Pace equivalent professional soldering instructional for SMT components? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Fried Chicken
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2025, 02:41:58 am
content: There's nothing better out there than the Pace Basic Soldering Lessons:Which together with Pace's other vintage lesson videos provides a masterclass in video tutorial lessons. No bullshit, comprehensive.The problem is it doesn't touch on SMD building or repair.Are there any video seroes of Pace quality for doing SMD work describing such things as: the correct type and use of solder (including temperatures and alloys), flux, hot air for removal and installation (including temperatures), techniques, risks (i.e. cold joints), workpiece indicators, considerations for sensitive devices (i.e. LEDs), correct tooling (tip sizes, specialty tools, etc.)?I'm working on one of those cheap SMD practice boards, and am finding myself longing for a Pace tutorial on SMD.

author: Fried Chicken
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 07, 2025, 06:24:50 am
content: I found some information here:https://www.eeweb.com/smd-chips-solder-joint-criteria/

author: shabaz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 07, 2025, 07:34:29 am
content: A lot of the formal SMD 'best practices' boil down to CAD/CAM practices, i.e. things like what size PCB land pattern footprints to use for reliability, etc. since SMDs will be more likely machine-soldered (i.e. reflow or otherwise), whereas when those Pace videos were created, the soldering was by hand.For a prototype, it often won't matter if the SMD joints are blobby due to too much solder and so on (depending on the job, no-one might care about the soldering if it's just a means to an end, which is to test out a circuit), and there's such a mix of techniques (for instance it's normal for SMD prototypes to be soldered with an iron, maybe drag-soldered, maybe not, or reflowed with hot air tool or a toaster or so on, even sometimes heating prototype-specific pads with center holes from the underside with a soldering iron, or a combination of methods, that there might not be a consistent video or set of videos that cover all these techniques well.It's surprisingly difficult creating these videos, too. There are little bits of useful information here and there that people have created on YouTube, but eventually, you just need to try a few things and see what works. For instance, despite watching a few 'Louis Rossman' videos where he replaces ICs, personally, I find I need to align the IC as well as possible, and I can't throw them onto the board as easily as he manages and hope for them to align just right.I don't do board repairs for a living, so I'll never be at the same level of experience. But I get by and have as much success as the average person at building up SMD prototypes, I expect.What I've found key (for me, at least) is using good tools; excellent tweezers to place the parts without them flying off, using a preheater, using a decent hot air tool, and so on. There are different tricks/tips depending on what size and shape soldering iron tip you use, there's no set rule for which is best. If you're serious about it, then you may have to try several.I'm sure with more experience and skill, more basic and fewer tools could be used.Finding a flux you're comfortable with is useful, too; for instance, I like the slightly gel-like flux in syringes, whereas others might use runny flux.I use repositionable putty (Blu Tack) or bits of Kapton tape to hold down SMD ICs when using a soldering iron.

author: Solder_Junkie
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2025, 09:58:31 am
content: This YouTube shows how to solder SMD parts using an ordinary soldering station.https://youtu.be/eZtPR8_x0nc?feature=sharedSJ

author: Fried Chicken
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2025, 11:34:16 pm
content: Quote from: Solder_Junkie on February 08, 2025, 09:58:31 amThis is a very nice explanation, I would say about 75% on par with the Pace videos.It's probably as close as what I can expect to find online. Maybe I should write Pace and ask them to make a new video series for SMD devices.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2025, 11:59:13 pm
content: Quote from: Solder_Junkie on February 08, 2025, 09:58:31 amOne thing I find useful to do is to tack down one end of the SMT res/cap/whatever and then place the tweezers on top and press down while reapplying heat to the sticky end. That ensures the component is flat on the board, hence touching the other pad, before soldering the other end.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 09, 2025, 01:19:25 am
content: Quote from: Fried Chicken on February 05, 2025, 02:41:58 amCreated when film production and distribution was difficult and expensive, for employees that were paid to watch it. Hence they took time to makeshortand explicit - and the moving pictures conveyed information.Nowadays production and distribution are easy and cheap, and we all have time to sort through the long ums, ahs, pauses, mug shots on the off-chance there will be some information that benefited from moving pictures.QuoteThe previously referencedhttps://youtu.be/eZtPR8_x0nc?feature=sharedis more quickly assessed with the conventional yootoob URLOther useful stuff I've bookmarked:NASA workmanship solderinghttp://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2%20books/frameset.htmlSMD Soldering Troubleshootinghttp://www.aimsolder.com/sites/default/files/documents/smt_ts.pdfHow I do Surface Mount & Reflow Soldering (caution: 1hour loooong)

author: donlisms
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 09, 2025, 11:03:55 am
content: I like Mr Solderfix on YouTube.