I've used the "wire around the tip" trick too and it worked for me. Later I got a small tip (0.5mm) for my iron. I think an even smaller tip might be better.
For fine pitch IC's I found that liquid solder flux makes soldering much much easier. You can get a flux pen from Mouser or Digikey for $4 or $5. If necessary, use solderwick to remove bridges between the leads. This leaves enough solder to still form a joint between the lead and the pad. When using the liquid flux, I haven't had trouble with bridges, even on 25mil pitch leads. 73/ Bob - W5BIG ============================================ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Makoski W2LJ" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 5:05 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: SMT kits? > A "trick" that I learned was to take a long piece of solid "bell wire" > or hookup wire (copper) about 6- 8 inches long. Remove the insulation > and wrap a coil around your soldering iron tip. Bring the last bit of > wire out, parallel to the axix of the soldering iron. Plug the iron, in, > let the wire heat up, cut the "tip" to the length you want and you have > a very fine tip for soldering SMD devices. > > I wouldn't want to build a kit this way; but if you only have a couple > devices to solder it works pretty good. > > 73 de Larry W2LJ - Vivat Morse! © ® > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.qsl.net/w2lj > > ARRL Lifemember QRP ARCI #4488 NJQRP #47 > FISTS #1469 QRP-L #778 FP #612 QRPp-I #759 > ARS #1528, AmQRP, CQC #746 > > K1 #1647 - K2 #4090 for QRP > Icom IC-751A for QRO > Butternut HF9V and G5RV antennas > > ----- Original Message ----- > > John Payne wrote: > > > Who needs an expensive "soldering station" for SMT? I've built a > couple of > > SMT projects with a standard soldering station (using a fine tip)with > no > > problem. If one looks for excuses, one can find them, and never do or > learn > > anything new! There are many cheap and easy tricks for SMT work, if > one > > only cares to look a bit! > > > > 73 de John N4FLJ > > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [email protected] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
