Soldering Guide Help

[eidairaman1]

Here is a Pretty Good Video for soldering technique for THT and SMD.

Disclaimer:
This is a guide and you are the person responsible for any improper soldering/damage, not anyone else.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Thanks. Anyone that doesnt do a lot of soldering should watch it.

 

[eidairaman1]

Thanks. Anyone that doesnt do a lot of soldering should watch it.

It would help people who knocked off caps/resistors on their gpus...

 

[Ferrum Master]

It is not a good video. It is not done like that anymore... like student level. You need a preheater under and sum up the energy in order not to damage the part an PCB, often you will not be able to heat up the part off the multi layer PCB due to thick copper layer, you will burn the upper PCB black but the solder will not melt. Especially like for ones that knocked a cap off the PCB.

SMD parts are put on using air gun and prehater... that's the most harmless way for the part and PCB. Soldering gun more for robust through hole devices. They have longer legs and don't heat up the semiconductor core damaging it.

With method like soldering all the pins together in many cases PCB traces will pop off and permanently damage the board. Plain isopropanol cannot be used for cleaning semiconductors as it was held in aluminum barrels thus it has metal ions, as a result the MCU will soak it and start to hang up often. Those things are bitten through like 20 years ago.

Also guys and galls... doing much SMD soldering without a microscope or at least some magnifying glass will instantly put you on prescription glasses queue.

 

[delshay]

It is not a good video. It is not done like that anymore... like student level. You need a preheater under and sum up the energy in order not to damage the part an PCB, often you will not be able to heat up the part off the multi layer PCB due to thick copper layer, you will burn the upper PCB black but the solder will not melt. Especially like for ones that knocked a cap off the PCB.

SMD parts are put on using air gun and prehater... that's the most harmless way for the part and PCB. Soldering gun more for robust through hole devices. They have longer legs and don't heat up the semiconductor core damaging it.

With method like soldering all the pins together in many cases PCB traces will pop off and permanently damage the board. Plain isopropanol cannot be used for cleaning semiconductors as it was held in aluminum barrels thus it has metal ions, as a result the MCU will soak it and start to hang up often. Those things are bitten through like 20 years ago.

Also guys and galls... doing much SMD soldering without a microscope or at least some magnifying glass will instantly put you on prescription glasses queue.

Spot on what you are saying, iv been soldering most of my life & I have not stopped to this very day. When dealing with SMD components you have to shield sensitive components otherwise it could get damaged.

 

[Bill_Bright]

It is not a good video. It is not done like that anymore... like student level.

I disagree and believe it is a good video - especially for small shops and the home enthusiasts. As for the student level comment, well, I feel that is just nonsense, if not offensive. That video was not geared to a professional tech who assembles and populates and/or repairs PCBs all day long for a living.

When dealing with SMD components you have the shield sensitive components otherwise it could get damaged.

So because the 11 minute video did not address shielding nearby components, it is bad video?

When I used to maintain USAF air traffic control radio communications systems, me and another tech were fortunate enough to be sent to a PACE Training Center to learn "Micro Miniature Soldering Techniques" using a PACE soldering station. This was a 60 hour course! Many of the techniques shown in that video were exactly what we were taught in that 60 hour course. No way everything we learned could be jammed into a tiny 11 minute video.

Anyone that doesnt do a lot of soldering should watch it.

That soldering techniques course I took probably consisted of about ~16 hours of actual classroom instruction on the various soldering techniques, temperature requirements, heat sinking and shielding, types of solder, etc. The remaining hours were spent practicing, practicing and then practicing some more - before assembling our final project for critical analysis, operation and certification.

And for the record, speed was one of the criteria used during the certification process - and that was NOT for increased productivity. It was because lingering around for too long while applying heat can damage surrounding components. My point being, with practice, shielding is not needed except for very densely populated boards - which were NOT used in that very fine video.

So for anyone who wishes to do his or her own soldering, I recommend get some old circuit boards and practice your soldering, desoldering, mounting and unmounting techniques before working on the final product. And this practice recommendation applies to experienced experts too. Soldering is a skill that must be hone and maintained.

 

[sneekypeet]

Moved thread to Cases, Modding, & Electronics. Unstuck old solder guide with dead image links, moved this into its place.

 

[Ferrum Master]

@Bill_Bright

Because of such low quality videos people damage their equipment while attempting to do repairs. Got their warranties rejected, money and time lost.

This video is student level. It will matter for those who attempt to make some diy piece of tech. Trial and error, a bit like this is lowest level and expired.

Doing repairs, like knocked off cap? They will damage the board and part. It must be used with caution.

 

[sneekypeet]

@Bill_Bright

Because of such low quality videos people damage their equipment while attempting to do repairs. Got their warranties rejected, money and time lost.

This video is student level. It will matter for those who attempt to make some diy piece of tech. Trial and error, bit this is lowest level and expired.

Doing repairs, like knocked off cap? They will damage the board and part. It must be used with caution.

I would then say, stop arguing with Bill, find us a better video, or make a tutorial of your own.
Many who would attempt such things and need help, need rudimentary steps to get the hang of things, and will evolve as bill stated. Also with that group are those that are likely out of warranty either by time or the fact they physically broke the bit they are repairing.

 

[Ferrum Master]

I would then say, stop arguing with Bill, find us a better video, or make a tutorial of your own.
Many who would attempt such things and need help, need rudimentary steps to get the hang of things, and will evolve as bill stated. Also with that group are those that are likely out of warranty either by time or the fact they physically broke the bit they are repairing.

I would say - ask for professional help.

You don't do fix your toothache by itself too? Or still a dentist is an option? Prolly you can find videos also for that.

Such things cause more harm than good when given to masses. That is my point.

Father asks his son, why on earth you did broke the board? But daddy I saw it on TPU, they said it is okay.... sigh...

 

[sneekypeet]

I would say - ask for professional help.

You don't do fix your toothache by itself too? Or still a dentist is an option? Prolly you can find videos also for that.

Such things cause more harm than good when given to masses. That is my point.

Father asks his son, why on earth you did broke the board? But daddy I saw it on TPU, they said it is okay.... sigh...

You are taking this way too far. Users are trying to help others here, it is as simple as that. At this point, it seems you just came in to argue with off tangent comments. I assume you spend all day on YouTube commenting on all the videos that could potentially cause harm too?

 

[delshay]

I disagree and believe it is a good video - especially for small shops and the home enthusiasts. As for the student level comment, well, I feel that is just nonsense, if not offensive. That video was not geared to a professional tech who assembles and populates and/or repairs PCBs all day long for a living.

So because the 11 minute video did not address shielding nearby components, it is bad video?

If your going to break something during soldering then yes. Some IC are very expensive, plus some are very hard or impossible to get hold of.

When I changed the capacitors on my R9 Nano here on TechPowerup a lot of shielding went into protecting the GPU core.

One thing that's different here to most users here is, I use a microprocessor digital control dispenser for my solder paste. Manual (foot pedal) or fully automated (programmable). So I can solder-in BGA device with no solder balls (not recommended) but i did it to test my soldering skill.

 

[Ferrum Master]

You are taking this way too far. Users are trying to help others here, it is as simple as that. At this point, it seems you just came in to argue with off tangent comments. I assume you spend all day on YouTube commenting on all the videos that could potentially cause harm too?

I don't comment youtube at all.. I don't consume low quality material. If I see endorsement for such things here it just amuses me and make me sad.

Such things as soldering need proper scholarship, not a youtube video. You must attend some sort of real courses with a teacher and equipment and play on with things, there are electronics circles everywhere around the world, use them. Not doing the stuff from first time and damage it even more as it usually ends up. It ain't that simple. It ain't fixing a broken power cord. We are talking about high tech SMD part soldering... not some plain simple through hole one layer PCB. Things have changed in the last 10 years very fast due to rapid tech development. Home repairs are not a reasonable thing to recommend to someone.

 

[Bill_Bright]

This video is student level. It will matter for those who attempt to make some diy piece of tech. Trial and error, a bit like this is lowest level and expired.

Doing repairs, like knocked off cap? They will damage the board and part. It must be used with caution.

I agree with sneekypeet.

You are taking this way too far.

Who are tutorial videos for but someone seeking to learn (AKA, a student)? And for the record, I've spent a couple hundred hours in classrooms as a student years into my career after I got my electronics degrees and certs. I have gone "back" to school dozens of times for refresher courses AND to learn new technologies. There is NOTHING wrong with being a student.

Something I feel both you and delshay have overlooked or just ignored is where both me and that video author emphasized multiple times to practice!

When I changed the capacitors on my R9 Nano here on TechPowerup a lot of shielding went into protecting the GPU core.

Okay. So? That's just anecdotal. Your sample size of one experience with one card does not render the whole point moot, nor does it suggest the information presented in that video is bad, or not useful for everyone for every project. Nor does it even suggest you would have damaged the GPU core had you not used shielding. I would pose with practice, you could have done the repairs and not caused collateral damage.

Such things as soldering need proper scholarship, not a youtube video. You must attend some sort of real courses with a teacher and equipment and play on with things, there are electronics circles everywhere around the world, use them.

Oh, bullfeathers! That's just silly and totally impractical for many - and I say that as a formally trained, educated, and "certified master electronics technician" (see the link in my sig)! And it took me over 2 years of formal classroom and "on-the-job" follow-on training and certification evaluations before I could even think of calling myself that. But some of the best technicians (and auto-mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, etc.) I know are totally self-taught.

 

[Ferrum Master]

know are totally self-taught.

You are missing the point. This video is not aimed at first timers doing repairs. It does more harm than good, as the content is done with bad and wrong techniques. You cannot apply them them repairing modern tech. It works only for basic level DIY PCB, where you have nothing to loose.

 

[Bill_Bright]

No, I have not missed the point. As SP noted, it is you who have taken this way too far. Nobody suggested that video was for first timers, nor for full time professionals either. But you seem to think it should cover every aspect of electronics soldering in 11 minutes and since it doesn't, it is bad and wrong, and will do more harm than good, and suggest only formally trained people with the latest soldering equipment can solder correctly.


Have a good day.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I just watched that video and didn't see any problems in particular. Going to have to agree with @eidairaman1 and @Bill_Bright. This is an excellent instructional video on soldering for beginners. The comments bemoaning same are without purpose or aim and just seem to be trolling to pick a fight.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Have a good day.

From the same point, we have tons of people who always do not save their VGA BIOS and the same OP usually helps those buggers out... there are loads of them.

Why? Because some buggers told it is piece of cake somewhere on youtube etc, and some always mess up, and that's only with software.

I work in still in electronics business for nearly 20 years, warranty and out warranty cases with failed repair attempts are often a amusing sight, especially the shame as in the process it ended up making the device totally dead. Do we really need that and endorse it even more?

 

[silentbogo]

I'll have to side with @Ferrum Master on this one - the video is a good example of soldering "bad habits".
First of all, you don't jam a soldering iron into the bent lead, you heat up the pad until the solder "flows" around the lead. That's the best way to get some cold joints or half-assed joints.
Second of all, using cheap rework station MUST include disclaimers, such as:
1) Cheap chinese hot air stations must be calibrated
2) This is super-important: you should always pre-heat the hot air station until temps stabilize on the output. As soon as you have a slight drop and nichrome heater kicks in, your temps will rise from 280C to 400+C at the exhaust. This is why you don't do hot air rework by pointing the tip 1cm away from the target component, otherwise you'll burn everything as soon as heater tries to compensate.
3) If you have sensitive components, or if you work with lead-free solder, or if you do BGA rework, it's a good idea to invest into a pre-heater. The cheapest one is like $30. Not critical, but it makes your life much easier.

I would then say, stop arguing with Bill, find us a better video, or make a tutorial of your own.

Just check out Dave Jones on YT. While I don't always agree with the dude, he did a nice set of tutorials awhile back.
Soldering Playlist
Also, there are lots of re-posts of old tech training videos with proper soldering techniques.

Such things cause more harm than good when given to masses. That is my point.

@Ferrum Master , at least it's not one of our local DIY miracles, where dudes are poking into 0603 caps with finger-thick soviet soldering iron, and use solid pine rosin as flux.
I'm getting infuriated, when I need to clean up that shit after some basement-scientist decides once again that any electronic fault can be fixed by re-capping or reflow.

 

[Ferrum Master]

finger-thick soviet soldering iron, and use solid pine rosin as flux

I call those - soldering gun for buckets. I've used those only back in the day repairing old TV sets.

 

[delshay]

You are missing the point. This video is not aimed at first timers doing repairs. It does more harm than good, as the content is done with bad and wrong techniques. You cannot apply them them repairing modern tech. It works only for basic level DIY PCB, where you have nothing to loose.

Thank you.

Video title "how to solder "properly"

If you break something like in the video, then that's not soldering properly.

 

[Ahhzz]

Definitely at least two sides to the discussion, which is fine and encouraged. Name calling and trolling, not so much. Make your points, agree to change your mind, or to disagree, and let it go without attacks. Thanks!

 

[trickson]

I do TONS of soldering and this is great thanks!
Always looking for new cool ways to do things.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Definitely at least two sides to the discussion, which is fine and encouraged. Name calling and trolling, not so much. Make your points, agree to change your mind, or to disagree, and let it go without attacks. Thanks!

I have to agree 100%.

People, this is a help thread and the negativity is needless. If us users want to offer alternate methodologies for soldering, thats one thing.

 

[trickson]

I have to agree 100%.

People, this is a help thread and the negativity is needless. If us users want to offer alternate methodologies for soldering, thats one thing.

This is a GREAT must see video! I literally watched the entire thing this guy is AMAZING wished I could solder that good my old ass hands shake like a paint mixer!