When I was about to start one of the more involved SMD kits
(I had built some easier ones with bigger parts), I worried
about the very, very small spacing on a couple of the IC's.
Then I had a chance to discuss this with a couple or "pros"
who both told me not to worry. Just slop the solder on
across all the contacts, and then wick it off with some good
braid. The operative word in that last sentence is "good".
You don't want cheap braid. Works like a charm! No
bridges! The device remains neatly soldered to the pads at
the contact points, but the anti-solder material on the
board allows all the excess to be lifted right off. I don't
know that this is the textbook approach, but these guys do
this stuff for a living, so I felt comfortable taking their
advice.
Dave W7AQK
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill W4ZV" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <elecraft@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] SMD video? (was: Mystery Mods)
Barry N1EU wrote:
Should have checked youtube before posting.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3NN7UGWYmBY seems quite good
and there are
lots more.
The K3 mods are very simple...replacing single components
with plenty of
room around them...no IC removal, fine-pitch ICs, etc. I
was somewhat
surprised how much solder they were loading on the tip in
that video
sometimes. Less is better than more for SMD.
One change I would make to that video. Forget the loupe
and get a headset
visor...you will definitely need both hands free (one for
the soldering iron
and one for tweezers or whatever you use to hold the
component in place).
$10 visors from eBay work just fine (doesn't need to be an
Optivisor but
looks similar). The flux, Quik Chip, etc are nice but not
really necessary
for what you will need to do. Tweezers, a magnifying
visor, good light,
solder wick and a fine tip soldering iron are musts.
73, Bill W4ZV
--
View this message in context:
http://www.nabble.com/K3-hardware---The-Mystery-Mods--tp15725030p15727944.html
Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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