solder paste and reflow how-to

posted Nov 3rd 2006 9:47am by Will O'Brien
filed under: misc hacks

I was poking around spark fun electronics, and came across this interesting walk through showing spark fun’s solder stenciling technique. (I’d put on some gloves before handling that much lead paste) They top it off with some alternative ways of doing reflow work. My favorite has to be the target hotplate method. It’s a nice introduction if you’re interested in doing SMD work to save money and space on your projects [but not sanity. say goodbye to that] Me? I’ve used a 15 watt weller with a dremel modified small tip. It works great if you’ve got some one of those syringes of heat activated glue. Place, bake and solder.

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Comments [11]

tagged: reflow, solder paste, soldering, solderpaste, stenciling

11 Responses to solder paste and reflow how-to

David Li says:

November 3, 2006 at 10:08 pm

Hmm, maybe coral cache next time?

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weirdguy0101 says:

November 3, 2006 at 10:42 pm

working fine for me, this seems pretty useful

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Alexander says:

November 3, 2006 at 11:02 pm

I prefer the desoldering bulb mod…

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/07/how-to-make-a-surface-mount-soldering-iron/

Hasen’t let me down yet.

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Will O'Brien says:

November 3, 2006 at 11:12 pm

hah! I wrote that. Glad to hear it works for you. Some people have had bad luck with it.

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mac says:

November 3, 2006 at 11:34 pm

http://www.macetech.com/desolder-close.jpg i just heat until it wiggles, flip up with a dental pick. that’s a $20 heat gun suspended over the board, on low setting. you’ll want to put foil over the rest of the board. soldering is easy, use a small iron and roll a tiny bead along all the pins in one stroke. if you did it right, the whole row is soldered. if not, you need to use a little desoldering braid and clean up one or two bridges. flux pen helps a lot.

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lain says:

November 4, 2006 at 7:44 am

where do you guys get your solder paste? i’ve been trying to find a good / cheap supplier, but i have no idea who to go with. i’ve been salvaging surface mount components for some time, but now i’d like to start using them in my own designs!

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kwijibo says:

November 4, 2006 at 9:52 am

Bollocks, not bullocks, Ben.

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jimmy d says:

November 4, 2006 at 4:21 pm

Good information. My soldering skills are hardly up to par compared to some of those tutorials, but nevertheless useful.

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DarkFader says:

November 4, 2006 at 8:30 pm

@mac: the chip doesn’t break when hot-air desoldering? is there a maxmimum time for heating?