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.
11 thoughts on “Solder Paste And Reflow How-to”
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Hmm, maybe coral cache next time?
working fine for me, this seems pretty useful
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.
hah! I wrote that. Glad to hear it works for you. Some people have had bad luck with it.
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.
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!
Bollocks, not bullocks, Ben.
Good information. My soldering skills are hardly up to par compared to some of those tutorials, but nevertheless useful.
@mac: the chip doesn’t break when hot-air desoldering? is there a maxmimum time for heating?
“that mush lead paste” most solder paste is now lead free and has been for a few years now.
A bullock is a bull with no bollocks!!!