Comments on: LED Puck: Tilt Prototype

By: Keith Neufeld

Keith Neufeld — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:12:47 +0000

Tim, the cheapest one I could find at Harbor Freight -- I regard it as a consumable item. See more in this post.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:00:52 +0000

What heat gun make and model are you using for removing surface mount parts?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:22:43 +0000

I used to have a recipe for a wonderful Tin plating solution. Unfortunately, it was based on Sodium Chloride, Stannous Chloride, and Sodium Cyanide (Yes, you read that correctly!). Now that I’m older and wiser (and still alive), I don’t use that stuff any more.

Dave

P.S. Oh, and as for putting chips in backwards, I once did that to a Motorola 6800 processor, back when they were just coming out and quite expensive. Was I ever relieved when it still worked after I reoriented it.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:28:06 +0000

I’ve used Tinnit before and it was a pain. Between the heating, waiting, and smell it wasn’t worth the trouble. Now I use “Liquid Tin,” work great. Doesn’t require heat, just etch your board then drop it into the Liquid Tin bath at room temperature and watch the traces turn silver. In under 5 minutes your board is done.

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/421.html

By: Keith Neufeld

Keith Neufeld — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:55:36 +0000

Josh, I like the desoldering idea. In fact, what I thought you were going to say was wind copper wire all the way around the part in question and then heat the wire–that’d heat all the pads at once.

I’ll give them both a try when I need to get the parts off to move to the next board. Thanks!

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:53:27 +0000

This is looking very cool!

A great trick for unsoldering stubborn SM parts is to wind a piece of heavy copper wire around the tip of your iron so that it and the tip form a pair of tweasers the same width as the part. Then (if you are lucky) you can heat both sides together.