Home › Forums › Everything about everything else › fcf3 board, solder pads coming loose
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1 April, 2017 at 14:49 #37059randyParticipant
was wiring up a new fcf3 FC and had 6 different solder pads come loose and break off. i don’t claim to be the da vinci of the soldering iron but this is not my first time. was wondering if anybody has had a similar experience or if there’s something i’m doing wrong.
1 April, 2017 at 22:17 #37062swissfreekParticipantThe times I’ve had solder pads come off it was a result of leaving the iron on the pad too long or at too high of a temperature.
If you are having trouble getting the solder to flow (for me it’s usually the ground pads because they are connected to so much copper and are basically a giant heat sink), the best solution, rather than turning the heat up, is using a larger tip on the iron. Then you can turn the temperature down and still get good heat transfer.
Your ideal temperature depends on the formulation of the solder you are using, but with the 63/37 lead solder that I use, 300° C is about right for most jobs. 60/40 should be about the same. I generally use a tip that is about the size of the pad I’m soldering to (except for the really huge battery pads, but those are usually big enough not to lift off).
Obviously you won’t have a tip for all the different size pads, you just don’t want to use a needle-point tip on a big battery pad, for example. There’s really no such thing as too big of a tip if you are at the right temperature, there just comes a point where the tip is so big you can’t get it into the location you are trying to solder without melting everything around it. My go-to tips for almost all jobs are a 1.8mm chisel tip and a 2.4mm chisel tip. For really really big pads I might use a bigger chisel, but I very rarely, if ever, use a smaller tip, unless it’s a super super intricate job.
Hope that helps.
1 April, 2017 at 22:31 #37064swissfreekParticipantI hope that didn’t come across as patronizing or insulting your soldering skills. I meant no offense.
2 April, 2017 at 12:50 #37066randyParticipantno problem, I appreciate your help and take no offense at all. I’ve just never had this much problem with a FC board before. oh well, you win some and you lose some. thanks
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