What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

[u666sa]

Let's say I want to do motherboard component repairs, replace south bridge, video chip, etc. Also, let's say I want to do component cell phone repairs, replace chips, etc. What do I need for this?

I have my eye on Aoyue 968A+, it has heat gun, iron, and smoke extractor. Is there any other system like that, which would be a better choice? (I need 220V)

Then I would need a vacuum suction station, please recommend me one, not too expensive.

What I don't get is those pre-heaters, what do I need them for, and what more could I do with them? (I saw a video where guy removed a BGA chip using just hot air gun)

Also, besides these big tools, what small stuff do I need? Holders, tweezers, etc.

[xboxhaxorz]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

SMD and BGA are 2 different things

For SMD you can use the aoyue but i would choose atten over that brand and they have it in 220v

The preheater does just that, it preheats the board to say 160c then you use the air to take it to 230c and remove the QFN SOP etc; if you just use the air want without preheater you will probably kill the chip

BGA is a different story, the machines START at $600

Note: you can REMOVE a bga with anything ie; heat gun, torch, oven now actually repairing a bga problem is a different story

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

You can do a lot with the hot air gun alone but for BGA, it's limited to small ones like memory chips, some network chips and so on. If you're repairing mobile phones, then most work can be done with the hot air station.

If you're repairing laptops, you're going to need a bit more than that. I am using my hot air station for both reballing and desoldering/resoldering BGAs, but it took a bit of work to make it usable. I have made a preheater, a stand for the hot air wand, and bought a special 41x41mm BGA nozzle. For the amount of work i do (4-5 BGA reworks a month at most), it serves the purpose fine, but if you plan on doing more i would invest in a proper BGA rework station. Also i'm limited to just laptops and motherboard chipsets, the hot air station does not have enough power to melt the solder under big chips like those on high-end desktop video cards or the PS3. For the Xbox it should work, but i haven't done any myself.

From what i've seen from others, i would go for a hot air machine such as the Honton R390 or R490 for repairing laptops and motherboards (Xbox, PS3 and so on). Avoid the Achi IR6000 and other similar cheap IR machines, as their top heat is uneven and you'll burn lots of chips. The IR-Pro-SC from what i hear is okay.

As for small tools, the most important two are good quality flux and desoldering braid. I recommend Kingbo flux and Goot Wick braid. Then you have the various nozzles for your hot air station, tweezers, small screwdrivers, temperature probes (they take all the guesswork out of desoldering stuff).

[xboxhaxorz]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

Your right on the Kingbo Flux, however goot wick is terrible in my opinion
I use the XModdz BGA Braid

While the R390 is a better machine than the ACHI, it is a 3 zone which may be more difficult to use compared to 2 zone machines so it will take a bit longer to get it setup and have a successful profile set

[clearchris]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

So far, all the wick I have works pretty well when I dunk it in flux. I just got some chinese wick in and I think i like it better because its stiffer and thus easier to get it where I want it.

[xboxhaxorz]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

For general soldering most braids are fine as are fluxes but when doing BGA i found the best quality supplies are needed

[dellxps15]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

i do laptop and console repair (stil learning) and have a full ir machine.

i tried some cellphone with the hot air and i damaged the plastic camera lens with hot temperature even if i covered all with kapton....

my opinion is to focalize in one side. laptop and phones are complete different approach. phone are cheap pcb single or few multylayer, while some laptop or desktop board can have multylater and harder to disolder.

my stull is an atten 8586 (85€ new) and jetronix eco (1000€ new).

for the hot air, the ayoue has smoke absorber that can be good, so probably next time ill go with the 968+A (new model for 170€).

for reworking machine, i read almost all guides before buy. mine works fine just out of the box (except thermocouple that is made for liquid...and read about 20° less)

many people will suggest to buy a cheap ir station and then change the plate with the well known elstein german quality ir heater).

the unique has a special home made station and it work just fine (or even better then mine)

keep in mind also all the otehr staff to buy (stencil, flux, solder iron kit, kapton, alluminium cover, ecc ecc) it will be a good $$ in money loss.

if u want to do phone, some component is ok with hot air, while some just need infrared ; a normal puhui 862++ will do the job fine and save plastic component.. to replace also screen, u need other staff like preheater , and metal wire , uv glue and so on.


for the wick, i have a good wick and another brand. good wicg use thinner rame , it clean better small component, but can easly scratch surface , expecially those bga pins on mainboard.

here is a video of my rework station.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ5083Wvh1A

[LENOVO-A880]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

Here I would to have a few technical questions on SMD reworking and tools:

1. Let's say I want to do mobo component repairs like SMD reworks, cell phone repairs, replace chips, etc. What I do I need for this? For soldering/desoldering purposes, I have my eyes on Hakko FX-888D series it has more accurate temperature controller to help protect against cold solder joints.
2. For SMD rework, do I need a preheater station and normally hot air to lift the temperature take it let's say up to 230°C to remove the QFN SOP; ceramic capacitors; and etc?
3. For SMD rework soldering station, I prefer to have a normal one that bundle with complete set like Hakko FX-888D while for mainly rework station I prefer to get one like Aoyue 968A+. It has heat gun, iron, and smoke extractor. Would you recommend others brand like Atten (220V) ?

[dellxps15]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

i would not reccomend the hakko, as it has only solder iron. better get a more complete setup like atten 8586 or ayoue 968+A. ayoue has double the price, but quality is better and has smoke extractor.
to remove qfn 230° are not enought. it depends of course if for cellphone or laptop. some cellphone have crap quality pcb, o is way better to get a little infrared station for some component remove like connector with plastic, bga chip. for small smd like 0402 or 0603 capacitors-resistor a good solder iron is reccomended and ull be fine with both atten or ayoue. keep also money for extra staff like qfn , bga pump to lift them, flux, wire wick, extra iron tips, iron cleaner, non magnetic tweezers.

[Agent24]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

I would get the Hakko iron (much better quality, better tips etc) but a cheap hot air station would be fine.

[dellxps15]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

how much costs the hakko compared to the 85€ of hatten and 170€ of ayoue hot air station ?

[LENOVO-A880]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

I'm not a professional repair tech, just someone learning electronic as a hobby and please let me comment here that :

1. For almost 1 month of observations here and self-learning by seeking questions related to SMD rework especially on tiny ceramic capacitors through out the websites (ordering components/materials; watching technical videos; read technical forums like Badcaps) here I would like to agree that Hakko's products can be trusted.
2. For price wise I would say it is higher than other brands like ATTEN or AOYUE which i'm still considering to have one. I found some technical guides and tips showing on Hakko's official page (www.hakkousa.com) which I think can be really useful for beginners like me. Here, pretty much that they offer the videos for user/non-user to follow too.
3. From the information the distibutor provides to me another thing that confused me is the tips. Can anybody show me in some pics what the tip actually look like for new unit of Hakko FX-888D? I want to use it for my SMD capacitors size (1206) rework. Thank You.

[Agent24]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

1206 components can be done with a small (1mm or so) chisel tip. You can easily get these for Hakko (and also the Aoyue too)

Although capacitor manufacturers don't recommended to solder MLCCs with an iron directly - you can crack them by too rapid heating. They recommend you use hot air for those, or if you do use the iron, preheat and make sure not to touch the capacitor with the iron directly, just the pad and solder. (see attached file, page 9)

I don't know if you've seen this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqJdJEMUOE but that and some of his other videos are very useful.

[LENOVO-A880]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

1206 components can be done with a small (1mm or so) chisel tip. You can easily get these for Hakko (and also the Aoyue too)

Although capacitor manufacturers don't recommended to solder MLCCs with an iron directly - you can crack them by too rapid heating. They recommend you use hot air for those, or if you do use the iron, preheat and make sure not to touch the capacitor with the iron directly, just the pad and solder. (see attached file, page 9)

I don't know if you've seen this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqJdJEMUOE but that and some of his other videos are very useful.

Thanks a lot for your videos and attached *MLCC guide*. Again there are some points to be aware of when performing *manual-soldering* especially on monolithic ceramic capacitors. Let me comment here that during the soldering process, it is necessary to be careful of the following 2 issues because of the characteristic temperature change and also residual stress.

1. In order to prevent damage (cracks) to the component that can be caused by localized rapid heating-heat shock, *preheat* the chip, for example, to prevent it from being subjected to heat shock.
2. P.C board temperature is lower than that used for reflow soldering, so a difference in residual stress occurs when the joint cools down, and the mechanical strength (resistance to bending) is liable to be low. In order to increase the strength, it is necessary to maintain the high temperature of your board during soldering.

• Q1→issue1

If my board is *single sided*, hand soldering can be carried out while preheating the chip / the board using a *hotplate*. If my board is *double sided* there are 2 methods of soldering can be used here :

1. Method of soldering while preheating the board and the chip with a spot heater
2. Method of soldering using a spot heater alone

With the absence of preheater, like hot plate, hot air type preheater, etc, can hand soldering still be possible to be carried out avoiding the 2 mentioned methods above?

• Q2→issue2

If the high temperature is needed for the board during soldering, how do we identify the curing temperature of the P.C board if it is coated and how does it influence the quality of the product? (Ex: verify of non-harmful gas emission during curing which may damage the chip..)

[LENOVO-A880]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

Finally after 3 months of researching on the internet for fault cases of laptop motherboard intermittent shutdown or such a problem of MSI CR400 sudden shutdown issue, I had managed to solve it while persistently finding the fault with precious help from this forum. This is my first ever project of fixing a failing capacitors of motherboard like MSI CR400 and successfully doing a recap on the motherboard. The kind of patient you need to follow when a laptop/desktop doesn't work will lead you to getting it fix and bring back the lifespan of a bad or damaged electronic unit like this one. Here I would like to say thanks for your help Badcaps !

[dj_ricoh]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

Finally after 3 months of researching on the internet for fault cases of laptop motherboard intermittent shutdown or such a problem of MSI CR-400 sudden shutdown issue, I had managed to solve it while persistently finding the fault with precious help from this forum. This is my first project of fixing a failing capacitors of motherboard like MSI-CR400 and successfully doing a recap on the motherboard. The kind of patient you need to follow when a laptop/desktop doesn't work will lead you to getting it fix and bring back the lifespan of a bad or damaged electronic unit like this one. Here I would like to say thanks for your help Badcaps !

what caps did you change? 330uF or small ones? 5-10uf?

[LENOVO-A880]

Re: What SMD Rework tools do one needs, preheat, etc?

what caps did you change? 330uF or small ones? 5-10uf?

This is what I have changed (refer to the first pic). The specification of the capacitor for MSI CR400 motherboard is similar to the NEC Proadlizer® Tokin PF/A series which has rating as follows:

1. Tokin Rated Voltage(V) = 2.5
2. Tokin Capacitance(μ F) = 900
3. Dissipation Factor (%) = 10
4. DC leakage Current(μ A) = 250
5. ESR(m Ω) at 100kHz = 1.5
6. Part No.= PFAF250E907MCBTE

This failing capacitor is located beneath the processor (depends on which kind or speed you have) and managed to trigger the signal for shutting down the motherboard circuit if the ESR reading is abnormal (too high). Again after so many hours the MSI CR400 doesn't seem to have anymore shutdown related problem. For further details of the ceramic capacitors that I managed to get from RS-Components online refer to the link here:https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...963#post448963