Generic solder questions/comments

[gcbryan]

I'm a moder lite! I wish I could do more but I don't have the skills or access to a lathe or other more specialized tools.

I do have several soldering irons but all are cheap (I guess). Anyway, given the small parts involved I don't seem to have good luck soldering anything related to emitters.

I can desolder the wires connected to emitters but replacing the emitter and then trying to solder is difficult...the same applies with drivers.

The small pencil thin soldering irons don't seem to do anything and the big irons are just...well too big!

I don't have enough hands to hold everything and am at an age where I now need reading glasses to see anything as small as the pads on emitters or even the tiny wires.

Is it this hard for everyone and therefore it's just a learning curve thing or are there better tools and techniques. Drop ins solve some of this but not all.

I'm just wondering if there is some specialized iron for smaller electronics like we are dealing with here.

I tried to desolder a driver from a heat sink but because it was a heat sink it never got hot enough to desolder so I just used a knife. I tried to desolder the emitter pad wires but nothing although I have been able to do this on occasion in the past.

Working with soldering and heat sinks just seems like a lesson in futility.

 

[ti-force]

I use a 15 Watt iron from Radio Shack. It's not all that nice, but it does most of what I need to do. I think you really need some "helping hands" to hold your pieces while your working with them. It's almost a necessity, and they offer them with magnifying glasses too. Go here: Sorry about the length of the link, but I'm using my phone and therefore can't make it smaller.

http://www.google.com/m/search?clie...=X&oi=revisions_inline&ct=broad-revision&cd=1

 

[HarryN]

Hi, switch to a Pb based solder paste (not wire) and 1/2 of your soldering problems will go away.

Set up to hot plate reflow and you will never look back. Its just so much easier with paste (even for an iron) and reflow doesn't have to be a huge investment.

 

[VidPro]

get mounted emitters, then you can do it with normal stuff and little problems.
i have terrible troubles with the tiny emitters, but if i have to i can do it, 3x magnification glasses for the really small stuff, standby solder removers, the THIN tiny solder, (especially with no lead now) because i get a better flux in package mix, and more slower feed control.
stay off the heat sync when doing the soldering, get "fingers" them clamp holders to hold stuff while working with it. stay off of everything when trying to solder the wiring, even a ceramic sitting on plastic or wood can suck the heat away to fast. even fingers can draw the heat away, making it harder.

tin everything , even if it should go without tinning.
Stop, curse cheap soldering gun, look up price of Temperature controlled stations on web $250-$2500 , curse at price and work on it again.
check out the "Package" the emitters come in, some packages are far worse , and more problems. avoid the hardest ones before buying, or buy those ones mounted.
Rs also sells a $30 "solder station" that at least does 2 powers, still not temp control

add in some guess test and hope, and have a spare.

completly off topic, i was doing some BIG soldering , and one thing that kept bugging me (besides the new higher temp solder) everytime i touch the tip of the propane soldering gun, the smaller tip would cool to fast. I noticed the more professional pencil soldering guns have BIG long copper core Rods going to, or as the tips. so when you hit a Cold hunk of metal, the soldering gun can keep up with the heat removal, for at least a while. went and bought a 400 to 150 watt huge pencil gun with huge core, and once the core is heated, i can finnaly touch a heat synced something and still get heat before the core cools down again.
SO
with a soldering gun doing only small watts heating up the metal core thing, once that tip and core have cooled on you , you wont get anywhere, if you STOP and let the whole thing get back to temperature it will function when you go to try again. gee just like a real temp controlled one could do if you try and keep working it, it just keeps getting worse and worse.

 

[DonShock]

A good iron with adjustable power and the right tip size makes a world of difference when doing a variety of soldering jobs. I use a Weller WLC-100 with a full range of tips for all my soldering. XR-E's are not too hard with the proper sized tips. I've even done some SMD work with the smallest tip. For around $100 you can get a full setup, soldering staion, multiple tips, desoldering bulb or braid, solder, flux.

About the only feature I've found myself missing that's available on more expensive stations is tip selection. The Weller offers a good range for most tasks, but the specialized tips for SMD work are a nice feature of the pricier stations. Those dual tips that heat both ends of SMD parts would make desoldering SMD parts much easier.

Here's a discussion on soldering techniques from a couple years back that has lots of good info.