[Coco] Surface Mount Soldering

[Mark Marlette]

Trust me, 5 mil bumps are not easy to deal with.

As I recall, the DE1's FPGA has 584 pins on it, BGA form, about 1" sq.

As it is easy to put down a BGA, it is harder to do it correctly and be able to verify your workmanship which, IMHO requires xray.

Not to many hobbyist are going to drop $100k for Xray... :)

I avoid BGA packaging as much as I can. 

Mark
Cloud-9

----- Original Message -----
From: Little John (GIMEchip.com) <sales at gimechip.com>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:06:59 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: [Coco] Surface Mount Soldering

Uh Oh - I've started a debate :-)
J/K - I've often wondered how a hobbyist could work with BGA and then I 
decided this morning to look at youtube. Man there are all kinds of videos 
on there - some of the techniques by hobbyists such as myself don't look 
like they could possibly work, and yet they do. I am amazed at the ingenuity 
of some of these folks.
-John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Marlette" <mmarlette at frontiernet.net>
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 10:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Coco] Surface Mount Soldering



> james,

>

> How does one manually locate/align(x/y/z/theta,down force) of a BGA on to 

> the pads using a hotplate?

>

> I use our Air-Vac DRS25 unit and I am spoiled with it.

>

> Mark

> Cloud-9

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: jdaggett at gate.net

> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>

> Sent: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:57:08 -0000 (UTC)

> Subject: Re: [Coco] Surface Mount Soldering

>

> The key to using a soldering iron for SMT work is having enough flux on 

> the board and not to

> much solder.

>

> There are other alternatives to the soldering iron approach.

>

> One is a hot plate. A 4in square hotplate by Thermalake is very good 

> alternative.

>

> Second is the few toaster oven reflow boards out there. The stand alone 

> controllers range in

> the $60 to $100 and then add what ever your local Walmart or Taget has in 

> a 1500 watt

> toaster oven.

>

> The lone issue with the toaster oven is that it should have burners on the 

> top and bottom and

> a circulating fan inside to reduce hot zones. ALso the toaster oven method 

> needs to work at

> max temperature to melt the newer lead free solders. Also the different 

> preheat times will

> need adjusting.

>

> I still like the hotplate for small boards. especially with BGA packages.

>

> james

>

> On 6 Jul 2010 at 0:30, Aaron Wolfe wrote:

>

>> On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 9:39 PM, Little John (GIMEchip.com)

>> <sales at gimechip.com> wrote:

>> > This guy has some amazing videos on SMT soldering - I never get bored 

>> > just watching these. Some have sound, some are silent, but they are 

>> > beatiful nonetheless :-)

>> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQXhny3R7lk

>> > This is the vertical drag technique that my dad uses too.

>> > -John

>> > P.S. check out all of this guys videos if you have time. They are 

>> > amazing.

>> > -Lil' J

>> >

>>

>> That is interesting to watch.  I recently got a ham license and have

>> been soldering together some very simple circuits to reduce

>> interference when connecting a radio to an PC to decode digital

>> modes.. anyway, boy am I bad at soldering!  That guy is like the

>> maestro of solder.

>>

>> There are a lot of good "how to" videos on youtube for all kinds of

>> things, if you're in to do-it-yourself, its a great resource.

>>

>>

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>> >

>>

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