On 13/01/2012 23:47, Theo Markettos wrote:

John wrote:
I was wondering what suggestions those of you who do this daily had to
offer?

Hot air. It makes it hugely easier. There are relatively cheap hot air
stations around... go to certain backstreets of cities in the developing
world and you can see people doing component level service on recent TVs etc
there.


Not tried but, for example:
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/zd-9...ion/dp/SD01139
(I'm not sure I believe the listed temperature of '150' there)

No that does sound implausibly low... would not even melt leaded solder.
Not a bad price mind you given you can get a reasonable range of nozzles
for it.

You don't need dozens of tips for each and every package, but just some
narrow tips and some broad (square) ones will do. Having more heat can be
handy for the broader tips. Vacuum is nice, but really not essential. A
hotplate can be handy for preheat.

I think a selection of videos would be good for an FAQ: soldering is
something you learn from watching, not from reading.

We could probably find one of the many on youtube to link to. Having
said that I learnt from a written description many years ago.



--
Cheers,

John.

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