Homebrew PCBs

Hi Stefan

No I was not aware of the different names. I once not long ago had a real soldering iron however. The type they actually used to
place in fire in order to heat up.

It was just as named a large piece of iron with a wooden handle. Now I certainly would not recommend that for SMD LOL

We have come a long long way in a short short time.

Bob AD5VJ 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Stefan Trethan
> Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 1:09 AM
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: SMD soldering
> 
> I only want to add that flux and flux smoke can aid in 
> finding the correct temperature.
> When soldering there should be just a little smoke from the 
> flux, but not so much that all the flux is burned away upon contact.
> You can try how long it takes until the solder stops smoking 
> - it must be well longer than you would take to make a joint.
> 
> Again this is not precise, because solder comes with 
> different amounts and types of flux, but it gives a good indication.
> 
> 600 to 700 F (around 350C) is where you usually want to be 
> for leaded solder, more like 750F for leadfree solder.
> 
> Did you know that soldering irons were once more correctly 
> called soldering coppers in the US? I spotted this recently 
> in an old telephone company tool care manual.
> I wonder why the name iron persisted.
> 
> ST
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 7:01 AM, Harvey White 
> <madyn@...> wrote:
> > On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:39:37 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >>Hi Bill
> >>
> >>Thanks for your input
> >>
> >>I meant to write 200 F not watts.
> >
> > Ok, you need (obviously) enough heat to melt the solder, and enough 
> > reserve (wattage) to heat the mass of the connection and 
> keep it hot.
> >
> > The reason people say to use a 30 watt or smaller iron when 
> soldering 
> > electronics is that those irons do not feature adjustable 
> temperature.
> > The smaller wattage gives you a smaller tip, and hopefully 
> you won't 
> > take a welding torch to the project by using the iron.
> >
> > You want to go for temperature.  600 to 700 is about right. 
>  You can 
> > start off low, then inch it up as you experiment to adjust 
> it for the 
> > right temperature.  Low enough for a good solder joint, not so high 
> > that the part overheats.
> >
> > Harvey
> >
> >
> >>
> >>My station is a Weller WESD51. I found a manual for it and 
> downloaded 
> >>it and all it tells me is that it is a 50W station with an 
> adjustable setting of 350-850 F.
> >>
> >>So even though it is not telling me temp to watt settings, I am 
> >>assuming that means at the highest temperature of 850F it 
> delivers 50W to the tip.
> >>
> >>So to my way of thinking assuming it is a linear 
> progression and simple math will suffice:
> >>
> >>850F/50W= 17 degrees per watt
> >>
> >>30W would be approx 510F
> >>35W would be approx 595F
> >>
> >> So according to what you said: 600F seems to be around 37 
> Watts or so 
> >>if my simple calculations are enough to correlate it which 
> and would be about right for SMD work.
> >>
> >>If there is an engineer available please verify or smash my 
> thinking.
> >>
> >>
> >>Bob AD5VJ
> >>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> >>> [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of bverstelle
> >>> Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 11:14 PM
> >>> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> >>> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: SMD soldering
> >>>
> >>> Hi Bob,
> >>> I don't think you would want to use 200 watts to solder 
> smd's with, 
> >>> 15 watts is more than enough. I have Weller station and 
> my dial is 
> >>> calibrated in temp not watts. I keep it about 600 degrees 
> unless I'm 
> >>> trying to solder to a large ground plane.
> >>> I like to have a iron a little on the hot side it puts 
> less stress 
> >>> on the parts by flowing solder faster and getting off 
> quicker than 
> >>> to slowly heat things up. Check your iron I can't believe 
> it is 200 
> >>> watts.
> >>> 73, Bill N7OQ
> >>>
> >>> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "AD5VJ  Bob" 
> <rtnmi@...> wrote:
> >>> >
> >>> > I am trying to establish what temperature I should use 
> for my SMD 
> >>> > parts soldering. My Iron is a Weller and has temperature
> >>> not wattage readout.
> >>> >
> >>> > As I understand it the wattage should be around 200 for smd
> >>> parts. What temp F does that correlate to?
> >>> >
> >>> > Bob AD5VJ
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, 
> Files, and 
> >>> Photos:
> >>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>------------------------------------
> >>
> >>Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, 
> Files, and Photos:
> >>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, 
> Files, and Photos:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------
> 
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, 
> Files, and Photos:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
>