User:Jstapko/EngLab/SMDsoldering

SMD (SurfaceMount) Soldering

Introduction
This wiki is about my efforts to understand how surface mount soldering is done, and what parts HCC needs to order.

Starting Points

 * 1) Google
 * 2) *videos
 * 3) *Books
 * 4) *web results
 * 5) *Images
 * 6) Sparkfun
 * 7) YouTube
 * 8) Amazon (Books)
 * 9) my soldering videos guide
 * 10) Wikipedia: Soldering

Sparkfun Tutorials

 * 1) Reflow Skillet
 * 2) *says to use hot plate to heat entire board
 * 3) *Might be able to do this at HCC with existing equipment
 * 4) *One commenter says to use sand to even out temperature variations on the hot plate (could we sue salt instead?)
 * 5) *Discusses several things they tried, which didn't work for various reasons
 * 6) *Says to hand solder, it IS possible
 * 7) SMD How To (multi part series)

Supplies Needed or Useful

 * 1) Conical soldering iron tip
 * 2) Tip Tinner
 * 3) Tip Cleaner
 * 4) Vacuum pickup/vacuum tweezers
 * 5) "Hot Air Rework Tool" (What is this?)
 * 6) Hot Tweezers
 * 7) Solder/flux paste

Supplies Sources

 * 1) Digi-Key
 * 2) Mouser
 * 3) Amazon
 * 4) Jameco

Questions to Answer

 * 1) What is "Removal Alloy" for?
 * 2) Do we need "ESD Safe" fluch cutters
 * 3) How do we prevent ESD damage?
 * 4) How do we prevent overheating?

Weller WD1
The Weller WD1 is compatible with the Weller WTA-50 thermal tweezers. I gathered the following information while trying to determine if the WTA-50 tweezers could be used with our Xytronic LF-3000 base station:
 * 1) Newark's datasheet on the WTA-50 This includes basic specifications (temperature, voltage, wtc.), and also a list of base stations compatible with the WTA-50.
 * 2) Operating Manual for WD1 This includes an assembly drawing and a circuit diagram, but the circuit diagram is labelled in a foreign language.
 * 3) Q-Hardware Tweaking's page on repairing a WD1 Tells story of repairing a WD1 with a problem with the microcontroller. Gives a very detailed description of the circuit.  Major points include:
 * 4) *Element is powered with 24 VAC
 * 5) *Control board is powered by a 12 VAC winding on a transformer, which is rectified, filtered, and regulated by a 7805.
 * 6) *Optocoupler between control and power circuits
 * 7) *A comment on this page suggests that the connector to the iron might be proprietary.

Questions I still have:
 * 1) What is the connector on the WD1?
 * 2) Is it compatible with the Xytronic LF-3000 (which we have)
 * 3) What voltage does the LF-3000 put out?

Next Steps

 * 1) Read the Wikipedia:Soldering pages
 * 2) Watch and document You Tube videos
 * 3) select Hot Tweezers to buy
 * 4) select a conical soldering iron tip to buy
 * 5) Determine what "REemoval Paste" does
 * 6) possibly select soldering paste to buy
 * 7) check references on the Wikipedia page
 * 8) Look for information on the connectors for the Weller WTA-50 and WD1
 * 9) Measure the voltage coming out of the LF-3000