Author Topic: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?  (Read 1532 times)

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Offline bsodmikeTopic starter

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Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« on: November 05, 2020, 01:07:29 pm »
Hi all,

I have an old Metcal MX-500 station and used my finest chisel tip on an IC adapter board.  Here's the IC in question:

https://export.farnell.com/linear-technology/lt6654ais6-1-25-trmpbf/voltage-ref-series-1-25v-tsot23/dp/2761954

Adapter board:

https://export.farnell.com/roth-elektronik/re910pin/pcb-ic-adapter-6-sot-23-7-62mm/dp/3050943?ost=3050943

The issue I faced is that the pads on the adapter board are very close, so my usual trick of applying solder and wicking across didn't work as much as I liked.

Looking at the datasheet (attached), the failure here really was the adapter PCB  |O

Oh well, I'm now ordering this from ARIES and hopefully it'll work better.
https://export.farnell.com/aries/lcqt-sot23-6/ic-adaptor-6-sot23-to-dip-2-54mm/dp/2476032?ost=2476032
 

Offline ebastler

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2020, 03:14:29 pm »
Not sure I understand the specific difficulty there. In my experience, SOT pads are large enough to touch them with a soldering iron and a bit of solder, one by one? Only on the first pad, I pre-tin the pad and then tack on the part by touching it with the iron.

Youtube has plenty of tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=solder+sot-23
 

Offline Howardlong

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2020, 03:30:21 pm »
I'm not clear what the particular problem is either.

Do you use magnification? You should.

Are your hands a bit shaky? Lay off the caffeine! I also find that first thing in the morning I'm a bit shakier than later on in the day.

o You should be able to easily do one pin at a time without resorting to wick.

o I use a flux pen on the pads.

o Tin a corner pad.

o Position & hold the device down with tweezers, & apply heat to the pin on the pad you just tinned, maintaining the correct device position with the tweezers.

o Solder the remaining pins.
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2020, 04:29:50 pm »
Also, add flux. It’ll help prevent bridging.
 

Offline ebastler

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2020, 05:18:38 pm »
One more thought: Make sure your solder wire is not too thick, so you can dose it properly. I like 0.5 mm.
 

Offline georges80

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2020, 01:56:21 am »
Using a tiny tip is counter productive to soldering something relatively large such as a sot23-6. I would use a something in the 0.7 to 1mm width chisel tip, some decent solder and a dab of liquid flux. Job done in a few seconds.

cheers,
george.
 

Offline ebastler

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #6 on: November 06, 2020, 05:58:31 am »
Using a tiny tip is counter productive to soldering something relatively large such as a sot23-6. I would use a something in the 0.7 to 1mm width chisel tip.

If you were referring to my prior post -- I was not talking about the iron's tip, but about the solder wire. OP had mentioned the need to use wick, which makes we wonder whether he is using thick solder wire, resulting in too much solder being applied.
 

Offline bsodmikeTopic starter

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #7 on: November 06, 2020, 07:36:39 am »
Thanks to all - My approach isn't very different to what most here have recommended.  My process is:

  • Apply flux
  • Tin the pad
  • Attempt to tack on one leg
  • Go leg by leg

I'm using this 0.5mm lead free solder:
https://export.farnell.com/multicore-loctite/96sc-400-5c-0-50mm/solder-wire-lead-free-0-5mm-250g/dp/1115458

I had better luck with my 1.7mm chisel, but a 1mm chisel would be helpful - thanks for the suggestion!  With regards to my previous attempts, when I got back to my bench later it seems one had survived.  The 1.25Vref has been pretty solid.  Accurate to 1.2500 or 1.2499 (depending on temp change in my lab area).
 

Offline bsodmikeTopic starter

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #8 on: November 06, 2020, 07:38:37 am »
caffeine!! Hah, thanks for the heads up.  Never thought of that...
 

Offline thinkfat

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2020, 09:09:53 am »
Looking at that picture, too little flux.
Everybody likes gadgets. Until they try to make them.
 

Offline Howardlong

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #10 on: November 06, 2020, 11:37:13 am »
Looking at that picture, too little flux.

Certainly looks that way. Either the flux has burned/evaporated away, or there wasn't much before hand.

You don't need Louis' levels of flux for this, I just use a flux pen on the board.

I'm wondering if the OP keeps re-applying heat multiple times? Maybe because the iron's not hot enough?

Just a short dab for a second or so with the iron should be enough for the anchor pad.

Then a short dab with solder for the remaining pins. Don't apply solder to the tip, heat up the pad and pin for a second, and apply solder to the joint. Shouldn't take any more than a second or two total each joint. Clean your tip regularly in a wet sponge and/or that brass coily stuff. If there's any residual solder on the tip, the flux will have burned away, so get rid of it. Similarly, if you keep going back in on a joint, the flux will disappear. The joints should look smooth, not like an unsurfaced road ;-)

FWIW I use 350C to a 0.2mm conical, although I know there's a school of thought that prefers a chisel tip.

 
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Offline Refrigerator

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Re: Any tips/advice for hand soldering TSOT23-6?
« Reply #11 on: November 06, 2020, 06:09:01 pm »
In my experience there's no need for any special preparation, tip size or solder thickness.
I personally just put some flux around the IC and a dab of solder on my soldering iron tip (3mm chisel tip), then i just touch the pads and it's soldered.
Never had problems with bridging.
I have a blog at http://brimmingideas.blogspot.com/ . Now less empty than ever before !
An expert of making MOSFETs explode.
 


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