.com |
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In reply to this post by VE3WDM
I know the group has given you good suggestions and options for SMD soldering but there is another route which is much better IMHO, but more expensive, of course. Being able to solder SMD devices easily, togther with todays CAD Tools, such as Eagle (free for small two-sided boards), makes experimenting with all sorts of devices possible and exciting. I have done a lot of work with Dallas Semiconductor 1-wire devices and Atmel AVR Microcontroller. Many of the devices are only available in SMD versions, so I jumped in with a hot-air work station and have had a lot of fun and success.
A number of years ago I purchased an Aoyue 852A station on EBay for $80 or so. I also bought a 10cc syringe of Solder paste (Superior Solder Paste) for a few bucks. To use this method, for example to solder a sot-223 device with three or four pins on one side and a tab on the other, just lay a fine line of paste across all four pins and another parallel line of paste along the tab pad. The paste connects all four small pads. The paste is gooey so its easy to place and align the device onto the pads. Carefully align and move on to the next device to install. After all of the surface mount devices are placed, use the hot-air gun to 'melt' the solder paste. The 852 has an air flow adjustment which must be set very low to keep from blowing the tiny parts off or out of alignment. When the solder paste melts the solder snaps to the pads and device pins and clears the connection between the pins like magic. See YouTube for lots of videos. This is probably not the right solution for building a kit or two, but is a great option to consider for the hard-core builder. I have not done any Ham related building with this but am thinking about building a SMD QRP transmitter one of these days.
73,
Don KA1KU |
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Sorry, Eagle is a Printed circuit design software. See cadsoftusa.com. You can draw your circuit schematic and then create a PCB board layout. The software will then produce the necessary files to send to a board house to create the actual board. Within Eagle there is a very extensive library of all kinds of electrical parts and you can even create your own part schematic and pad layout, which I've had to do with most of the Dallas One-Wire devices. It has a somewhat steep learning curve but the effort is worthwhile and the results are fantastic. I use Eagle on Linux but I think it is available for most operating systems. It is one great product, and there is a free version for expirmenters.
One thing I didn't mention which I also use are adapter boards which have the pad for mounting one SMD device and provide connection layout suitable for bread-boarding. Sparkfun.com has a lot of these for cheap. This lets you build/expirment with a few SMD devices without creating a circuit board. I solder the device to these adapters as described previously. I didn't mean to highjack this thread, but SMD soldering is very challenging for all of us. It is why the wonderful build of the K2 has become the solderless assembly of the K3. Electronics has moved on and SMD is how every modern system is/will be built. It will only get worse with new generation stuff like ball-grid arrays and other high-density packaging. Just imagine the size of a K3 with thru-hole devices, not that many of the parts are even available in thru-hole format.
73,
Don KA1KU |
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I have Eagle on my Macintosh, but I haven't even started climbing the learning-curve mountain.
Cheers - Bill, AE6JV On 11/16/12 at 6:23 AM, [hidden email] (Don KA1KU) wrote: > I use Eagle on Linux but I think > it is available for most operating systems. It is one great product, and > there is a free version for expirmenters. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | I like the farmers' market | Periwinkle (408)356-8506 | because I can get fruits and | 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com | vegetables without stickers. | Los Gatos, CA 95032 ______________________________________________________________ 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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