I am just starting to play with a rework station that has both an iron and a
hot air handle. I am starting with basic 60/40 solder and need a starting
point for the temperatures to set. Should I use the same temps for the iron
as the air? Where should I start for mounting, removing or repairing both
thru-hole and SMD devices?

Thanks

"RichK" wrote in message
. net...

I am just starting to play with a rework station that has both an iron and
a hot air handle. I am starting with basic 60/40 solder and need a
starting point for the temperatures to set. Should I use the same temps
for the iron as the air? Where should I start for mounting, removing or
repairing both thru-hole and SMD devices?

Try melting some solder with it.

I can figure out where solder melts, but there is a tradeoff. Just barely
hot enough to melt the solder will expose the component to heat for a longer
time.

"Homer J Simpson" wrote in message
news:m9XYg.17258$P7.4035@edtnps90...

"RichK" wrote in message
. net...

I am just starting to play with a rework station that has both an iron
and a hot air handle. I am starting with basic 60/40 solder and need a
starting point for the temperatures to set. Should I use the same temps
for the iron as the air? Where should I start for mounting, removing or
repairing both thru-hole and SMD devices?

Try melting some solder with it.

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:02:02 GMT, "RichK" wrote:

I am just starting to play with a rework station that has both an iron and a
hot air handle. I am starting with basic 60/40 solder and need a starting
point for the temperatures to set. Should I use the same temps for the iron
as the air? Where should I start for mounting, removing or repairing both
thru-hole and SMD devices?

Thanks

For the iron, I find 700 to be about right most of the time. I
occasionally go to 750, or even 800 for hard to solder things that can
take the heat. Cooler than 700 can be useful on fragile things like
plated ceramic.
Andy Cuffe

Andy Cuffe wrote in
:


For the iron, I find 700 to be about right most of the time.
I occasionally go to 750, or even 800 for hard to solder
things that can take the heat. Cooler than 700 can be
useful on fragile things like plated ceramic.
Andy Cuffe


700 degrees with many solder compositions will burn away the
flux/rosin before it gets a chance to wet/clean the joint. I keep
my irons @ around 550 to 570 depending on solder type.

There's a great writeup on recommended solder temps out on the
web... I just can't recall if it is on the Kester web site or
somewhere buried in a MIL-STD/HDBK doc

"RichK" wrote in message
. net...

I can figure out where solder melts, but there is a tradeoff. Just barely
hot enough to melt the solder will expose the component to heat for a
longer time.

I've done a lot of soldering. Use as much heat as you can for as short a
time as you can. More people screwup with too cold an iron than with too hot
a one.

In article , "RichK"
wrote:

I am just starting to play with a rework station that has both an iron and a
hot air handle. I am starting with basic 60/40 solder and need a starting
point for the temperatures to set. Should I use the same temps for the iron
as the air? Where should I start for mounting, removing or repairing both
thru-hole and SMD devices?

Rich-

Things may have changed, but tin-lead solder used to be bad for surface
mount components. It seems that the silver that was fired onto the
component's surface, would almalgamate with lead, causing loss of
electrical contact with the surface.

I'd follow Wakarusa's suggestion to check out the Kester web site.
Perhaps there would be related info at the Cooper/Weller web site as well.

Fred