We just got sent this board from our office in China. I was appalled. I couldn't solder this poorly if you paid me. I refused to hook it up to our equipment. I'd want to spend a couple hours with a multimeter and the Weller before I risked hooking it up...
Have you ever seen solder this bad in person? I've seen one or two worse on the internet, but I've never seen something this bad up close.
Large resolution (THE HORROR):
Oh wow.
Worst I've seen was in some thread where a guy butchered his kit and demanded refund when it did not work properly, and the thing was a complete mess. Think it was in the "worst customer you've dealt with" thread or something like that.
Wow....
I think even Stevie Wonder would do a job 10 times better than that.
How the
pineapple did they even manage to get the solder everywhere on the groundplane?
It looks like someone's loaded the end of the iron with gobs of solder then just flicked it all over the board!
Looks like they don't have the benefit of leaded solder and rosin flux, either.
Tim
There's flux residue all over the board. Whatever he was using, it was probably rosin-cored. I think that he was using 60/40 on an RoHS HASL board or something.
We just got sent this board from our office in China. I was appalled. I couldn't solder this poorly if you paid me. I refused to hook it up to our equipment. I'd want to spend a couple hours with a multimeter and the Weller before I risked hooking it up...
Somewhere in your 40s you'll probably start wearing reading glasses, and then you will think more kindly of bad soldering.
In your 50's you won't be able to handle SMD's without dropping them on the rug (goodbye forever) and when you hit 60's, it won't matter since you won't remember where you put the roll of solder !!
I would submit this one to the thread.
I'm working on this as we speak. A piece of commercial test gear from the 80's I believe.
I can't show the worst soldering I've seen because the board didn't survive. The guy who did that was beyond any hope of ever soldering something right
Some shining examples from a device that's on my bench at the moment. My client paid >£300 and waited 3 months for this. It contains <£10 worth of parts and doesn't even work.
Edit: To clarify... they bought it from someone else and I'm fixing it
I've seen worse but it was done by a 12 year old on her first attempt at soldering. Most of the copper was missing from the PCB.
I would submit this one to the thread.
I'm working on this as we speak. A piece of commercial test gear from the 80's I believe.
That must have been soldered during the jarrasic era
I would submit this one to the thread.
I'm working on this as we speak. A piece of commercial test gear from the 80's I believe.
That must have been soldered during the jarrasic era
saw my little "easter egg" in that 2nd photo - good on you!
I would submit this one to the thread.
I'm working on this as we speak. A piece of commercial test gear from the 80's I believe.
That must have been soldered during the jarrasic era
Exactly what I was thinking.
Now you just need to extract the DNA from it and make an island adventure park!
I saw someone at uni totally butcher a PCB with hook up wire and terrible soldering EVERYWHERE.
The really infuriating think was that he did get the circuit working, much to everyone's surprise.
One of my ex-bosses had to be the worst I've ever seen.
Though what amazed me is the fact that he was doing warranty repair work for major companies: Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp etc.
I found out a few years after I left his employ, that when some of the major companies that pulled him up on the shoddy solder work, he told them it was his techs, me included, that were the culprits.
Regards,
Relayer
It seems that it was make on porpuse. I've never seen something like that. I've seen really really bad designs. One boss route VCC and GND crossing each other. I don't know what he was thinking.
I had a more expensive type of Philips digital clock radio that was giving intermittent trouble about 15 years ago. I opened it up and was shocked by the deplorable soldering in side. Hand soldered, cheap arse components, disgraceful component mounting, insufficient solder and dry joints everywhere. It was the worst soldering I have ever seen on a consumer product from a so-called reputable brand. Made in China of course. When so-called named brands start producing crap, sacrificing quality to save a few bucks, it scares customers off.
I have never bought anything with the Philips brand since. Would not even consider them.
One of my ex-bosses had to be the worst I've ever seen.
Though what amazed me is the fact that he was doing warranty repair work for major companies: Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp etc.
I found out a few years after I left his employ, that when some of the major companies that pulled him up on the shoddy solder work, he told them it was his techs, me included, that were the culprits.
Regards,
Relayer
Why should he own up to his incompetency when he can easily shove it off on others
Why should he own up to his incompetency when he can easily shove it off on others
Isn't that principle taught the first week in business school?
I don't even... Found this attempted repair on a plasma TV power supply.
Regarding the original photo I suspect that there are a lot of dry joints too judging by the appearance - completely unacceptable.
For decades my soldering iron for electronics was a 15W Antex plugged directly into the mains. I've got at least 4 such irons of varying wattages. Whilst such irons are derided these days I built many electronic projects successfully with them and despite now owning a good temperature controlled unit I will still keep my old ones.
With age my biggest problem now is to finely manipulate solder, iron, wire and socket without shaking, thus causing bad joints. Once upon a time I could do all this with just my fingers but no longer. Now I need two extra hands to hold everything steady. Everything takes 10 times longer. Aah well.