Improvements to my mini reflow oven, and I'm learning that too much solder paste is causing the bridges between pins.
By Julian
Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado
Good morning all…
Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado
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I like it! An ez-bake-oven for soldering!
I would avoid using a cocktail stick. Flux is usually some kind of rosin solution (from pine trees) and will want to adhere to the wood whence it came.
Perhaps running your flux pen over the pads, letting it dry and using a metal or plastic applicator will persuade the paste to stick where it is needed.
Dumb question – all that heat doesn't hurt the chip?
Or you could have saved yourself a whole lot of time and just learned how to drag solder. SOIC is the easiest to learn on.
Julian, another way to do it is to apply the paste to the component instead of to the board. I find it's easier to apply the correct dose that way.
I apply a thin layer of paste on a piece of plastic and drag the legs through, (any access paste between the legs can be removed with the side of a piece of paper).
Using a vacuum tool to handle smd ic's is also much easier than tweezers.
P.S. I just use my solder iron to "reflow" a single component….
Have you not heard of a 'reflow profile'? Its there to ensure 1) The components and board get to the correct temp without mechanical stress before the solder flows, 2) The solder reflows correctly and quickly and 3) everything cools down at a rate which doesnt pull your components apart due to different rates of contraction! You are overthinking the small stuff and not really looking at what reflow requires. Listen to the other posters. You are making yourself look stupid!
Thank you for a really good idea!
I have a few dozen of these bulbs after changing them to 12V dimmable LED, but didn't have any idea how to use them. Now it's the right time despite I've already have a soldering station with a fan! 🙂
Have you considered using a lens to focus the light, if you got the right type(barrel), you could focus it in a line
I have seen many successful results using a syringe to put out a mall roll of solder paste over all pads on each side. If you don't have a syringe, you can fake a stencil by putting three lines of kapton tape, that leave two small lines of uncovered pads. Then put a blob of solder paste over the open line and use a sort of spatula to squeeze the paste into something looking evenly applied. Pull the tape, place the chip and off you go.