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I prefer a regular soldering iron for SMD. Below 0603 I tend to blow off unrelated components if I’m not very very careful! So for me, a loupe/microscope and a

I prefer a regular soldering iron for SMD. Below 0603 I tend to blow off unrelated components if I’m not very very careful! So for me, a loupe/microscope and a fine SMD iron is the best option. I have some China-model that uses Hakko tips.

alnwlsn 1y ago
Nobody believes me when I say that soldering SMD with an iron is easier than through hole. You don't have to keep flipping the board over!
- throw-qqqqq 1y ago
  To be fair, it takes a little practice IMO and until you learn how to use flux correctly etc., it can seem very unattainable to ever learn well. I got a huge confidence boost from one of the old engineers with rubbish eyesight. Thinking “If HE can see well enough to do 0603 and smaller, then so can I!” :D A few hours practice on scrapped electronics made a big difference for me.
- jacquesm 1y ago
  You don't have to 'keep flipping the board over' when doing through hole either. Just stick all of the components in, fold over two legs on chips and passives, then solder all of them in one go.
junon 1y ago
Kapton tape is your friend for hot air. It's cheap and you can get by with scissors. Tape out anything that you're not reworking, use tweezers and push down the edges against the board to seal as best you can, and then flux it and blow. It'll hold things in place and wick away the heat from anything you're not trying to rework. I went from a near 0% success rate to near 100% with it.
- throw-qqqqq 1y ago
  Wow, thanks for the tip! I never heard that one before. I have a hot air station that I haven’t used much because I found it difficult to control. I will give it another try but with the Kapton!
  - jdietrich 1y ago
    To protect larger areas, you can use aluminium foil. It's usually best to hold the hot air pencil at a right-angle to the board; if you angle it like a soldering iron, the excess heat all goes in one direction and you're much more likely to blow off small adjacent components.
oasisaimlessly 1y ago
If you're blowing off stuff, your pressure setting is too high. I usually start at the lowest setting, and only go up if I need to deliver a lot of heat to an area.

alnwlsn 1y ago

Nobody believes me when I say that soldering SMD with an iron is easier than through hole. You don't have to keep flipping the board over!

throw-qqqqq 1y ago
To be fair, it takes a little practice IMO and until you learn how to use flux correctly etc., it can seem very unattainable to ever learn well. I got a huge confidence boost from one of the old engineers with rubbish eyesight. Thinking “If HE can see well enough to do 0603 and smaller, then so can I!” :D A few hours practice on scrapped electronics made a big difference for me.
jacquesm 1y ago
You don't have to 'keep flipping the board over' when doing through hole either. Just stick all of the components in, fold over two legs on chips and passives, then solder all of them in one go.

junon 1y ago

Kapton tape is your friend for hot air. It's cheap and you can get by with scissors. Tape out anything that you're not reworking, use tweezers and push down the edges against the board to seal as best you can, and then flux it and blow. It'll hold things in place and wick away the heat from anything you're not trying to rework. I went from a near 0% success rate to near 100% with it.

throw-qqqqq 1y ago
Wow, thanks for the tip! I never heard that one before. I have a hot air station that I haven’t used much because I found it difficult to control. I will give it another try but with the Kapton!
- jdietrich 1y ago
  To protect larger areas, you can use aluminium foil. It's usually best to hold the hot air pencil at a right-angle to the board; if you angle it like a soldering iron, the excess heat all goes in one direction and you're much more likely to blow off small adjacent components.

oasisaimlessly 1y ago

If you're blowing off stuff, your pressure setting is too high. I usually start at the lowest setting, and only go up if I need to deliver a lot of heat to an area.