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Post by Bones on May 4, 2019 8:39:34 GMT -5
Started this due to what happened this morning with my soldering station and was a total "DOH!" move on my part.
Was trying to replace the bad heating element to my airwand and had a little desoldering/soldering to do for getting it done, just set it up and went to it using the station's soldering side to do it with.
Bad move. 
Even though I had the airwand side switched off it arced like a welding rod to the spot (Never knew a soldering pen could do that) when I touched the soldered part to remove the first wire to do.
Only good thing is I was able to get the wire itself out no prob, came right out in fact because the solder holding it just wasn't there anymore. 
So..... Lesson learned, you can't use the station to do repairs to itself.
Already ordered up another station just like it cheap ($55 shipped) and may see if I can't fix this one anyway, the copper to that spot of the PCB is still there to an extent so may be able to fix it anyway. If not the old one is good for parts like switches, pots and so on.
The station never cut off and the display to the soldering part didn't throw an error like it did when the element to the wand went bad. The station itself didn't seem affected but I didn't want to chance it, just ordered a new one and was done with it. I will test the soldering side of it later just to see if it still works and would be good if it does and if so, may even reattempt the fix to the wand.
Checkout the pic to see what it did to the PCB and the soldering pen tip.
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Post by Macsbeach98 on May 4, 2019 17:53:03 GMT -5
CHASSIS IS LIVE CONTACT IS DANGEROUS.
At least you are still alive and didnt get electrocuted from it which is something else that easily could of happened.
Those hot air tools run directly off the mains power with a Triac to control it and the soldering iron tip is grounded.
Be very wary working on anything while it is powered on if you dont fully understand how the circuit works.
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Post by Bones on May 4, 2019 19:52:54 GMT -5
That's why I was posting up about it - I wasn't aware it was THAT dangerous but good to know and this will help others to know before they try it.
Things like this learned from experience can be passed along and it's a good thing too, hence the thread title. Made sure I wasn't touching any part of it anyway and that's why it didn't "Get" me, was only holding the plastic of the pen body itself and nothing else when it happened.
The big guy still has use for me yet.  |
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Post by zila1 on May 4, 2019 20:35:40 GMT -5
wow, I'm glad you're okay Rods. That's all that really matters.
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Post by ShrimpBrime on May 5, 2019 8:23:20 GMT -5
Wow Rodney man! Glad you are ok! Pete explained it quite well. I didn't realize the air wand would ground to the soldering gun.
I have both kinds. Perhaps a butane style soldering gun would be safer.... minus the fact it contains combustibles lol.
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Post by Bones on May 5, 2019 9:36:54 GMT -5
Only reason for the arcing was I was using the soldering station on itself meaning it was plugged and powered on during this.
The station is a safe as anything else out there but as Pete pointed out (And the point of this thread too) there are some things you just don't do. |
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Post by ShrimpBrime on May 5, 2019 19:59:17 GMT -5
So which soldering station do you have?
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Post by Vinster on May 5, 2019 22:22:39 GMT -5
Happy you are OK.
Vin
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Post by Bones on May 5, 2019 22:55:46 GMT -5
So which soldering station do you have? Always worked great and went with another, price is RIGHT to get one and learn how to use too.
I know the old one paid me back several times over and expect the new one to do the same.
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Post by Vinster on May 5, 2019 23:23:12 GMT -5
That's the exact unit I have, works very well..
Vin
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Post by Macsbeach98 on May 6, 2019 1:43:54 GMT -5
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Post by Bones on May 6, 2019 2:39:29 GMT -5
Mine does the same thing if left plugged, flashes lines and such. I never left this one plugged when not in use either so that was never a concern here, no way I could anyhow since my work area for soldering is also my benching area.
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Post by Vinster on May 6, 2019 7:49:56 GMT -5
Mine has a on/off switch on the main going in to it on that back, when not in use I turn that off. Then the 3 flashing LED's turn off.
Vin
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Post by Bones on May 7, 2019 7:41:16 GMT -5
Same with mine.
Also glad I grabbed a new station, alot of tech stuff on fleabay went "Poof" over the weekend and I know why. Mine is paid for and on it's way at least, the other stuff I needed such as reball stencils and such I'll have to find elsewhere but at least once the unit gets here I can solder again.
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Post by Bones on May 9, 2019 19:44:51 GMT -5
The new unit arrived and it's exactly the same as the old one. A few of the accesories are different but doesn't matter, will work with either unit. Speaking of the old unit I tested the new one out by working on it, finished replacing the bad element and getting it reassembled - And it worked!  The spot on the PCB I was able to doctor on and made a connection to what was left of the copper, built up a nice solder blob at that spot and went from there. All the rest was easy and even the old soldering pen itself still works too. For now I've placed the new unit back in it's box and will continue with the old one, at least now I won't have to worry alot about having something to solder with. |
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Post by Bones on Mar 20, 2020 7:10:28 GMT -5
Next up, been researching how to clean the socket area of a board once the socket itself is removed. Noted there is at least a couple of methods used, all of which involves desoldering braid and yes, I have a roll of it here. Some showed a straightup use of the braid to wick up all the solder left by the socket removal, others showed a wide tipped tool that looks and acts like a sqeeegie to move the solder off to one side, then go over the area with the braid for final cleanup. I found this while digging around: docs.google.com/document/d/1-zIAye5QmF6D-NrUn8lWgz1wVPboBvDvGWVr9KSV_i4/editDownloaded a copy of it for reference.
This is the tool mentioned for use as a squeegie with the braid and I believe this one has a heating element inside, most likely at the blade end of it.
Saw another one that seemed to just be a blade with a white plastic looking tip/end that was used to "Wipe" the solder away from the socket area, no braid was used with it.
That seemed to work really well and was definitely faster than doing it with the braid and standard soldering tip. I don't know the name of that tool but looked really easy to use.
Will keep researching things and get whatever else I need if I have to, I want to do the job right.
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Post by Bones on Mar 23, 2020 3:08:45 GMT -5
I've been busy this morning.
 I'll finish setup and prep later today, then do some testing/practicing on a few dead boards I have to get ready for the real work ahead.
EDIT: Didn't work as planned, just not enough air and heat to make the socket let go without just melting the plastic in the center and it's the same for the IR station too. Even at max it wasn't able to melt the solder underneath without seriously damaging the plastic cover on top ans that was all.
Even tried it with the cover off and while that did work on one board the socket came out with some traces too, that's just not going to cut it.
I'll have to come up with something capable of getting enough heat to it quickly enough to do the job, possibly just using a heat gun will do the trick with it.
These dead boards are getting a new use at least - I'll figure it out.
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Post by Mr.Scott on Mar 23, 2020 15:49:42 GMT -5
Need to make that taller and more chimney like.  |
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Post by Bones on Mar 23, 2020 17:25:57 GMT -5
That's what I was thinking, it was just too close to the work.
I did go out and grab a cheap heatgun with temp control, I believe a piece of larger diameter pipe of a certain height can work here. I don't have enough material to make anything much taller than what I made and that was a factor in this.
I'm just trying everything to learn how it behaves and what it takes to make it work as it should. In fact I may have a piece of steel tubing that would work to that end with the heat gun itself.
Big thing is to get the entire socket area up to temp instead of just in or around the center, it all has to be hot enough to make the solder points let go all at once.
I'll look at the tubing I have and see what it looks like for this job.
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Post by Bones on Mar 23, 2020 18:15:52 GMT -5
Is this tall enough? I can use it with the desoldering wand AND the heatgun, plus I can actually adjust/control the tube's height over the work too.
It's another tube like I used with the mortar pot and had planned on making another one later but it's good for this too.
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Post by Mr.Scott on Mar 23, 2020 18:34:27 GMT -5
lol.
I don't think it has to be that radical.
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Post by ShrimpBrime on Mar 23, 2020 19:43:13 GMT -5
lol. I don't think it has to be that radical. Ah but Rods and Radical goes together. He's always been that way. Big cooling = Big clocks XD |
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Post by Macsbeach98 on Mar 23, 2020 20:46:53 GMT -5
How hot are you heating the board from underneath before the top heater comes on you will need the board under the socket at about 180c otherwise heat runoff will stop the solder from melting. It usually takes around 4 mins of the bottom heater to get the board hot enough with mine before I let the top heater come on I program my profile like that.
You can put silver tape on the under side of the board where the VRM is to try and keep the heat out of there.
I had the exact same problem on the first trys getting the socket off the board wasnt hot enough and you end up melting the socket.
I have got a 980Ti Lightning thats got a cracked core (too much voltage on the LN2 Bios) and a FE card thats got a scar on the back where PLL is that I am going to swap the chip over to the Lightning when I get time to do it.
How did you go with the iron for cleanup Rodney I am using a Hakko T12 1403 tip in a chinese knockoff station.
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Post by Bones on Mar 24, 2020 2:18:36 GMT -5
Haven't attempted any cleanup practice yet, still figuring out how to get the socket off cleanly. I do have a couple more boards to go before pickings get slim for practice work. I did have the bottom heater all the way up (200c) and it still wasn't enough, that why I finally went a got a heatgun with temp control to use with what's seen in the pic. I did figure heat bleed/runoff was a big part of the problem but the heatgun's airflow will help to solve that. As for the tube, it's what I've got and just going with it. The taper it's made with works out great for using it like this, no need to worry about anything except putting it into the collar and it's tall enough to equal out temps at the bottom outlet hole. I could get somehting else if I wanted and use it but this is here, it works and was free so...... I guess thats what the tube's useage will be from now on if this works out.
EDIT: It worked, still have some legwork to do but the socket did come off easily enough once I had the temperature right. I believe it needs a little more heat because I did see at trace come up from the board but nothing like before. It was getting hot enough at least, alot of the smaller components around the socket came loose and so did the caps surrounding that area so the heat IS there but mind you I didn't apply any Kapton tape since the board itself was already dead and didn't see any point to just wasting the stuff at this stage.
I'll go ahead and start with the cleanup part next and see how that goes.
I still have a few boards to try things out with before I'm left with the board I want to fix, that's a good thing to get all my settings and so on right for it.
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Post by Macsbeach98 on Mar 24, 2020 6:08:40 GMT -5
You will get the hang of it your doing good.
200c on the bottom heater is about right it just takes time for the actual board to get to 180c
You have got a temp probe taped on the top of the board next to the socket put a 10 degree bend in it just before the ball so the ball is against the board thats where you measure the 180c temp from the bottom heater as well as the temps from the top heater.
Dont rely on the heatgun temps accurate temp control at the socket is a must.
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Post by Bones on Mar 24, 2020 18:01:04 GMT -5
Thanks Mac - I'm going to take another crack at it later and see if I can dial things in even better. Unfortunately I don't have a temp monitor but I do have a light I can watch the solder points under the board with to see when and how quickly they melt.
Bad thing about DFI's I'm testing the setup with is the solder used is a higher temp solder (Silver/Lead free?) and I suspect the board I'm looking to fix will be the same way.
I've noticed DFI's always seem to take more heat to get something done than other boards seem to need.
However once the new socket is in place I don't think I'll have to heat the shizznit out of it to get it in place.
Next step is to work on desoldering the socket once the old one is removed and practice doing that.
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Post by Macsbeach98 on Mar 24, 2020 21:38:40 GMT -5
Yes its lead free
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Post by Bones on Mar 24, 2020 22:46:09 GMT -5
Figured that.
Next up is an old 754 board that's total junk, been dead for years now but will have one last use before it has to go.
I'll probrably base what I do it with on what worked with the DFI and see where that goes. Big problem as said is getting it all to let go cleanly without ripping any traces out.
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Post by Macsbeach98 on Mar 25, 2020 5:42:21 GMT -5
I lift the socket off with a large pair of tweezers I always touch the socket on the side with them and it should move easily just before I am going to swing the upper heater out of the way to lift it off.
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Post by Bones on Mar 25, 2020 6:31:45 GMT -5
Yes, that's how it should go.
I tried another one and it came off clean, this time it was a NF4X that was dead due to the board being damaged on one corner. It's a shame since the board was obviously never used and can't be fixed so instead I set it up and paid close attention to things as I went.
Preheated the board from the bottom @ 185c for about 5 minutes, then setup and used the heatgun @ 970c (According to the gun), letting that sit for about 3 minutes and it came off with ease. Everything else was good afterwards aside from one or two of the small SMT components in the middle of the socket from moving/lifting the socket off, those are set back in place easily enough.
I didn't use any tape for this either since I'm still testing stuff but it looks great anyway.
I didn't have any caps or whatever else come loose, top or bottom and looks like you could just clean it up and set a new socket right back on as is.
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