John Gammell
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2016–2023
3:20 · 4.3M views · Jul 26, 2010
A three-minute demonstration of professional hand-soldering techniques for multi-lead surface mount parts, to IPC class 3 criteria.
HN points to it as proof that SMD soldering is simpler than people fear.
3 comments from Hacker News
I'd say that this is going to be one of the easiest surface mount (SMD) soldering jobs you'd ever do. Removing is easy, adding is hard. Fwiw, my first time doing SMD I was really nervous but then found it to be quite easy and so it opened up a lot of things for me (making and repairing). It is much easier than you think (often easier than through hole!), just when placing something you need to hold it in place (or use a heat gun, making these sometimes easier). Here's a short video if you want some guide[0]. As for soldering tips, any would be fine, but I learned that the flat tips, like this[1], tend to be my goto rather than the pencil like tips. The mass helps it keep heat and the larger surface area helps you transfer that heat. [0a] Great demo, showing simplicity: this video [0b] A bit more detailed and Dave is just always extremely entertaining and a wealth of knowledge (notice his "go to" tip. Professionals use chisels ;) : [LINK] [1] [LINK]
Soldering surface mount devices doesn't seem to be too bad, actually. Here are a couple of short videos: [LINK] this video
Yes, drag soldering was the only technique I considered. However, it didn't work very good. As said before, the main problem was that solder created shorts between pins, and some others were left with bad connections. I also tried to use braid to remove the excess solder, etc., but I felt the more I tried to fix it, the worse the result. I once watched this video about SMT soldering, and while the guy seems to be using just a soldering iron and flux, the result is outstanding. I don't know however which specific equipment and solder/flux he is using, and if it's real or there's some kind of trick involved :-D this video