$2 for 10 PCBs & 24 Hour Production: https://jlcpcb.com
https://www.patreon.com/julian256
Populating my MOSFET driver PCB with both surface mount and through hole components.
https://easyeda.com/julian256/DCOI-Mosfet-Driver
https://www.patreon.com/julian256
Populating my MOSFET driver PCB with both surface mount and through hole components.
https://easyeda.com/julian256/DCOI-Mosfet-Driver
Great video! Want to collab for PCB videos?
Another useless video
It looks like your fine tip iron has oxidised. This might be because it's running a little hotter (340º) and/or it may not have been tinned effectively. Try cleaning it up, use some tip refresher (sparingly) if necessary and re-tin it. I've found through trial and error that my tips have started to last longer when using quality solder and wetting the tip before turning the iron off, preventing oxidisation. As with other suggestions, a finer solder will help with the solder blobs on the surface mount pads.
A DCDC converter to drive a mosfet in a DCDC converter seems a bit like DCDC-seption…
You should use RA Liquid Flux. Get it from Mouser What's the part # for that soldering iron?
hey Julian
I'm not terribly good at working with tiny parts and things, so I modified myself a toaster-oven into a reflow-oven.
I can't emphasize enough how easy life got!
I would stick that little board (or rather 3 at the same time) in the oven, solder all the SMD parts in one go, then carry on with the throughhole parts.. a walk in the park…
Build an oven yourself, there is loads of different conversion-kits around!
Mine is called X-Toaster (the documentation of my oven is on their page if interested)
Greetings from Switzerland – Michi
To clean the tip, you need a second "brass shavings" (or copper) scrubbie pad to add to your holder to pack it more firmly then stab at it several times rather than wiggling it around….
You muppet
Uh, Julian, you need to invest in some good tweezers. Your pick and place tooth pick is clever and all, but if you are going to spend some time with SMT stuff, you need to be able to manipulate the components.
use a multi-meter on continuity should light up the leds
Using "shavings", I think you need more in there than you've got and they need packing tight! Then plunge! I got a job lot of copper pan scrubs from B&Q. 3 in a jamjar fills the jar to the top with no chance of bottoming out… instead of waggling it about … stab into the pile a few times and let nature take it's course. Oh and keep the tip out of the disease riddled sponge. Soft copper would take the beating but these new hard Iron covered with copper jobbies don't like being quenched every verse end.
If you get the plated iron shaving panscrubs a la poundshop, they can be a little aggressive – I've found they're OK – just don't be quite so rough, the new tips are a lot tougher than the old style soft copper slugs. I have a tin of flux next to my jar, plunge into the shavings a few times, into the flux and then get back to the job. I've done this for 50 years, never liked the damp sponge and copper or brass lathe shavings were easy to find.
I neglect my tip quite badly, but my end is always shiny.
Do you have a link to the tweezers which can test LEDs? All I get on AliExpress are eyebrow tweezers with LED lighting.
Since the EU forbids sellers selling lead based solders to hobbyists soon, I just bought 2kg of 1mm leaded solder with 2.5% flux core. Cost me over 73 EUR. Worth it. Will serve me the rest of my life.
Hi Julian, can you email me please via my "about" page I want to send you something, I cannot see any way of contacting you directly.
Use a miltimeter to light up the led
I like using this SMD solder paste for surface mount stuff. It has solder and flux both in it, and it's tacky like normal flux. Place a small dollop of the paste on the pads, place component, apply iron. Works really well! The only issue… it comes in the little commercial tubes that you were previously looking for a solution to dispense. There's a super neat 3d print sketch on thingiverse for dispensing those tubes.