gladders wrote:

So some of you may notice I'm relatively new and many of my posts are probably embarrassingly elementary to you all. I love this hobby, I love computers, but I am pretty ignorant of electronics, which is kind of a big part of this. As bad as being baffled by power ratings on the back of PCs and too scared to plug in a cable for fear of destroying old machinery!

What tools, books, training courses, would you recommend I do, read, embark upon, to get myself up to speed with this type of work? Ideally I'd like to become reasonably competent with understanding appliance power ratings, PCB repair, and soldering things like clock batteries and chips.

I live in London, for reference.

For soldering skills, pick up a few little electronic kits.

In the U.S. I'd grab something like this: http://www.frys.com/product/8227636?site=sr:S … CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

For practicing soldering, you don't need anything that works. Junk circuit boards would be fine for building your skills.

gdjacobs wrote:

For practicing soldering, you don't need anything that works. Junk circuit boards would be fine for building your skills.

also desoldering is probably as important as soldering, or has been in my experience.

Any tips for hard-to-melt lead-free solder? In my practicing on dead boards, most of the newer boards use lead-free solder that is nearly impossible to melt. I've tried going up to 450 Celsius and it doesn't want to melt. I've tried adding flux first, I've tried adding solder to the joint beforehand. If I do all these things, and apply constant heat to the connection while at the same time pulling on the cap from the other side, I have a 50-50 shot of getting the component out without pulling the leg out of the body. I've had some caps where one leg came out fine, but the other leg pulled out of the cap rather than coming out of the via. I'm still working on getting a desoldering pump and a heat gun. Right now all I've got is the iron, flux, (leaded) solder, and desoldering braid.

For lead free I find you need an iron with excellent heat capacity and tip temperature regulation. The operating temperature for the solder is substantially higher (20-50 degrees C) than standard, but you don't want to go too high or you'll start cooking components. With a cheap, weak iron, the work piece will sink enough heat that the solder won't melt with temperature set properly.

I have an FX-888 and it performs adequately in lead free. I've worked with a Metcal unit doing SMT lead free and it's almost a pleasure. This is one of the scenarios where improved equipment makes your life a lot easier.

There's other tricks you can use. Check this video out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z38WsZFmq8E

Thanks. I have the same iron. 😀 I typically keep it at 380-400C but with some of these lead free joints I mentioned (it was an HP LGA775 board), I cranked it up to 450 just to see if it would helped and it didn't. I'll check out the video you linked. Much appreciated.

Depending how many layers it has, the board might soak up enough heat that the Hakko can't keep up.

Are solder tin containing lead illegal in the US?
If so. Why illegal for hobby soldering?

I've found that usually when something won't desolder it's because it's on a ground plane that spreads the heat away from the joint. I also invested in a Hakko FX-888 but the digital version and I only have the default conical tip. Apparently chisel tips make better contact with the solder joint and can help with stubborn things. I should make a plan to get one if I ever intend to do any SMD stuff.

Chisel tips are essential.

chisel + hoof tip!