Help with SMD soldering in Berlin?

I recently bought a Syncussion kit as my first DIY project and I’m a bit struggling with the SMD parts (about 20). Anyone in Berlin who could help?

Soldering SMT is easy, you just need the right tools.

1; Magnifying glass, I use a X4 that fits in my eye.
2; A soldering iron, I use a Metcal.

Without MAGNIFICATION or a decent iron (forget Weller and all the other rubbish) you wont get very far.

Get some scrap PCB’s and have a bit of practice.

ALL electronics is SMT now.

Str.

im in Berlin and could help. Btw solderded lots of smd eurorack stuff with an 30 euro ebay heatgun/soldering combo… so its definitly possible without spending hundreds on it.

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hmm I know it supposed to be simple but I could not manage it nicely and I’m scared to damage the PCB. Thanks for the advice.

I’m writing you a pm!

Yes, it’s something to learn! If you do anything electronical you must learn to solder and own a 'scope then everything is a lot easier. SMT is a lot easier than it looks (as long as the parts are 0603 and bigger). Sure, folk complain coz they’re small but you use a MAGNIFIER, then everything is BIG. It’s a useful skill.

Get a SH METCAL.

Str

I will do it like this (waiting for my PCB`s)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EyF4Hef_Ac

i could help and make you tea while you solder. or motivate you and feed you cookies.

Always worth using solder braid for removing and shorts between pins you may have if the pitch is fine.

Ive soldered many a device with a whole sided of pins all shorted. Quick braid and its the best joins ever :wink:

That’s actually how you solder fine pitch devices.

Cover ALL pins with solder, then wick off access with a decent wedge shaped bit and solder wick, plenty of heat as you want the solder flowing otherwise the pins and track will tear!

Str.

yes how we do it here

Flux is your friend. Resin flux yields the easiest results. But difficult to clean, I’ve had good results cleaning using electrical head qtips. (Wooden shafts)

Heat transfer is key, clean you tip constantly, soak it in new solder, wipe clean, add a small amount of solder. Make contact against the part and the pad. Surface mount parts aren’t too bad as there isn’t normally too much metal to suck up the heat. Ground traces can be a bit tricky as they can suck up the heat.

I like screwdriver tips personally. As they are larger and hold the heat. Stay away from the little pooky tips, they degrade too quickly and are pretty useless in general.

Need a decent solder iron, weller or hach; stay away from any iron that has the heating unit and tip all built together as a handle (hard to describe) Anyways Useless.

You will need wick, lots of wick finer braid is best with SM parts.

A heat gun is good to have as well if you make a mistake.

Don’t be too stressed about hurting the PCB pad, they can take a lot of rework. And it isn’t the end of the world if one comes up. If one does it’s time to break out the super fine gauge wire and xacto knife.

Used to be my job repairing pcb electronics. Takes awhile to get good at it. But still possible to do, your work just may not look 100 bucks, but as long as it works :slight_smile:

Thanks for the useful tips! I’ll give it one more try!