On Thu, 22 May 2003, Bryan Blackburn wrote:
> I have been using commercial hot gas soldering equipment professionally
> for many years. One of my machines, which I recently sold, cost over
> $8000 new! Of all my experience with hot gas soldering, my favorite tool
> by far is a butane powered Weller soldering iron with a hot air tip; a
> PyroPen mini hot air/soldering iron, WST2. (Google search found:
> http://www.lashen.com/vendors/CooperTools/Weller_cordless_solder.asp#wst2
> looks like the PSI100K might even be better than the one I have, and
> cheaper too.) Although you may not want to use it to replace a large BGA
> chip (even though it can be done if you are careful), it is great for
> the smaller components like resistors, caps, and small chips. It's main
> advantages are that it is low cost, lightweight, has ample heat, and
> adjustable output. I have used mine to do nearly everything I bought the
> expensive Ungar machine for, which is one reason I sold it.
>
> Although it MIGHT work, what you have described sounds clumsy and under
> powered, but then I'm used to my 2 oz. tool! For the small cost of the
> cordless hot air/irons, to me, it wouldn't even be worth the time to
> fiddle with a homemade kludge.
>
> -Bryan
>
> Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> >Was it here that I was reading about turning a RadioShack Desoldering
> >Iron into an SMT hot air tool? The basic gist is that you remove the
> >rubber bulb, plug in an aquarium pump on a long-enough air hose, and
> >pack some (stainless) steel wool inside the de-soldering nozzle. The
> >pump provides continuous air over the steel wool which facilitates
> >heat transfer to get the air temp up to something useful. I have
> >
> >
> ><snip>
>
A regular hot air gun (perhaps a little clumsy and overpowered) works very
well for larger SM soldering/desoldering. I think you will have trouble
getting a useful amount of heat from the desolderer. If I were to do that I
would just wind a nichrome coil to fit inside a small ceramic tube, powered by
a low voltage transformer/variac. I have used the aquarium pumps for another
SM soldering use: powering a vacuum collet (really nothing more than a bent
brass tube with a finger hole for controlling the vacuum) for easy handling of
small resistors and capacitors...
Another SM related trick I have used is making solder stencils by
laserprinting the stencil artwork onto 6 mil mylar, cutting out the printed
stencil areas out with an X-Acto knife, and stencil printing the solder paste.
Peter Wallace
Received on Thu May 22 2003 - 12:09:00 BST