My brother brought his laptop over this weekend. It has an Echo Indigo I/O card. When he plugged the audio cable into the jack we both heard a huge CRUNCH. The jack became loose and there was no audio coming out of it. I grabbed my tools (I use to fix some vintage keyboards), carefully split open it the casing. The 1st thing I noticed was the solder on the jack had broken off. The small unit with the jack on it had disconnected from the circuit board. The upside was, where the jack unit connects to the board are 3 little indents that kind of held the unit in place so soldering it back into place seemed like it would not be a problem. The downside.. I never had to solder such a small connection. Anyway I took a chance with the smallest iron tip I could find and soldered the units tiny connectors back to the board. Pluged the soundcard back into lappy and powered it up. It worked! WHEW! I did end up melting the bottom of the jack unit a bit but not enough to damage it (luckily I think it was friggin so small).
I'm wondering (for future reference) what kind of tip and or solder to use for really small connectors and circuit boards. Anyone ever have to do anything like this before?
What do you think is the best way of doing this (as some circuit boards now a days are dam near microscopic)?
L
Ever have to solder a tiny connection?
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- Skunk Mod
- 21249 posts since 10 Jun, 2004 from Pony Pasture
I've had to do that kind of thing a LOT on medical electronics (rarely computers as such, but this stuff is even trickier) use an old Wahl Clipper Corp. "Iso-tip" rechargeable. By old I mean 1970 or so. Had to replace the tips all along, as they're of light-duty construction, and the batteries once but the basic iron has been plugging along for most of my life. Tips are available that are sharp enough to punch holes in your finger if you're not careful. Completely electrically isolated tip, naturally. Oh, and there used to be a PC drill attachment that came in pretty handy for small jobs. Dunno if they still make that.
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- KVRAF
- 2427 posts since 16 Jun, 2005 from Somewhere, NV
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- Skunk Mod
- 21249 posts since 10 Jun, 2004 from Pony Pasture
Yuppers, that's one of several variants. My favorite is the "quick charge" version. Mine uses two small screws to hold the tip's electrodes in place. Not E-Z to change but it works.
There's also no reason you can't grind/file down iron or copper tips for a regular low-wattage soldering iron, then re-tin 'em and season the tinning. (Of course, you won't get electrical tip isolation unless the iron provides it. The Wahl's tip is isolated, and it's battery powered anyway.)
There's also no reason you can't grind/file down iron or copper tips for a regular low-wattage soldering iron, then re-tin 'em and season the tinning. (Of course, you won't get electrical tip isolation unless the iron provides it. The Wahl's tip is isolated, and it's battery powered anyway.)
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- Skunk Mod
- 21249 posts since 10 Jun, 2004 from Pony Pasture
Here's a picture list of available tips, from the manufacturer.
http://www.iso-tip.com/html/iso_tip_accessories.htm
[edit] Whoa, the e-z change version takes standard, removable cells... that's better even than the quick-charge, you can keep extras charged and ready to go. Yeah, the one you linked to looks like the new winner.
http://www.iso-tip.com/html/iso_tip_accessories.htm
[edit] Whoa, the e-z change version takes standard, removable cells... that's better even than the quick-charge, you can keep extras charged and ready to go. Yeah, the one you linked to looks like the new winner.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 5629 posts since 22 Sep, 2005
Oh yea WAHL is a good name and $29.95 is a good price!
Thanks guys.. BTW I'm now thinking I should get one of those lit magnifing glasses with the arm that connects to the desk. Any suggestions?
L
Thanks guys.. BTW I'm now thinking I should get one of those lit magnifing glasses with the arm that connects to the desk. Any suggestions?
L
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- KVRAF
- 9528 posts since 6 Oct, 2004
shops that sell HO trains usually have such magnifiers, or use a boom-mike stand, or architects light stand, andLagrange wrote:Oh yea WAHL is a good name and $29.95 is a good price!
Thanks guys.. BTW I'm now thinking I should get one of those lit magnifing glasses with the arm that connects to the desk. Any suggestions?
L
a stick/tape combo to hold any old magnifier in place, or a yardstick held between stacked linux, or windoze anti-virus manuals, with magnifier taped on the end...
( yeah, I'm not very high-tech...if it ain't old enough to need duct-tape, I probably borrowed it! '
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- KVRAF
- 7879 posts since 16 Apr, 2003 from -on the outside looking in
is it bad to solder the polarity wrong on a pacemakerMeffy wrote:I've had to do that kind of thing a LOT on medical electronics (rarely computers as such, but this stuff is even trickier) use an old Wahl Clipper Corp. "Iso-tip" rechargeable.
