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Home Use Rework Station Recommendations?

The project of the moment is a Laptop with video chip problems. This seems to be a common problem with this model laptop with the Nvidia graphics chip. A common fix per multiple internet sites is to reflow the solder and/or reball the BGA. I could replace the motherboard or send the board off for repair, but I'm considering buying the equipment because I'm interested in using it for hobby applications, designing circuits that use surface mount components that are on the small side for my soldering iron ability.

Any good sources for equipment cheap enough for home hobbyists to be able to work & rework surface mount chips? Would it work to just use a heat gun and one of those infrared thermometers? I thought I could apply enough heat to reflow the solder, or component removal, without excessive heat to destroy things.

Thanks!

RogerN

Reply to
RogerN
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You need a X-ray system to inspect the BGA for proper Ball soldering. It's all related to the thermal profile needed to flow all the balls, not easy for DIY.

Even if you sent the board out for rework, you'd find that it's quite expensive for one off's.

If it?s a common problem, then you can bet the thermal profile they used was incorrect. That is IF it is the problem. The rumor was used for the XBOX, but it turned out to be the design of ASIC for the graphics.

You can get a new i5 laptop for ~$600

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Depends on the budget of the home hobbyist, of course. Folks are reflowing whole boards with toaster ovens (sometimes with thermostat upgrades), but if you want a hot air rework station, the low end of functional is Aoyue (china) through ebay (or more expensive channels if your prefer) and the better quality they are ripping off is Haako (one of those nordic countries...)

Haven't shopped recently, but $145 & $900 or so last I looked. There are others, (pace, metcal?) some come up used as deals, I don't know much about them, though I couldn't find any that were deals when I was actually shopping - just overpriced broken things. What there is at any time varies, so that may not be true now.

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Reply to
Ecnerwal

As you might guess from the name, Hakko's head office is in Japan (Osaka, to be specific).

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

You need a X-ray system to inspect the BGA for proper Ball soldering. It's all related to the thermal profile needed to flow all the balls, not easy for DIY.

Even if you sent the board out for rework, you'd find that it's quite expensive for one off's.

If it's a common problem, then you can bet the thermal profile they used was incorrect. That is IF it is the problem. The rumor was used for the XBOX, but it turned out to be the design of ASIC for the graphics.

You can get a new i5 laptop for ~$600

Cheers

It's a common problem within a certain year range for the NVidia chip, there was a class action lawsuit. I have an i7 laptop with 8Gb ram.... but I'm still wanting to fix the old one. I use the old laptop for programming PLC's and HMI panels, it has RS-232, 2 PC card slots (54mm and 34mm?), 4Gb Ram, Core 2 duo 9300, great graphics, etc. The old laptop still works, I just have to leave the video chip as disabled, but that disables sleep mode and the laptop takes a long time to boot Windows XP with all the software I have running. So for now my plan is to have the new laptop (i7) for everyday use and still use the old one for programming PLC's, HMI's, and 'legacy' compatibility.

RogerN

Reply to
RogerN

I have one of these, and I'm quite happy with it:

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Reply to
JW

The Xytronic line is reasonably priced for name brand stuff; I've been pretty happy with the ones I've used.

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is my usual go-to vendor for Xytronic but there are certainly others.

Might also look over at Circuit Specialists; they have a house-brand "BlackJack" line that's at a lower price point and is probably fine for occasional use. I haven't used those in particular but I've dealt with Circuit Specialists (aka Web-Tronics) for some years for assorted odds and ends.

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Rich Webb     Norfolk, VA
Reply to
Rich Webb

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Reply to
David Eather

A heat gun with two 'speeds' will suffice. Pre-heat the board slowly and then use the highest setting to quickly heat the board beyond the solder melting point. Be sure to apply some flux first.

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Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
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Reply to
Nico Coesel

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