tiny soldering

degarb

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Oct 27, 2007
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Akron, Ohio
I have about 4 solder joints across the span of 2 or 3 millimeters.

Is there a trick to soldering really small things? What is the smallest a human can solder?
 

awenta

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Oct 27, 2009
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Oxford, CT
What are you soldering with? Or are you going to buy something specific. Can you flow solder it? What is it? There's a lot of variables.
 

DellSuperman

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Dec 5, 2012
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Singapore
Flux? It helps to direct the solder specifically to the location i want them to be

JonK

Sent from my Awesome phone from somewhere in the mountains
 

SteveoMiami

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Oct 13, 2010
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117
I was having the same problem soldeing amc7135 chips until I bought some soldier paste in a syringe and a very fine sharp tip on a hot iron. I put a little paste on the pins and pretty much as soon as you touch the paste melts(it has flux in it) and the solder sticks.
 

MikeAusC

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Jul 8, 2010
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Sydney, Australia
Lots of flux to keep the solder flowing easily.

To remove excess solder, use solderwick or hold the board upside-down and let solder flow down from the tip of the iron.
 

uk_caver

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Feb 9, 2007
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A fine point tip on a good iron, kept clean and tinned, can make a real difference.

My eyes aren't as great as they used to be, and I find a magnifying visor helps, not just by magnifying but by allowing me to get closer.
For very fine work, having it mounted such that I can work with both forearms and wrists on the workbench gives me finer control.

If I had 4 things in a row to solder in a small space, I'd probably start with the middle ones, as the outer ones are often easier to do from the edges without straying onto the middle connections than vice-versa.
 

datiLED

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May 9, 2006
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Atlanta, GA
Check out a hot air soldering station. I build a lot of my PCBs using solder paste and the hot air station. I put solder paste on the pads (manually, or with a stencil), and populate the boards with components. The populated board is preheated by holding the wand above the board for a minute, then the heat is increased by lowering the wand toward the PCB. As the solder paste liquefies, capillary action holds the components in place and the parts float over their pads. With a little practice it is easy to solder fine pitch ICs and those without leads. FWIW, I have seen YouTube videos of people soldering the ICs that I mentioned with a soldering iron. I haven't mastered those techniques yet using a soldering iron.
 
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