1. The Hand Soldering Process
Soldering is a method of joining two metals together to form a sound electrical and mechanical joint. This is achieved by the use of a soldering iron or similar which melts a low melting point alloy to act as a joining medium. The flowing of the solder alloy into the joint is achieved by capillary action, with wetting ensuring the joint strength.
Solder comes in various alloys withy most containing cores of flux to aid the soldering process.
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2. Hand Soldering Applications
Soldering Irons/Stations are used for a number of applications within electronics manufacturing. During assembly they are used both for soldering of components, particularly odd form and special packages aswell as touchup and rework of process failures.
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3. Soldering Iron/Station Types
Soldering Irons/Stations come in many varieties, from standard basic irons to a full soldering station including multi channel power and digital temperature control. However the choice of iron usually depends on the application and power requirements. Higher wattage irons have the ability to solder joints with high thermal mass( heatsinks) etc, without losing temperature.
Another system is a hot air soldering pencil which offers another reworking option and is useful for some SMT devices where a solder tip cannot be used.
Some advanced systems offer desoldering capability which remove solder from joints and components.
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4. Troubleshooting Hand Soldering Problems
Soldering is a skill which benefits from training in order to understand the factors required to achieve a good joint, and as such is a process which can lead to the following problems:
Dry/Cracked Joints..
This is normally caused by movement of an element of the joint before the solder has solidified. All joints must be adequately heated to ensure full melting and wetting of the solder is achieved and then must be kept still until the joint has cooled/solidified completely.
Too low a wattage soldering iron for the joint type also can cause this issue.
Poor Hole Fill..
In order to achieve good barrel fill when hand soldering it is importatnt that enough heat is applied and that the correct solder is used. Solder will only wet onto heated surfaces properly fluxed. Therefore ensure that you have enough power(watts) in the iron and that there is sufficient flux in the solder for the application.
Pad Lifting..
Pad lifting is usually caused by extended contact at high temperatures. This is normally caused by poorly trained operators. Other causes are wrong tip type ( using too big/wide a tip). insufficient flux in solder resulting in prolonged contact times to achieve wetting. The switch to higher temeratures associated with lead free solders also contributes to the ocurrences of this problem.
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5. Expert Advice..
Please visit individual supplier websites for further detailed information.Browse manufacturers soldering irons/stations here
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