Todd,
I really like mopping the bare board with Solder Wick and my soldering gun.
Goes fast and seems to work well.
Of course, now that I have perfected my ability to etch, drill, and tin
circuit boards, I expect to receive my first commercially made boards
tomorrow. So I'll have to wait before I can try out all of these neat tricks
and new tools.
Rick
-----Original Message-----
From:
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Todd F. Carney
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2013 12:05 PM
To:
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.comSubject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] No HASL
Rick,
There are a number of excellent video tutorials and demos of various
homebrew methods to reflow solder. In them you will find many examples of
using either a hot plate, an electric frying pan (without oil), an electric
griddle, or a toaster oven. In each demo I've seen, the narrator suggested
using dedicated pans or ovens and not the ones you prepare food in. They may
seem to defy logic ("Given a single sided board, I don't see how a hot plate
could work. By the time the traces were hot enough to melt solder, wouldn't
the opposite side be black?"), but they very clearly work.
YouTube is your friend.
73,
Todd
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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K7TFC / Medford, Oregon, USA / CN82ni / UTC-8
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QRP (CW & SSB) / EmComm / SOTA / Homebrew / Design
On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 6:06 AM, Rick Sparber <rgsparber@...> wrote:
> ∗∗
>
>
> KISS,
>
> The idea of soaking my board in cooking oil does not thrill me. But I
> can see how it would do a great job of conducting the heat. I am
> surprised it doesn't contaminate the surface to the point where solder
> does not bond to the copper.
>
> Given a single sided board, I don't see how a hot plate could work. By
> the time the traces were hot enough to melt solder, wouldn't the
> opposite side be black? Now, a toaster oven might work but how do you
> get in there to distribute the solder? Or are you assuming that solder
> paste has been put down first. I looked up the cost of this mix of
> flux and particles of solder - $$$.
>
> As for speed, I only tried it on a 1" x 1" piece of scrap so didn't
> think about speed. On a large board, I can see that getting rather old.
>
> I'm not ready to abandon the basic idea of "painting" the board with
> solder from a hot brush. My soldering tip gives me a brush about 1/16"
> wide. But if the brush was 1/2" or even 1" wide, this could go very fast.
>
> Rick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of KeepIt SimpleStupid
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 9:04 PM
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] No HASL
>
> It definitely was pretty quick. I basically used the same sort of
> technique for tinning copper pipe except for the heating method. With
> pipe, you clean, flux, add solder and wipe with a wet rag. If it
> doesn't take, you sand and do it again.
>
> I havn't tried the SMT assembly technique that basically uses a flat
> block of say aluminum in a pan. I would imagine that that would work
> too especially if you used a decent thermometer.
>
> I was also using a gas stove as well.
>
> It's entirely possible that a toaster oven and an aluminum plate would
> work too.
>
> The soldering iron apply technique is too slow.
>
> --- On Fri, 1/11/13, Rick Sparber rgsparber@...> wrote:
>
> From: Rick Sparber rgsparber@...>
> Subject: RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] No HASL
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Friday, January 11, 2013, 3:48 PM
>
> Does sound rather messy but maybe fast. I know you can get a fine mix
> of
>
> flux and solder that is used for surface mount. I wonder if you could
> spread
>
> some of this paste on the board and then cooked it in the pan. Is
> there an
>
> easy way to form tiny particles of solder? I know the first lead shot
> was
>
> formed by pouring it from a great height and letting it land in a big
> pail
>
> of water.
>
> Rick
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
>
> On Behalf Of KeepIt SimpleStupid
>
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 1:40 PM
>
> To: homebrew_pcbs@yahoogroups.com
>
> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] No HASL
>
> I did it this way: I used a frying pan, peanut oil and something to
> keep
>
> the board off the bottom of the pan.
>
> Solder dip and wet rag.
>
> The oil residue was tough to remove. I would not use this method on
>
> critical circuits though.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 1:34 PM EST Rick Sparber wrote:
>
> >I was playing around with some scrap pieces of circuit board I etched
>
> >and drilled in order to find a way to simulate the HASL (Hot Air
> >Solder
>
> >Leveling) process. This process puts down a very thin coat of solder
>
> >over the copper. The solder protects the copper plus makes soldering
> >in
>
> >components easier.
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >I found that I could brush the board with flux. Then I built up a
> >small
>
> >bump of solder on the ground plane. Using my soldering iron as a
> >paint
>
> >brush, I dipped into the bump and then painted the copper. When done,
> >I
>
> >scrubbed the board with alcohol. Worked great. I had no shorted paths.
>
> >
>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and
Photos:
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and
Photos:
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>
>
>
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------------------------------------
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