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Board Soldering: Overheating and Cleaning?

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messydeer

Joined: 13 Feb 2006
Posts: 214
Location: Bellingham, WA

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 3:49 pm Post subject: Board Soldering: Overheating and Cleaning?

Hi!



I think I'd like to solder wires to the back of my transponder board. Using the supplied edge card connector housing, I couldn't get the contacts to lock into place. Instead, they'd move around inside the housing. I figure I could cut these contacts off the ends and solder the 24 awg wires directly to the board.



I was able to solder a D-Sub15 onto the end that connects to the encoder (EFIS), so I plan to make a male-female connection of the d-subs in case I need to service the unit. 



I've never soldered to a board, but imagine it's easier than the cramped solder cups I've already done. Main questions are heat and cleaning. I've got a 30W iron. How long can I leave a tinned tip on the board before being concerned with overheating?



I also read a little about cleaning the board after soldering, cuz of the flux. I'm using Kester 44 resin core. Should I wipe the board with rubbing alcohol after I'm done?



Suggestions appreciated.

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_________________
Dan

jdfnnef(at)bellsouth.net
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 5:02 pm Post subject: Board Soldering: Overheating and Cleaning?

Dan,

Everybody will have an opinion, so here is mine!  I think you should be able

to tin the edge connector in about 2-3 seconds.  Let the board cool.  Then

attached tinned wire in another couple of seconds.  The trick is to use LOTS

of flux.  I use a Kester Flux Pen (pH neutral and water soluble).  It avail.

from Newark.com (PN 00Z1356) for about $5.  Great stuff.  The flux makes the

joint heat much quicker and creates a smooth shiney joint.  A spool of 2mm

desoldering braid is also handy when you have screwed up and created a

"bridge".(Newark.com PN 95F6235) Be sure and "soak" braid with flux before

desoldering.  I use denatured alcohol and an old tooth brush to clean board

after using rosin core solder.



--

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ceengland(at)bellsouth.ne
Guest

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 6:29 pm Post subject: Board Soldering: Overheating and Cleaning?

Are the edge connector fingers gold plated? If so, it's doubtful you'll 

even need flux. A clean pencil eraser is effective for removing surface 

corrosion. I would 2nd Dave's advice; tin both, then place the tinned 

wire on the finger & heat the joint until the solder 'flows', add a 

small touch of solder & you should get a fillet of solder between the two.



You might try visiting a local electronics repair shop & ask for a scrap 

circuit board. You can practice on that, to get a feel for how much heat 

to use, & how long to apply it. BTW, while you don't want to use a big 

'gun' type iron, using a really small iron can be a bigger risk for 

damaging the board, because it might heat the joint too slowly, allowing 

the board, insulation, etc to overheat before the joint itself reaches a 

high enough temp to make a good joint. If you've never done any 

soldering, remember to heat the joint, and let the joint melt the 

solder. If you apply the solder directly to the iron, the joint may not 

be hot enough to make a proper joint.



If you're really worried about doing it correctly, find your local HAM 

radio club & offer a meal or 'beverage' in exchange for someone's 

soldering services. If you can't find a HAM club, ask at the airport; a 

lot of pilots are also HAM's (though I'm not).



Charlie

electronics tech in a former life



On 5/17/2011 7:58 PM, Dave and Nancy Fortenbery wrote:

[quote] 



 Dan,

 Everybody will have an opinion, so here is mine!  I think you should be able

 to tin the edge connector in about 2-3 seconds.  Let the board cool.  Then

 attached tinned wire in another couple of seconds.  The trick is to use LOTS

 of flux.  I use a Kester Flux Pen (pH neutral and water soluble).  It avail.

 from Newark.com (PN 00Z1356) for about $5.  Great stuff.  The flux makes the

 joint heat much quicker and creates a smooth shiney joint.  A spool of 2mm

 desoldering braid is also handy when you have screwed up and created a

 "bridge".(Newark.com PN 95F6235) Be sure and "soak" braid with flux before

 desoldering.  I use denatured alcohol and an old tooth brush to clean board

 after using rosin core solder.



 --

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messydeer

Joined: 13 Feb 2006
Posts: 214
Location: Bellingham, WA

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 6:42 pm Post subject: Re: Board Soldering: Overheating and Cleaning?

Thanks, guys 



The only soldering I've ever done is for the airplane wiring. I crimped as many as I could and soldered the rest. I feel fairly comfortable soldering after having done a few dozen wires, though.



Your suggestion about a scrap circuit board reminds me that I've got a dead PC sitting in my room. Not sure if there are any edge connectors, but it'd stl il be good practice. Transponder contacts are not gold, btw. And the iron I've got is 3/16" or 1/4" that tapers to a cone, which sounds like it'd work well.

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Dan

email(at)jaredyates.com
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 7:05 pm Post subject: Board Soldering: Overheating and Cleaning?

If your PC is of the right vintage, you might be able to find some

nice test subjects on the removable accessories, like the modem and

sound card.  The ISA and PCI connectors both had nice edge contacts,

with the ISA being slightly more widely spaced.



On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 10:42 PM, messydeer <messydeer(at)yahoo.com> wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   



 Thanks, guys 



 The only soldering I've ever done is for the airplane wiring. I crimped as many as I could and soldered the rest. I feel fairly comfortable soldering after having done a few dozen wires, though.



 Your suggestion about a scrap circuit board reminds me that I've got a dead PC sitting in my room. Not sure if there are any edge connectors, but it'd stl il be good practice. Transponder contacts are not gold, btw. And the iron I've got is 3/16" or 1/4" that tapers to a cone, which sounds like it'd work well.



 --------

 Dan





 Read this topic online here:



 http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=340222#340222

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messydeer

Joined: 13 Feb 2006
Posts: 214
Location: Bellingham, WA

Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 6:47 am Post subject: Re: Board Soldering: Overheating and Cleaning?

 	  Quote: 	
		  The ISA and PCI connectors both had nice edge contacts 	




Yes, I think mine prolly does have some of those.



I tried freeing up the case from the board to give me a little more room, but stopped after about 20 screws when I felt that something might come loose that I couldn't easily reattach. There's ~1/4" gap below the card edge and metal back of the case. My soldering iron can reach it at a 45 degree angle, so I think that'll work.

 	  Quote: 	
		  Before you solder wires to the board, how many 

pins (ecb tabs) are on this connector. I presume 

also that they are .156" spacing on centers of 

the tabs (that was a common standard way back when). 



There might be a better way. I'm assuming you've got 

12 upper and lower ECB tabs on a 1/16" thick board. 

	




Thanks, Bob, except I've got 15 tabs on the bottom 3 or 4 on the top. At this point, since I've got all the pieces to do the direct soldering and D-Sub 15 connections, I'm leaning in that direction. Soldering the male pins to the board wouldn't be very easy either, since the metal shell would protect the pins from the solder tip. But if there was room to maneuver, it would make for a slick connection, all right.



And here's something I've noticed. Many of your replies (like the one partially quoted above) end up getting a new topic instead of in the original thread. So I don't get an instant email notification and only learn about them when I go to the message board directly. The thread ends up getting split in two. All this is pretty trivial. I'm just curious.

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