Homebrew PCBs

Has anybody ever used a soldering iron (in place of the drill, etc...)
in a CNC (home-made or otherwise) to solder SMT ICs?

Ted


--
Ted Huntington
Programmer Analyst I
Main Library
University of California, Irvine
PO Box 19557
Irvine, CA 92623-9557
emesgs:  thunting@...
web page:  http://business.lib.uci.edu/webpages/ted.htm
8:00a-12:00p Business Office (949) 824-8926
1:00p-5:00p  Multimedia Resource Center (949) 824-1674
"Stop violence, teach science."

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 09:14:16 -0800, Ted Huntington <thunting@...> 
wrote:

> Has anybody ever used a soldering iron (in place of the drill, etc...)
> in a CNC (home-made or otherwise) to solder SMT ICs?
>
> Ted
>
>

most likely not because there are WAY better methods to bulk solder the 
whole board.

ST

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Stefan Trethan 
<stefan_trethan@g...> wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 09:14:16 -0800, Ted Huntington <thunting@u...> 
> wrote:
> 
> > Has anybody ever used a soldering iron (in place of the drill, 
etc...)
> > in a CNC (home-made or otherwise) to solder SMT ICs?
> >
> > Ted
> >
> >
> 
> most likely not because there are WAY better methods to bulk solder 
the 
> whole board.
> 
> ST

Any simple home brew methods ?

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Dave Mucha" <dave_mucha@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 6:10 PM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: soldering iron with CNC?


> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Stefan Trethan 
> <stefan_trethan@g...> wrote:
> > On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 09:14:16 -0800, Ted Huntington <thunting@u...> 
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > Has anybody ever used a soldering iron (in place of the drill, 
> etc...)
> > > in a CNC (home-made or otherwise) to solder SMT ICs?
> > >
> > > Ted
> > >
> > >
> > 
> > most likely not because there are WAY better methods to bulk solder 
> the 
> > whole board.
> > 
> > ST
> 
> Any simple home brew methods ?

Solder paste and toaster oven:

http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200006/oven_art.htm

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
Email: aqzf13@...
My low-cost Philips LPC210x ARM development system:
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/lpc2104.html

>

That  looks more labor intensive than this method that works for me:

Put the pcb in the magnifying glass tool and collect a tiny ball of solder on
the tip of a 15w $5 radio shack soldering iron (basically solder held in the
1mm indent of the tip) and touch the smt ic pin+board junction.  Trying to
put the tiny solder wire on the pin produces way too much melted solder in my
experience, plus I worry about overheating the IC.

I think I want to add a soldering iron attachment to a home-made USB CNC
device for precise and automatic soldering.

Is getting boards done with soldering very expensive?

Ted




> > > > Has anybody ever used a soldering iron (in place of the drill,
> > etc...)
> > > > in a CNC (home-made or otherwise) to solder SMT ICs?
> > > >
> > > > Ted
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > most likely not because there are WAY better methods to bulk solder
> > the
> > > whole board.
> > >
> > > ST
> >
> > Any simple home brew methods ?
>
> Solder paste and toaster oven:
>
> http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200006/oven_art.htm
>
> Leon
> --
> Leon Heller, G1HSM
> Email: aqzf13@...
> My low-cost Philips LPC210x ARM development system:
> http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/lpc2104.html
>

--
Ted Huntington
Programmer Analyst I
Main Library
University of California, Irvine
PO Box 19557
Irvine, CA 92623-9557

Phone Bus Off 949 824 8926
Phone MRC     949 824 1674
emesg: thunting@...
webpage:  http://business.lib.uci.edu/webpages/ted.htm
"Stop violence, teach science."

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 13:23:13 -0800, Ted Huntington <thunting@...> 
wrote:

>>
>
> That  looks more labor intensive than this method that works for me:
>
> Put the pcb in the magnifying glass tool and collect a tiny ball of 
> solder on
> the tip of a 15w $5 radio shack soldering iron (basically solder held in 
> the
> 1mm indent of the tip) and touch the smt ic pin+board junction.  Trying 
> to
> put the tiny solder wire on the pin produces way too much melted solder 
> in my
> experience, plus I worry about overheating the IC.
>
> I think I want to add a soldering iron attachment to a home-made USB CNC
> device for precise and automatic soldering.

but what exactly is the advantage over oven/reflow soldering?

I mean the whole industry does it this way, they must have reasons for it.

what i would use a cnc for is application of solder paste.
(and placement of parts ;-) )

i would have this plotter here, any idea how to make a solder paste 
applying jig for it?
it surely can carry a thin hose and a nozzle....

any ideas welcome..

(and also ideas welcome where i can get CHEAP solder paste, is there any 
way to make it
at home (like tin filings and flux or so)??

ST

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Stefan Trethan" <stefan_trethan@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 11:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: soldering iron with CNC?


> On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 13:23:13 -0800, Ted Huntington <thunting@...>
> wrote:
>
> >>
> >
> > That  looks more labor intensive than this method that works for me:
> >
> > Put the pcb in the magnifying glass tool and collect a tiny ball of
> > solder on
> > the tip of a 15w $5 radio shack soldering iron (basically solder held in
> > the
> > 1mm indent of the tip) and touch the smt ic pin+board junction.  Trying
> > to
> > put the tiny solder wire on the pin produces way too much melted solder
> > in my
> > experience, plus I worry about overheating the IC.
> >
> > I think I want to add a soldering iron attachment to a home-made USB CNC
> > device for precise and automatic soldering.
>
> but what exactly is the advantage over oven/reflow soldering?
>
> I mean the whole industry does it this way, they must have reasons for it.
>
> what i would use a cnc for is application of solder paste.
> (and placement of parts ;-) )
>
> i would have this plotter here, any idea how to make a solder paste
> applying jig for it?
> it surely can carry a thin hose and a nozzle....

Solder paste is best applied with a stencil. Unfortunately, laser cut ones
are quite expensive. PCB-Pool is the best source for them, theirs are
cheaper than anyone else's.

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
Email: aqzf13@...
My low-cost Philips LPC210x ARM development system:
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/lpc2104.html

> Solder paste is best applied with a stencil. Unfortunately, laser cut 
> ones
> are quite expensive. PCB-Pool is the best source for them, theirs are
> cheaper than anyone else's.
>
> Leon
> --
> Leon Heller, G1HSM
> Email: aqzf13@...
> My low-cost Philips LPC210x ARM development system:
> http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/lpc2104.html
>

I make mostly one-off circuits.
a stencil would be far too expensive.

I have applied this paste by hand with such a unit where you press a foot 
button
and then a small amount, just right for a certain pad size, comes out the 
nozzle.

I wonder if it would work to put such a nozzle in place of the plotter 
pen, and after each
pen_down press out a certain amount of the paste.

but this adds another whole lot of problems (like aligning....)

st