Hi there,
Always sticked to through hole stuff in my projects so far, but the marvelous tutorials from Dave on SMD soldering somehow made me confident that it was possible, and even simple at that !
And well, it turns out I just have a need/opportunity to pioneer SMD soldering, as I am trying to fix a defective Tek TDS 300 series CRO I just got on Ebay for just 60 Euros ! The upper 4 rotary knobs of the front panel do funny business and make the scope impossible to operate. I am suspecting the two surface mount 74HC4051 analog multiplexers on the front panel board, and would like to try and replace them to see what that does... but my solder wick and solder are not suitable, hopeless, way too coarse. So while I am ordering the chips form Farnell, I need to also get some appropriate solder wick and solder, so as to hopefully be as successful as Dave in his videos but the question is...
WHAT to order !?
Farnell lists TONS of solder wick and solder... and I don't want to order one of each and test them all to see which one is best !
So Dave if you are reading this, may I ask you to post the exact reference (brand and model) of solder wick and solder you use, so I/we can hopefully find it in Farnell's catalog (only major/serious supplier we have access to in France, as hobbyists), and if not... at least give us the most important specs that do matter for the quality of the job ?
From what I can recollect, you said that the solder must be of the old leaded type, because the ROHS stuff is a bit of a pain, and that it must be as small as possible, you mentioned 0,4mm or about, IIRC. It must also have built-in flux, right ? (don't even know if flux-less solder even exists ?).
For the solder wick, it seems you use a bare copper, non-tined model. But what is its width, and how many wires does it have (how "fine" is it, IOW).
I have had only bad luck with my 3mm wide tined solder wick, despite it cost me a fortune. I think the wires in it are way too big in diameter, but don't know what diameter would be small enough to efficiently suck solder from tiny SMD pads... your solder wick in your videos appear to do such a fantastic and quick job, I dream of having such a marvel in my drawers !
Flux pen: brand and model ?
I think that's all that's needed... oh yeah, and a pair of fine tweezers, but I guess any model will do
Thanks in advance for your help !