How heat sensitive is the OPL3 chip?

[monokinetic]

Hi all,

I'm just about to start soldering up my 1st OPL3 board from Mike. I have chips from airmailed so I didnt have to desolder them (thank goodness those pins are tiny!!)

I have been doing some research into SMD chips and lots of websites seem to say you should use a temperature controlled soldering iron. I just have a bog standard 25w iron but  I'm pretty confident with it after the hours of sodlering which gave birth to my lovely sequencer :0

Do you think I can risk using this iron or should I only use a temperature controlled one?

TIA

Dave mK

[airmailed]

i have seen some damned cheap temp thingy stations, maplin sell one for £25 which routinely gets reduced to £9.99 in sales... i haven't tried one cos i doubt i could get spares for it and the whole throwaway thing seems a bit nuts to me... not to mention that the chinese government are spending lots of  their new found cash on nuclear submarines and other delights.... i do probably buy chinese goods without checking but am starting to think i should avoid it (if that's still possible)... trouble is i like getting stuff cheap ;-)

theres a brand called xytronic which are quite cheap, don't know where they're made.... also some cheap ones can be had from opitec, a german supplier with offices all over europe

http://opitec.com/

[monokinetic]

Hi ya,

yeah I know what you mean about gettin cheap stuff. My last soldering iron I had from M*plin and I tried to get a new bit from them 3 times without any success, so a massive block of plastic (oil)  and iron went in the bin-> landfill :(

Luckily I found out my Dad has bought a temp-control iron so I shall borrow it next time I'm home.....

And then I will save up and buy a good one my self with a couple of spare irons for the many more hours of winter soldering ahead ;)

D

[madox]

Hi,

I've been soldering for more than 20 years, and it's my opinion that a good iron is very important in producing a circuit.  This is not just because it's better for the joints and chips, but also because it makes the work much faster, and much easier.  The condition of the element and the tip are also really important.  The element is also probably the most expensive part to replace (this has been my experience so far).  I've also had success with 25 Watt irons, and there are actually some pretty decent ones around.  There are a few problems with them though.  They can wear out more easily, and need more frequent replacement, which drives up the cost.

It's important to have an iron both hot enough (temperature), and able to provide enough heat (energy).  Ideally, you want to concentrate heat around the surface of materials to be joined.  If the iron can't provide enough heat, or maintain the temperature, then the material will heat slowly, which allows more heat to be conducted deeper within a component.  This can cause component damage.  It also takes a lot longer, and if it's a bad case, you may have to wait longer between soldering joints within close proximity of eachother.  A good iron allows you to go through the joints really quickly.

[audiocommander]

and it's my opinion that a good iron is very important in producing a circuit.

yeah, agreed. I just switched to a new one with digital controlled temperature. It's all a lot faster and more accurate to solder.

And you definitely need a small tip for soldering SMD!

t's really hard to fix, once you accidentially soldered to neighboured pins... so I would try to avoid this from the beginning...

Cheers, Michael