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Step 2Using Magnet Wire and Special Solder
There are two main difficulties with soldering very small components-- avoiding too large a solder joint which can short nearby contacts and soldering fast enough that you do not damage the component.
This Breakout board (intro pic) works well with SOIC sized ICs. This technique can also be used to mount several SOICs or other surface mount components on a project perfboard for more complex circuits. To make it easy requires two specialty items--special solder and magnet wire.
Thin Solder
When components are very close together, it can be difficult to solder them without blobbing over and shorting nearby pads and wires. The best solution i have found is to use a small tipped adjustable heat soldering iron (1/32") and the thinnest solder you can find. Standard solder and low temp solder is usually .032" in diameter which works fine for most things. Using thinner .015" diameter solder allows you to easily control the amount of solder on the joint.
If you use the least amount of solder necessary, it not only takes up the smallest volume, but it also allows you to solder a joint as quickly as possible. This reduces the chance of overheating and damaging delicate components like ICs and surface mount LED s. You can find the .015" solder at: Mouser.com
Magnet Wire
Instead of attempting to solder a SOIC IC to thin copper traces on a circuit board I have found it easier to solder magnet wire to the IC pins. I use 30 AWG heat strippable magnet wire available at: Mouser.com. You can use regular magnet wire, but it does not strip as easily, so I prefer the heat strippable magnet wire. This wire has a coating that can be stripped by soldering it with enough heat to melt the insulation. I let a large blob of solder hang from the soldering iron in contact with the wire for 5 or ten seconds while sliding the iron back and forth. In this way I strip the insulation and pre-tin the end before attempting to solder it to an IC or other surface mount component.
This Breakout board (intro pic) works well with SOIC sized ICs. This technique can also be used to mount several SOICs or other surface mount components on a project perfboard for more complex circuits. To make it easy requires two specialty items--special solder and magnet wire.
Thin Solder
When components are very close together, it can be difficult to solder them without blobbing over and shorting nearby pads and wires. The best solution i have found is to use a small tipped adjustable heat soldering iron (1/32") and the thinnest solder you can find. Standard solder and low temp solder is usually .032" in diameter which works fine for most things. Using thinner .015" diameter solder allows you to easily control the amount of solder on the joint.
If you use the least amount of solder necessary, it not only takes up the smallest volume, but it also allows you to solder a joint as quickly as possible. This reduces the chance of overheating and damaging delicate components like ICs and surface mount LED s. You can find the .015" solder at: Mouser.com
Magnet Wire
Instead of attempting to solder a SOIC IC to thin copper traces on a circuit board I have found it easier to solder magnet wire to the IC pins. I use 30 AWG heat strippable magnet wire available at: Mouser.com. You can use regular magnet wire, but it does not strip as easily, so I prefer the heat strippable magnet wire. This wire has a coating that can be stripped by soldering it with enough heat to melt the insulation. I let a large blob of solder hang from the soldering iron in contact with the wire for 5 or ten seconds while sliding the iron back and forth. In this way I strip the insulation and pre-tin the end before attempting to solder it to an IC or other surface mount component.
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Aug 1, 2010. 9:46 AMbill2009
says:
thank you. good tips generally for fine soldering. and the pic-on-a-stick with color coded header pins is cute.
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