DigiTan
New Member
I hate working with surface-mount parts. It's impossible to control where my solder will collect even if I apply surface cleaner and flux. Here's a common scenario:
1. I want to solder an 8-pin IC
2. The first 7 pins finish smoothly
3. On the last pin, the solder jumps away and forms a blob across its neightboor pin. Or it sticks to the iron and turns an ugly charred color.
4. I try to correct the error, forming another short as I try to re-solder
5. Step 4 repeats for several minutes or even hours; turning a simple task into all-out battle. :x
What the heck is going on?!!? And why does my solder have a mind of it's own now? The main trouble I'm having is with all the damned surface tension, where it will stick to the iron like a magnet and refuse to return to the board. Also it likes to short across closely-spaced pins, and that's ruined many of my SOIC packages. It's so frustraiting, I can only stand to do 1 SMT project every year. :x
I'm already trying alcohol and flux.
1. I want to solder an 8-pin IC
2. The first 7 pins finish smoothly
3. On the last pin, the solder jumps away and forms a blob across its neightboor pin. Or it sticks to the iron and turns an ugly charred color.
4. I try to correct the error, forming another short as I try to re-solder
5. Step 4 repeats for several minutes or even hours; turning a simple task into all-out battle. :x
What the heck is going on?!!? And why does my solder have a mind of it's own now? The main trouble I'm having is with all the damned surface tension, where it will stick to the iron like a magnet and refuse to return to the board. Also it likes to short across closely-spaced pins, and that's ruined many of my SOIC packages. It's so frustraiting, I can only stand to do 1 SMT project every year. :x
I'm already trying alcohol and flux.