Photo: Snailman

(Topic ID: 253084)

Soldering question

By Rdoyle1978

4 years ago

Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

28 posts
12 Pinsiders participating
Latest reply 4 years ago by ryan1234
Topic is favorited by 3 Pinsiders

You

You are not signed in!

Find in topic

Linked Games

No games have been linked to this topic.

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider rdoyle1978.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

#1 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

I’m trying to put together this kit which has a big PCB and a whole lot of through-hole components. It has several surface mount components, but I’ve already taken care of those.

So now I go back in to solder the through-hole pieces, and I am having this ridiculous time getting the solder to stick

It keeps balling up, getting this weird crust on it, it will not flow into the holes. I’m afraid of damaging the PCB so I’ve stopped for now but I’ve not had this happen before. What gives? I’ve been using the same roll of solder for everything thus far

I have a Hakko 880 workstation, set to 720 degrees, I’m tinning the tip, cleaning it in between components and I have started to brush on flux before I try each component. But it’s still happening!

#4 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

Quoted from slochar:
You using lead free solder?

No, leaded

#5 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

Quoted from RussMyers:
Can you post a pic of the solder you are using?

You mean of the spool itself or the result I’m getting? I’ve used this solder for 100 other jobs over the past 2 years or so. I guess it could be oxidized? But I used it TWO days ago on another project and it was fine.

#12 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

Quoted from Turtle:
For new pcb assembly I normally set my iron to 600 and have no issues soldering. My guess is your solder. PM me and I will mail you some good Kiestler solder. It makes all the deference.

This is what I’m thinking too. Maybe it really did just go bad that fast.

I did clean the PCB with alcohol after the initial failure - I am reasonably sure it’s pretty clean.

Maybe I’ll dial Down the temperature. I did read that if it’s too hot, the solder burns, but I don’t think I’m doing anything different than I’ve always done. Just never had this happen after going through all the usual things.

Yes I cleaned the PCB, yes I have good heat on the top - it melts the solder on contact. Tip is tinned, I am pretty good about cleaning with the brass brush thing. I’m using flux...

This weird crusting action is really confusing me. I’ll melt the solder and it kind of blobs up weird, and then gets this “film” over it almost, like it’s partially hardening even when heat is applied.

I’ll have to take a photo

#16 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

Here’s a couple pics
really don’t look great. The SMCs are fine though

image (resized).jpg

#18 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

And my solder:

image (resized).jpg

#19 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

Quoted from flynnibus:
720 is hot... try more like 660-670
If you haven't already... sand the pads in question till they are nice and uniformly shiny.
Use alchohol and clean off the surfaces. Assemble the bits and use some brush on flux.
Make sure your tip is adequately reaching both surfaces to solder.
The only times I've had failures beyond that are
1) Dirty joints causing poor heat transfer
2) Some god awful hideous solder I got from marco one time. Stuff wouldn't stick to anything
True flux usually makes quick work of a troublesome point.

Done, done , done. I have not sanded the pads though, maybe I will try that. Thanks. I’ve not had this happen before either!

#21 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

Quoted from flynnibus:
That looks alot like the shit solder I got from Marco. Solder would sit in a ball and not wet and shape to the leads. Either shit solder, or you are not getting heat transfer to the leads. Clean it out, clean up the joints, check your tip, use some flux.. try again.

I just ordered some more, so will try again when that arrives..

#25 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

Quoted from yaksplat:
It looks like the pins didn't get warm at all.
I usually don't touch the solder to the iron. I put the iron against the part, and the solder against the other side of the part/pad. When the part is hot enough, the solder melts and flows around the part and through the board to the other side. Once it's flowing, i move the iron onto the pad to make sure it has flowed everywhere it needs to be.

Yep

#27 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,137 14 6 1

Quoted from ryan1234:
Ok-
I had this problem once also- there is a way to screw up the temperature setting offset on the Hakko, it is easy to screw up and then it is running cool. It can be reset. Here is the reset instructions-
http://kb.hakkousa.com/KnowledgebaseArticle10599.aspx

Interesting! Thx

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider rdoyle1978.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!

This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/soldering-question-2?tu=rdoyle1978 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.