Soldering Query

[hotlips69]

I know my way around a motherboard, but have never used a soldering iron (nor do I currently possess one).

I need to (re-)solder a loose power jack to a motherboard and was hoping for some advice on what type/power/type of tip of soldering iron I should purchase for the job?

Also, do I need a specific type of solder to work with motherboards?

I've been looking on ebay and there are soldering irons ranging from about 20w to 100w and some come with de-soldering pumps and some don't etc.....

Help!

 

[PottedMeat]

Don't bother with desoldering pumps, get desoldering wick. If the holes in the board are filled with solder, press the wick on the solder with the iron and remove when the solder has been sucked up by the wick.

The power jacks are attached to large copper power planes with lead-free solder, this means you will be heating up the area for quite some time until the solder melts with a lower ( ~20W ) iron. I'd step up to a cheap 40+W pencil iron rather than a ~20W model. The less time you spend heating the board the better, but you still need to make sure the solder flows well.

I would just use 60/40 tin/lead solder. You can also use tin/lead/silver solder too.

 

[corkyg]

One of the most important tips im soldering any electronic equipment is to have a good mechanical connection before applying solder.

 

[bjamm2]

Was just about to post a similar question.

I am looking to play and learn more with soldering.

I want to buy a kit to buy a couple of practice board projects (like the little robots or alarm clock for beginners) , so I can eventually install mod chips to my xbox or fix motherboards if necessary.

Is there some kind of kit or link to the items that would get me started?

 

[PM650]

If you want to have any luck at all here, you're going to need a 35-70W iron with a chisel/blade tip (conical tip will be awkward & slow) for this job (4-layer board with non-thermal'd vias going into power planes). If it's a regulated type with temp adjustment, you can possibly get away with as little as 35W for this, but for a cheapie (no base station), it'll need to be higher wattage (50+) since you won't be able to increase the temp to compensate.

Don't bother with lead-free solder, just stick with the 60/40 or 63/37, 0.032 diameter or smaller will be ideal here. I prefer solder with no-clean flux, as it leaves less residue; rosin will leave a bunch of crap, especially if you have to add solder to get the lead-free stuff to flow a bit. One way to avoid this is a flux pen/paste, which helps a lot when the solder isn't flowing well. Since this is a large job, it probably doesn't matter, but you'll need something other than rosin for smaller smt work.

As for desoldering, you can try the braid, but I have doubts that it will work very well with a multi-layer board, esp. if what you want to soak up is lead-free stuff (hard to work with) - the flux pen will help immensely here if you do go this route. The other option is the spring-loaded pump, which I used quite a bit before moving to a desoldering station - very effective, especially if you keep the joint heated while engaging the pump. Just make sure to get an ESD-safe version, otherwise it will generate a static discharge every time it's used, which is no good here.

Any idea on the budget here? Is this is a one-time use piece of equipment?

 

[hotlips69]

Any idea on the budget here? Is this is a one-time use piece of equipment?

Total budget would be no more than £100 but I'm now quite confused having read these replies as some people say use a 25w and others say use a 40w+ and there have been other technical terms that I've not heard of, i.e. braid, desoldering wick, rosin

 

[PottedMeat]

Total budget would be no more than £100 but I'm now quite confused having read these replies as some people say use a 25w and others say use a 40w+ and there have been other technical terms that I've not heard of, i.e. braid, desoldering wick, rosin

Ah in the UK... here are some examples:

MG Chemicals Pocket Pak 60/40 No Clean Solder:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=4870-18G-ND
(you should be able to find single packs of this though)

Desoldering Braid = Desoldering Wick:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=473-1075-ND

50W Pencil Soldering Iron:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062738
(you can probably find one at a hardware store)

 

[PM650]

The problem with having too low wattage an iron (non-adjustable ones) is they're unregulated. If you put an unregulated iron on a piece of aluminum, it'll just get cold. A regulated type will only use as much power as it needs to keep the temp sensor at where the knob is set, so large items (said to have a high 'thermal mass') will heat up quicker, since the iron will increase/decrease the wattage to keep the temp right. At some point though, temp regulation just isn't a replacement for higher wattage, so it's easier to just have both.

Here are a few economical options for an iron:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=35016
http://uk.farnell.com/xytronic/200phg-40w-british/soldering-iron-uk-plug-40w/dp/4683973
http://uk.farnell.com/cooper-tools-weller/sp40luk/soldering-iron-40w-230v-uk-plug/dp/8426422

The last one has a chisel tip, which will make large jobs easy, but smaller ones more difficult, if not impossible (it will also be at peak temp for smaller jobs, which can do damage). The adjustable one will allow more flexibility with smaller work, and the tips appear to be changeable - probably my choice here (esp. since it's a half-price £30 iron). You can of course spend more here, but at a certain point the cheap irons don't get much better, so there's not much point until you move into Hakko/Metcal/Pace/Weller/Edsyn solder stations.

Anti-static desolder pump:
http://uk.farnell.com/duratool/908-366a-f/desoldering-gun/dp/3125646

Flux pen, useful regardless but only necessary if you buy unfluxed wick:
http://uk.farnell.com/circuitworks/cw8100/dispensing-pen-no-clean-flux/dp/130692

For solder & wick, anything similar to what pottedmeat posted will work well (although you may want wider wick):
http://uk.farnell.com/duratool/spc22139/wire-solder/dp/1327365
http://uk.farnell.com/multicore-solder/609961/solder-wire-crystal-400-0-71mm/dp/609961
http://uk.farnell.com/arexx/aw-100/desoldering-braid-esd-safe-2mx2/dp/1661554

These are examples of what to look for, you can probably find them cheaper elsewhere if you can find a UK hobby forum.

 

[lxskllr]

I used to make small tips for fine work by wrapping large tips with copper wire, and leaving the end stick up. That could be useful if you get a chisel tip.

 

[JackMDS]

You probably need both 25W and 50W.

When soldering reuglar wires the jack or relativlt big components you get better connection when using higher wattage.

However if need to fix printed circuits and small components, 50w might be too much.

I find having two simple solder irons being better than the multi-wattage gizmos.

.