Robert has sent me one of his SX48 OEM Modules, and it was a real challenge for me soldering the SX48 part as I never did this before. I first applied some resin-based flux to both sides of the PCB. After the flux had dried a while, the board became a bit "sticky" so the SMT components were nicely held on place by the flux. Then I followed the instructions in Robert's documentation: I attached the SX48 by carefully placing it on the solder pads taking care that all pins were aligned correctly. Then, using a fine solder tip, I applied a very small amount of solder to two pins on opposite corners of the chip. Next, I applied solder to all pins in a row, not taking care of any shorts between the pins. I did the same for the remaining three rows, leaving some time in between to avoid heating up the chip too much. Then I used enough solder wick to remove the excessive solder, especially all the solder between the pins. To my surprise, this worked much better than I had expected. With an ohmmeter, I checked for shorts between all adjacent pins, and there was not even one. As additional safety measure, I also checked that all pins were electrically contacted to their pads.
So I can only say, soldering such fine-pitch SMT components is doable without special SMT tools. The only additional tool I needed was a good lighted magnifier. To my experience, it would be better using a larger solder tip for removing the excessive solder with solder wick than for soldering the part. You should also take much care, not to bend one of the legs especially when using the solder wick. It is be best to align a clean piece of solder wick over a row of legs, and then move the solder tip along the wick, lifting the wick up where it has absorbed the solder but not to move it sideways, as this might bend pins.
After this "soldering lesson", I feel much more confident about handling fine-pitch components - I definitely will do it again .
Comments
Robert has sent me one of his SX48 OEM Modules, and it was a real challenge for me soldering the SX48 part as I never did this before. I first applied some resin-based flux to both sides of the PCB. After the flux had dried a while, the board became a bit "sticky" so the SMT components were nicely held on place by the flux. Then I followed the instructions in Robert's documentation: I attached the SX48 by carefully placing it on the solder pads taking care that all pins were aligned correctly. Then, using a fine solder tip, I applied a very small amount of solder to two pins on opposite corners of the chip. Next, I applied solder to all pins in a row, not taking care of any shorts between the pins. I did the same for the remaining three rows, leaving some time in between to avoid heating up the chip too much. Then I used enough solder wick to remove the excessive solder, especially all the solder between the pins. To my surprise, this worked much better than I had expected. With an ohmmeter, I checked for shorts between all adjacent pins, and there was not even one. As additional safety measure, I also checked that all pins were electrically contacted to their pads.
So I can only say, soldering such fine-pitch SMT components is doable without special SMT tools. The only additional tool I needed was a good lighted magnifier. To my experience, it would be better using a larger solder tip for removing the excessive solder with solder wick than for soldering the part. You should also take much care, not to bend one of the legs especially when using the solder wick. It is be best to align a clean piece of solder wick over a row of legs, and then move the solder tip along the wick, lifting the wick up where it has absorbed the solder but not to move it sideways, as this might bend pins.
After this "soldering lesson", I feel much more confident about handling fine-pitch components - I definitely will do it again
Thank you, Robert!
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Greetings from Germany,
G