I made this 'fix' about 7 years ago and the device is still in use today. I know which one it is because my 5ohm resistor came out around 4.9 so the device always runs 2% out of spec.

Yes, it worked perfectly! The repaired broken line was apparently power to the LED backlight.

This was the first time I've used a stencil and solder paste to build up a pcb. It was so much easier to get all the components aligned and soldered on the board (on the back, there are 38 0603 capacitors which are always time consuming to hand solder). After just had to clear a few bridges and added a little extra solder to U1.

Project link

I recently got this cheap USB dac thats plugged into my pc over USB - B but it still needs Micro USB power for some reason. So I thought I could just connect the 5V from the USB A port to the Micro usb's. Is there any reason why this doesn't work?

I'm working on replacing the Schneider SmartRelay on an Atlas Vista 613 wheelchair lift that I bought for my dad. The Atlas technician agrees that the SmartRelay is probably shot and the replacement is $1,000 wholesale. I built a replacement using an Arduino Nano, a UNL2803A Darlington array, a switching 7805, a bunch of Zener diodes, and a handfull of Schneider industrial relays.

Unfortunately, I let the smoke out of my very last Nano and needed to keep the project moving. So...I took a small piece of protoboard, an Arduino ProMini 168, and some jumper wire and created this Frankenduino. It's the same pinout as the Nano with none of the nice supporting stuff like an ICP port, USB, voltage regulators, etc. It will keep the development moving while I'm waiting for the 10 Nanos I have on order to arrive.

With maple syrup season fast approaching (4 months ish) my thoughts have turned to working on the Sapmaster once again. I'm going to design and build a new top and bottom board this year to fit in the BUD DMB-4774 DIN case that I use for the SapMaster controller. That's going to involve a bunch of SMD soldering which reminded me of the irritation that soldering with loose pieces of SMD tape causes me.

To that end, I went looking for an SMD dispenser cartridge that would meet my needs. I couldn't find one so I decided to design my own.

This is version 4.1 of the design. It holds around 5 feet of standard 8mm paper tape which is around 1,000 components. The tape comes out the straight slot at the upper right. The clear cover tape goes out the curved slot and can be hooked under the little pin upper left. The point of the splitter between the straight and curved slots holds the components in place so they don't fall out before you pull the tape out of the slot.

I will generally use single cartridges with a cover but the friends I work with say that they want them to connect together. I considered a number of options but they all involved pins and holes or tabs and slots and I wanted the individual covered cartridges to be nice and clean. What I settled on are the holes you see around the corners of this cartridge. The accept a standard LEGO Technics connecting pin and allow you to gang together any number of cartridges.

I'm all setup to make versions for different widths and thicknesses of tape as well. The cover has four LEGO Technics like pins to plug into the holes in the cartridge.

I expect to start printing some to actually use in a few days when the magnetic base plate for my 3D printer arrives.

I've posted a few videos now of myself soldering header strips and some SMDs with my good quality soldering tools and with an inexpensive soldering iron that I bought at Walmart. I sent a link to the friends, the hardware designed and programmer, who I often work with. One designs the boards, the other programs them. I do some of their fine soldering work for them.

They were amused by the Walmart soldering iron videos and remarked that they were surprised that soldering QFPs was even possible with that iron.

That got us to talking and me to thinking. What is the difference between the tools and materials and the technique used by someone who makes it look easy and the tools and materials and the technique used by beginners who struggle?

I would like to propose that the biggest issue that beginners have is flux management.

Electronic solder isn't a solid metal wire. The solder we use for electronics most often includes flux. The flux is included in one or more cores inside the solder wire.

Multicore solder, which I use, even has these cores in their logo.

Here is the Multicore solder I have sitting on my desk.

I believe that many of the problems beginners run into involve not understanding the role of flux or how short lived it is. If you apply solder to your soldering iron the flux is gone in a second or two. The solder will them oxidize and refuse to stick to anything. Effective soldering, soldering that looks easy, involves getting the heat into the parts, applying the right amount of solder quickly and smoothly, then removing the heat before the flux has burned off. This is my going back and touching up your joints causes so many problems. The solder is dry (no flux) and oxidized and doesn't cooperate.

If you've watched my SOIC-8 or QFP-32 soldering videos you will see that I apply liquid flux. This is because I apply the solder to my soldering iron then drag solder the pins. The flux has all burned off of the solder and it will not stick to the pins without the liquid flux. I also used liquid flux in the Fixing Bad Solder video.

So...I believe that a good understanding of the role and short lifespan of solder will help beginners to make better solder joints.

What was I thinking?!?

In this video I take a crack at soldering a QFP-32 with the inexpensive Walmart soldering iron and the mystery Chinese solder.

Will it solder?

In this video I used the $15.88 Walmart soldering iron and the unknown Chinese solder that came with it to solder a DS1307 real time clock in a SOIC-8 package.

Will it solder?

In this video I used the $15.88 Walmart soldering iron and the unknown Chinese solder that came with it to solder 2.54 mm header strips onto a small adapter board.

In this video I go back to the beginning of my more than 45 years of experience soldering and buy a $15.88 Chinese soldering iron from my local Walmart store and compare it to a Weller PES51 pencil iron connected to my WESD51 soldering station and a Hakko FM-2027 connected to my FM-203.

I have said that you can use the cheapest soldering iron to solder SMD devices like SOIC-8s and QFP-32s. In subsequent videos I will attempt to solder pin headers, a DS1307 real time clock in a SOIC-8 package and a LGT8F328P MCU in a QFP-32 package.

The goal of these videos is to make clear that even beginners can solder modern SMD devices using basic soldering equipment that is readily available locally to most people.

Hakko FM-2023 station with MF2027 handle and T15-D16 tip

Weller WESD51 with PES51 handle and ETA tip

Workpro CA310 (Hangzhou Greatstar Industrial GS-30W)

Unknown Chinese solder

When I started soldering everything was big and had leads that went through holes in the board. You inserted the leads, bent them over to hold the component, flipped the board over, soldered everything, and trimmed off the excess leads.

Now I'm soldering things down to 0402 SMDs (1/4 the size of the smallest component in the picture) using a needle point soldering tip and a microscope.

A pair of 2N2222 transistors, one SOT23 and one TO-92.

I got myself a T12 clone station recently. I've only had a junk iron that plugs into a wall socket and heats up to full blast whatever temperature with the big giant tip. Not very useful for more precise work.

I had this damaged Arduino Pro Micro clone sitting in my box of random stuff. At some point in time I had decided cut out out 4 pin headers for some reason. Damaged the corresponding traces in the process.

The repair worked! It was the MOSI, MISO, CLK, and RESET pins on the board. These pins can be used to have this board flash another Arduino board.

I am a beginner at soldering and am trying to assemble a number of these small pcbs. In the process, I have to solder SK6812 MINI-E LEDs and am struggeling to get that right. My problem is that the LEDs tabs are almost exactly as large as the solder pads on the PCBs and if I apply solder and flux to the pads and try to use hot air to settle the tabs into place, they tend not to stick to the pads and if I try to put them in "dry" and solder them with the soldering iron (like a through hole connection), I have trouble getting solder between the tab and the pads. Any advice? Any video that shows how to solder this kind of joint?

We often get asked what we think of beginners first soldering projects then offer suggestions how to improve their technique, and often, how to rescue their project.

In this video I've done my best to do a bad job of soldering header strips onto a QFP32 to DIP32 adapter board. There are some cold joints, some dry points, some blobs, a solder bridge, and some nice, corroded peaks.

How do you fix this so that it looks like you're experienced and know what you're doing?

Liquid flux to the rescue (and clean, good quality solder and a hot soldering iron and a good drag soldering technique.)

If you try this technique please come back here and tell us how it worked out.

Hakko FM-203 with FM-2027 handpiece and T15-D16 1.6mm chisel tip

MG Chemicals 4884-227G Sn63/Pb37 solder

Kester 186 liquid flux

I made a new video about why I love liquid flux and how much of a difference liquid flux can make to your soldering.

In this video I created a large blob of solder. I used the MG 4884-227G solder that I always use but once I had the solder down I cleaned away all of the flux then reheated the solder to cause it to oxidize. The now dry, oxidized solder is unruly and uncooperative. It blobs up and forms peaks and is just generally nasty.

Then, I bring some of my Kester 186 liquid flux to the party and the solder is reborn.

I just go to Ebay, type in Kester 186, and guy a bottle. 100ml of the stuff will last you for years unless you're doing a LOT of soldering.

I've posted videos of myself soldering a SOIC8, a QFP32, and header strips. Is there anything else that anyone wants to see? Want to see me solder a QFP with a chisel tip instead of a GW tip? How I solder 0805 SMDs with a regular soldering iron? Want to see me reflow bad solder joints using a regular soldering iron and liquid flux?

Post your suggestions here and I will see what I can do...or maybe someone else will make a video or how to photo essay and post it to the community.

In this video I solder two 16-pin header strips onto a QFP32 to DIP32 adapter board.

Hakko FM-203 with FM-2027 handpiece and T15-BCM2 2 mm cupped beveled tip

MG Chemicals 4884-227G Sn63/Pb37 solder

Kester 186 liquid flux

In this video I solder an ATMEGA328PB in a 32-pin QFP with 0.8mm pin pitch.

Hakko FM-203 with FM-2027 handpiece and T15-BCM2 2 mm cupped beveled tip

MG Chemicals 4884-227G Sn63/Pb37 solder

Kester 186 liquid flux

First time soldering anying this small. Would love feedback, or tips

I few days ago in a comment here, or maybe in another community, I mentioned that I thought that soldering SOIC ICs was relatively straight forward to do with a regular soldering iron and a small chisel tip. I regularly solder SOICs and T/QFPs with nothing but a 1/6 mm chisel tip.

Obviously, it is much easier to do with a cupped beveled tip but it's within reach of most beginners with simple soldering irons.

In this video I solder a DS1307 real time clock in a SOIC-8 package to a SOIC-8 to DIP-8 adapter board.

I did this last week before finding this group, so no pictures of my soldering. I take it that the purpose is intended to be general electronics?

I bought a used tube amp for $400 (great price, I think), but it was noisy and smelled of smoke. I took it apart to wipe down the insides with isopropynol. I discovered the filter caps were leaking--no surprise really.

$50 of parts later, I replaced the larger capacitors and made a few tweaks to the tone stack. Sounds good for $450.

Maybe I'll post some more stuff later. I'm working on a custom mechanical keyboard with an interesting design. Still working out the kinks.

SAFETY NOTICE: don't open a tube amp without knowing what you're doing! Those big capacitors can carry enough voltage to kill.

When I first started soldering my parents bought me a (probably < $10 at the time) hobby soldering iron. That iron took a beating and was replaced with another hobby iron then another. I ended up with a hobby iron that I absolutely loved. It had a powder blue handle, a solid barrel (not rolled sheet) and was flared where the handle met the barrel. I used that iron for many years. I am not sure where it went. It may be in a box of tools somewhere or it may be gone for good.

I'm not sure exactly when I got my Weller WESD51 soldering station. It will have been between 15 and 20 years ago. At around $150 it was an expensive upgrade for me. That original station still sits on my desk and up until a few weeks ago was the only station on my desk.

I normally have an ETA (1.6 mm chisel) tip in the PES51. It meets most of my day-to-day soldering needs. I find that I can easily solder SMDs down to 0805, SOT23s, and SOICs with the ETA.

When I'm doing something like a QFP of TQFP I switch to a ETGW (2 mm beveled cup) tip. The ETGQ style Gullwing tip is the tip professionals use to hand solder chips with gullwing style pins.

Yes, this tip is a little bit oxidized.

I cleaned out the solder to show the cup in the photo. Immediately after I took this photo I fluxed and tinned the tip. It's all good and ready for the next time I use it.

I have a range of other tips that I use from time to time when they are appropriate. They include (upper left to right then lower left to right):

ETAA - a 1.6 mm bevel

ETL - a long, heavy 2 mm chisel

ETR - a long, light 1.6 mm chisel

ETT - a 0.6 mm conical

ETU - a 0.4 mm bevel

ETX - a 0.2 mm bent conical

TETS - 0.4 mm long conical

The projects that I've been taking in recently (I don't call them jobs because I often do them for free) have been more complex. I've had to desolder SMD electrolytic capacitors and I've been soldering 0.4 mm pitch TQFPs. I needed a soldering station with a bit more range.

A few weeks ago my Hakko FM-203 arrived with the pair of FM-2027s you see in the cover photo. The green one is loaded with a T15-BCM2 which is a 2 mm beveled cup like the ETGW on the Weller and the yellow with a T15-D16 which is a 1.6 mm chisel like the ETA on the Weller.

I'm planning to add a FM-2022 tweezers at some point in the near future to help with those pesky SMD electrolytics.

This was an interesting repair. The little company that I work with discovered that one of the pins on the TQFP was not pulled out to the header on the breakout board. They needed that pin so they hired someone to desolder it, lift it, and solder a wire on the to cut the trace to one of the header pins and bring the wire out to it.

Unfortunately, the guy they hired to do the work messed it up pretty bad. You can soo the three pins to the right of this repair are damaged. He broke the pin that he was working on clean off the package. They gave it to me to try to save.

First, I rescued the damaged pins as best I could. Then I filed down the edge of the plastic package until I exposed the lead inside and soldered a 0.1 mm bodge wired onto it. I took that wire out to the pin on the header.

This is not an elegant repair but it got them back in business while they waited for a replacement BoB to arrive. I think they are still using this BoB for their development.

I do these fine repairs under an Olympus SZ40 microscope with a ring light.

I always wanted an optical soldering microscope but could never justify the cost. I found this one in a microscope shop in Montreal for $200. For that price I couldn't not buy it.

Most of the projects I design start out on solderless breadboards. The one in the bottom of this picture is a ROM switcher and reset circuit for a Commodore 64 that I'm working on. This circuit will fit inside the footprint of a 27256 ROM chip in a 2364 to 27256 ROM adapter.

Other projects are larger like this early prototype of my maple syrup machine room controller, the SapMaster...

or this...something...that I was doing with an ESP32 and a Raspberry Pi Zero W.

Over the years I've collected a number of solderless breadboards. Some I bought myself and others came with kits that I bought. A number of them came from Hacker Boxes when I had a subscription before the pandemic. I had the delivered to a UPS store in Ogdensburg, NY and drove over and picked them up once a month. Hacker Boxes are cool. Definitely check them out.

Some of the solderless breadboards in my BREADBOARD drawer were cheap, Chinese knock-off breadboards. They had...issues...

not to mention the fact that the contacts were SUPER cheap. They often didn't line up well with the holes and prevented pins from being plugged in. Dupont wires and header strips were a BIG challenge and when plugging in a header strip the contacts often stretched and didn't spring back properly.

I finally decided that it was time to replace all my cheap breadboards with better ones.

The cheap ones can be bought on AliExpress for CAD$2. The better ones cost in the neighborhood of CAD$10. I spent some time doing research and talking to friends in the electronics business and settled on Global Specialties (pictured above.) Just about any of the brands available from Digikey or Mouser will be the same quality.

The contacts are nickel plated phosphor bronze and are rated for 1.5A at 36V.

I've switched my prototypes over to the new breadboards and am very happy with how the feel.