How to solder (by hand) 01005s?

Howdy gentleman - I got into surface mount soldering about 4 years ago. The first board I did was full of 1206s and 1210s, along with a couple 0805s, along with a TSSOP. Man those 0805s scared me. I did the TSSOP with the flood technique. On my next board, I used all 0805s and by that time was comfortable with them. I did a TQFP on that board with the flood technique still. After that, I switched to 0603s and got comfortable with them. I also switched to the drag technique for ICs. A couple years have gone by now and I've stuck with 0603s. I had to send out a new PCB a couple weeks ago, and so I decided I'd throw some 0402, 0201, and 01005 pads on an unused part of the PCB. So - I got the PCBs on Monday along with some parts to throw on those pads. The 0402s were a breeze - only the slightest bit harder to solder than

0603s. The 0201s stepped up the game a bit, but were still fairly straightforward. However, the 01005s were another story. I barely could even see the things!

My standard technique is to put a small ball of solder on one pad, pick up the discrete with my tweezers at about a 45 degree angle away from vertical, then heat up the pad that already has solder on it and hold the part in it while removing my iron. This technique worked just fine for the 0402s and 0201s. The 01005s, however, just were too darned small. I mean my tweezers pretty much covered the entire part. I think I might try and find some ultra fine tipped tweezers (the tips on mine are maybe .5mm wide). Is that all I can do, or are there some clever techniques to solder these buggers that I just don't know about?

Thanks!

-Michael

Reply to
Michael
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And absolutely no coffee drinking for three days :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

Believe it or not, I haven't had coffee even once in my entire life. The smell just bothers me so much and I like my pearly whites to stay pearly white :). I also typically avoid all caffeinated things like the plague.

I think this makes me a bit of a freak. But in a good way. I think.

-Michael

Reply to
Michael

That's probably why you are one of the few who dare to solder 0201 ;-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

Ah, the quantum capacitors.

The only reliable (to my sanity at least) way I've found to solder such small parts is with solder paste - dab a dot of paste on each pad, place the part, use the iron on the copper NEAR the pad (don't touch the part - the surface tension will pull against it) and let the heat reflow the paste. For bigger parts, you can put the iron right in the paste.

I have a set of tweezers with needle points, the tips are about 10 thou across. Sometimes, though, a sharpened toothpick works better. I place the part with the tweezers, then hold it down with something else while I solder.

You could probably pre-solder the pads, and use the "heat near the pads" trick to melt it without the iron actually touching the part, which gives you more room for the tweezers.

Or use paste and a reflow oven or hotplate. I usually use a hotplate (at home) for my smt parts.

SMD challenge board prototype:

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My first 01005 part, hand soldered (wire, no paste):

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Reply to
DJ Delorie

I'm still in 1206 land..and I try to keep it that way :) If I ever needed to go smaller, I'd probably resort to needle + vacuum placement + solder paste + hot plate.

I already have a DIY vacuum placement system + stove top technique. I make my PCBs bakery style :)

Wild idea...

How about a titanium solder mask + part stencil?? Have laser cut holes that are nearly the same as the part size. Perhaps include more hole area for solder paste too..

Then you 'shuffle' the tiny parts with a stick until it plops into the hole in the foil. (Rectangular part in the rectangular hole...)

Apply solder paste at ends of part (It's kinda like a solder paste mask too.) Leave the titanium foil on and hot plate.. Let cool. Remove foil.

I suspect thermal flaws in my idea but it's an attempt in combining paste masking with SMD part placement socketing in a DIY environment.

D from BC

Reply to
D from BC

prototype:

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paste):

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That is one dirty breadboard! I bet it's seen alot of good use. I should have mentioned that I was successful in soldering the 01005s (verified with a microscope) - it just took me oh about 5-10x as long as the 0201s. The pads I used were .2mmx.3mm. I mean, after all, what good is a part that small if the pads for it are large?

How does your technique work when you have soldermask? All of my PCBs have soldermask, so I would imagine that'd get in the way when trying to touch copper near the pad.

I like your idea of placing with tweezers than holding down with something else. I'll give that a shot.

I think in the next olympics there should be a soldering event.

-Michael

Reply to
Michael

Yeah, I've had that one since grade school. Some of the contacts are mangled internally, it doesn't always let you plug stuff into it. I have a newer one that I use for big projects.

Yay! My first 01005 took 20 minutes.

I don't know. I don't put soldermask on my home boards. Even the ones I made had big enough pads that you could touch the pad and not the part, barely. Otherwise, you just touch the part and make sure you're holding it down.

The reflow idea works best with parts that have pads *under* them, like CSP chips. Touch all you want, you still won't be touching the pad itself.

Since I often check the placement under the microscope, you have to figure out how to let go of it and then hold it again anyway. Switching tools doesn't add to the excitement, and you can nudge the parts around with a toothpick too.

I might try an xacto knife next time; it's even sharper than a toothpick.

Also, with a toothpick, you can focus on holding it in the right place, without the problem of also squeezing it. I touch the board with my fingertips, holding the toothpick near the working end, to cut down on jitters.

Reply to
DJ Delorie

Hi Michael,

Personally 0402 is the smallest that I have done by hand, but I watched another guy very successfully hand solder some 0201. His board was tinned, so he did not apply any solder or solderpaste (he said that there was enough tin-lead on the pads already).

All he did was wipe the pads across with a flux pen, put the 0201 down, hold it with something like a sharpened toothpick & then bring the iron tip down onto the pads. He did it very quickly and with an excellent result.

I don't know if you could do that with 01005, though. I appreciate just what that size means. The components are like dust specks.

I have a feeling that a good way to approach 01005 might be to not use an iron at all, but maybe hot air butane pencil torch (the Weller one is the best - other brands just don't seem to focus the heat properly).

Maybe wipe the pads with liquid flux (eg. from a flux pen). Also maybe apply the tiniest bit of solderpaste using the end of a tootpick as the applicator. Place down the component somehow. Then use the hot air butane pencil torch to reflow. I realise that because the component is so small, the air flow from the butane torch could potentially move the component, but hopefully the flux / solderpaste will be sticky enough to hold it in place.

Or maybe like DJ said, use a reflow oven or hotplate.

Or maybe something more lateral - don't use solder at all! I have not tried this, but maybe you could try tiny little blobs of conductive silver epoxy on the pads, then just place the component - no soldering. Something like

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, or just Google "conductive silver epoxy". Could be a nice technique for prototypes.

Cheers,

Tony Burch

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Reply to
Tony Burch

I'll do it then[*]. I've been off caffeine for almost a year. That and alcohol are off-limits after the A-Fib. :-( The good news is that I can drink as much decaffeinated coffee as I want. The bad news is that it doesn't do anything. The time someone slipped the captivated coffee into the decaf container was "interesting, but noooot funny". I drank most of the pot before I realized what happened. %-[

[*] If I can see the bloody things - just got back from the eye doctor.
--
  Keith
Reply to
krw

^ sounds addictive.

--
John
Reply to
John O'Flaherty

Damned speel czecher.

Maybe he's not so good.

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  Keith
Reply to
krw

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