Homebrew PCBs

On 23 Jul 2014 15:43:18 -0700, you wrote:

>First of all, I am a hobbiest so I am not looking to acquire top of this line equipment. With that said,
> I would like to acquire some new soldering/desoldering/etc. equipment for electronic hobby purposes.
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> Obviously, whatever I get, I would like to be able to use it for a few years, so durability is key. Also, with more and more components being surface mounted, I would like to make sure the equipment provides me the ability to work with SMD components.
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> My first thoughts, just for starters, were:
> 1) a new soldering iron

You would like temperature controlled, and with a 1/16th inch tip at
the minimum size (or smaller).  Weller has a TCP-1 model available
sometimes as surplus, or a 1500? model which is smaller and has less
power, but is good for SMT stuff.   

For SMT, you want a small tip., for normal, you'd like larger, say 1/8
or slightly more.  You want temperature controlled.  This is either
done in the tip (ferromagnetic and curie point) or by a sensor.  Tips
are not interchangeable between the two methods.  Either will work
well, ferromagnetic tips are not as accurate (may not be a problem)
but are cheaper.

The top of the line is something like either Pace, Hakko, or Metcal. I
think that they all have an inexpensive line, but you can often find
older (but nicer) equipment on ebay or at a hamfest.

You may wish to invest in desoldering equipment.   I've had the most
and best luck with Metcal, and some specialized tips.  You'll need one
for each package type and they are expensive.

there's surface mount desoldering, generally hot air, and through
hole, generally a heated solder sucker and vacuum.  I'd recommend the
self contained vacuum pump rather than the one that runs off shop air
unless you are guaranteed to have shop air available at all times, and
all places.  I'd avoid the plunger type desoldering stuff unless
you're working with very large parts.

> 2) new multimeter (but with what measurements other than the obvious)

temperature, diode, continuity, transistor.  I've never used the
frequency counter all that much on a multimeter.

> 3) heat gun (what kind and what temp range)

for making PC boards, a standard hair dryer can be useful to make sure
you have no excess water.

I have a small Milwaukee gun of the type used for heatshrink, which
will remove chips, but not in a very elegant manner.

I've tried the hot air desoldering systems, and they work
variously....

The specialized tip works much better for me (64, 100, or 144 pin
chips).

Bear in mind that you'll need one for each chip type.

Get solder wick, very good to clean up various solder blobs and two
pins soldered together messes (which do NOT work well with a
desoldering gun).

Get liquid flux, RMA seems to work best for me (Kester), not expensive
and it does work well.  Consider isopropyl alcohol, at least 91% for
flux removal, and the commercial flux removers, with a stiff horsehair
brush (Harbor Freight sells these, just trim the bristles for
stiffness).


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> Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

There's a bunch.  Main thing with soldering is to avoid cheap Chinese
stuff, simply because you may not be able to get the tips again,
regardless of how well it works.

Harvey

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> Frank P.
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