Fine pitch drag soldering tip - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: beeboopbeep
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 04:46:53 pm
content: Hi everyone,I'm looking for a soldering tip for drag soldering as done in here:I currently have a Weller WESD51 and I got confused on the Digi-Key website for choosing the correct 'Series' for my soldering station (https://www.digikey.ca/products/en/soldering-desoldering-rework-products/soldering-desoldering-rework-tips-nozzles/270?k=&pkeyword=&pv627=76&FV=ffe0010e%2C1f140000&quantity=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&stock=1&pageSize=500).Also, is there a specific name for the soldering tip in the video other than 'mini-wave tip'? I see in the comments people calling it a 'hoof' tip but that type of tip shape doesn't exist in the list of possible tips to choose from on websites like Digi-Key.

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 06:03:32 pm
content: You are probably looking for a Gull Wing tip.That said, you can drag solder with almost any tip. IMHO the main difference in using a GW tip is that you don't have to retin the tip as often. If you are only looking to do a bit of drag soldering here and there, just go for it. I would not bother with a GW tip.

author: Nerull
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 06:54:29 pm
content: Weller calls them flat tips.

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 07:09:28 pm
content: Quote from: Nerull on August 17, 2018, 06:54:29 pmNo, they do call them Gull Wing. At least for the WXMP handle. But as I said - it's a nice-to-have. I rarely switch to mine unless I have a lot of drag solder to do. Good flux is a much more important factor imho.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 05:48:50 am
content: ET Series Single Flat Solder Tip for EC1201A and PES51 Irons, .125"Maybe this? All spec for under 5.00.Informally, it is a spoon tip. Manufacturers use different names. Gullwing, flat, modified bevel. Miniwave is a Pace trademark, I think.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 06:00:47 am
content: Quote from: agehall on August 17, 2018, 06:03:32 pmThis is true. But so is the reverse. My go-to tip and drag solder tip are the same. Tinned face only bevel tip. No spoon/dish, though. The dish is I overrated, IME. It reduces thermal transfer. The copper has to stop farther up to make room for the cavity. My Plato 900m spoons are meh. Mushy/rounded edges, poor heat transfer, and too much angle on the bevel face*, for my taste. Actually, the larger Plato 936 spoon looks a lot like that Weller tip I copypasta'd.Wading through the Weller tips at All Spec, I notice how much love Weller has for screwdrivers and chisels. Seems like 75% of the lineup.*Pace makes a wave solder tip that is a spoon with almost a perpendicular face cut. They bend the tip instead of cutting the face at an angle. This is good old fashioned engineering to get high thermal transfer all the way to the edges and the most efficient solder holding/sucking ability for the size. I imagine it doesn't get into tight spots too great, though.

author: JustMeHere
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 06:12:01 am
content: Love the bevel tip for this. A big clean one will help clean up solder bridges.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 06:35:07 am
content: ^The bevel spreads the solder on, takes it off, minimal heat radiation to other than the target, and maintains a large copper core all the way to the face. It is the SMD tip for me. Thanks to John Gammel video. I watched that guy solder a bit, and when he says "BCF3 is an amazing SMD drag solder tip," I just say ok and buy it. I soldered with nothing but the tip that came with the iron for 4-5 years too long.Went nuts buying $100.00 in all kinds of tips when trying to do some small production boards and learned I am not good at pasting boards. John Gammel is right, IMO. Exact tip he shouts out for drag soldering is the best of all the Hakko tips for drag solder and more.

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 10:18:42 am
content: You do not need a fine tip for the soldering of the fine pitch flatpacks. You do need a lot of flux.

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 10:26:00 am
content: in that video of top post, i beleive the most crucial thing is the board obviously doesnt have solder resist around that chip...becausae if it did , then you would see a horrible sticky mess as the solder resist melted up and spewed all over the pins, making the job nearly impossible.The flux is also needed aswell........otherwise you get too many shorts between pins......generally you always have to mop up with solder braid when doing that.....and you often get dry joints that look wet, but are dry.i dont think that is a reliable way to do it.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 10:29:45 am
content: Quote from: treez on August 18, 2018, 10:26:00 am

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 01:56:52 pm
content: Quote from: treez on August 18, 2018, 10:26:00 amYou truly have no damned clue what you’re talking about...

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 02:35:50 pm
content: Another vote for a bevel.It's by far my most used tip shape.I've a Gull Wing that rarely gets used as it's just not that much different and I'm too lazy to bother swapping tips.

author: cgroen
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 06:02:14 pm
content: Quote from: treez on August 18, 2018, 10:26:00 amI see no smiley in your comment, you must clearly have left them out by mistake ??If not, its utter nonsense you write.Gull wing tip is what is needed, like others say, I only use the gull wing for chips with more than 48 pins. The <48 pins I use a normal tip (and add solder 1 time for each side of a qfp package). For gull wing (Weller), I can solder a couple of 100 pins 0.5mm qfp without "refilling" with solder.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 06:40:40 pm
content: Quote from: cgroen on August 18, 2018, 06:02:14 pmIt's not a mistake, it's treez. For the sake of humor or losing hope in humanity you could read some other threads/posts he left.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 07:48:10 pm
content: It's also possible that his boards havereallycrap solder resist. Nothing would surprise me!

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 09:25:08 pm
content: QuoteHmmm, I assumed OP was looking for a spoon. Maybe because I assumed a bevel would not be hard to source.My US Digikey site lists "hoof" as well as the equivalent "bevel" in their dropdown criteria/menu. But...The curious thing is that I find no examples of hoof/bevel tips for the WES51. 21 tips at Digikey, no bevels. Conicals, screwdrivers, and "flat" tips. But "flat tip" doesn't seem to have a well-defined meaning? The only "bevel" tip I have found is made by Plato, a third party, found at All Spec. It looks to be part of a 3 tip set, conical, bevel, chisel and costs $35.00."Flat tip?"This is way confusing. The flat tip I copypasta'd in my first post. If you google that one, the pic shows the bottom, and it looks like a spoon.https://www.all-spec.com/Catalog/Soldering-Rework/Soldering-Desoldering-Tips/Soldering-Tips/ETCC-12200There are other "flat tips" that show a diagram that looks most certainly like a chisel. The flat spot is depicted as having a straight flat edge on the end.https://www.all-spec.com/Catalog/Soldering-Rework/Soldering-Desoldering-Tips/Soldering-Tips/EW-511-50391This one must be a mistake?Digikey lists only 4 flat tips, and they all look like bevels. The sell them only in super fine, really fine, and big.* No wonder people love their chisel tips. If this is what you grew up on, you'd think bevel tips are useless.I bet this is all clarified in the Weller catalog... I started clicking through it, and well even I don't have the time in my day to wade through that PDF.*For me, personally, I have no use for the super fine bevels unless they are tinned face, only. A regular needle-size bevel might as well be a conical or a screwdriver... or a little unicorn. Esp if it's the tapered/conical base shaft, like these. I see a bunch of useless tips, here. The ETCC "big" is the only one I would be inclined to try; and even here, the geometry/angle is pretty bad. If you want a good hoof, you might not get any with the WES51.Germany = screwdriver heaven, Japan = exquisite bevels?The best tip shape for given things may very well depend on what color station you buy.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2018, 02:53:01 am
content: FWIW, Weller's nomenclature for their bevel/hoof tips start with the series, such as LT, and would be followed by CC (~3.2mm) or DD (~4.6mm).Seems they're following it for the ET series as well (ETCCandETDD), so although confusing, there may genuinely be a pattern to it (just not sure what it is).