Few questions from a beginner

[chaosoffar]

I have a few power supplies I'm thinking about recapping, all Antecs: Smartpower 350w & 450w, SL220 220w, and a PP-253x 250w. From reading a bit on the forums it seems the Smartpowers are considered worth recapping but I was wondering if the others are decent enough to recap or not to bother? I also have a Viewsonic monitor power supply that needs recapped.
As I'm new to this and don't have any equipment yet I was wondering where I should buy soldering equipment from, don't think I'll be doing much of this in the future but could be wrong.

[KeriJane]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

Hi Chaosoffar

Welcome to the Forum!

Just go to your local Radio Shack for beginner tools.
You want:
One or two soldering irons, (maybe a low and a mid powered)
Solder. I prefer the very thin 60/40 on a spool.
Desolder braid, or wick.
A tip cleaner or sponge.
You can also get some sort of desoldering tool. Radio Shack offers two styles, both are inexpensive. The first, which I prefer, is the bulb sucker which has a rubber suction bulb attached to a soldering iron with a hollow tip. The second is a spring-loaded thing that looks vaguely like a large magic marker.

The big issue is where to obtain suitable replacement capacitors. Radio Shack does NOT have any suitable "Low-ESR" caps that would be used in a power supply.
Additionally, Antecs usually have odd-sized caps from a disreputable vendor named "Fuhijju". (typically a 10mm diameter can where reputable makers use a 12.5mm∅)

When you obtain suitable caps (some are available right here at BadCaps.net) the actual capacitor replacement is not especially difficult. The older Antec PSUs used easy-to-solder single sided circuit boards.

Have Fun,
Keri

PS. I nicknamed the spring-loaded solder sucker " The solder-sucking Pogo Stick From Hades"

[370forlife]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

I too have the radio shack solder-sucking solder iron. It is not sufficient if that is your only soldering Iron. It is not that powerful and it does not heat all the solder. You must get a good 60W or so soldering iron and use the radio snack one to get the solder out.

[ratdude747]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

dont use radior shack stuff. their stuff is overpriced crap, trust me. every tool i bought led a short life. the tools at my local electronics shop cost the same but were professional quality.

for solder suckers i use an all aluminum vellman mechanical compact esd safe one. the bulbs keri likes leak too much soder for my liking. i fond desoldering irons/guns to be a waste of money.

good soldering supply brands

xytronic (i use their 258 temp. controlled iron. very good for beginners, good selection of tips for purchase)

vellman (i use their solder sucker)

hakko

there are other good brands, people here will post them.

dont buy irons with single screw tip holders. i had a 30w one out of a kronus kit that:

had the heat output of a 22w (poor heat-to-tip transfer)

tip died and no replacemets available

not grounded/no temp control

do not buy kronus brand at radio shack. flashy shit if you ask me. i had one their solder suckers shoot off the tip when the threads stiripped and almost took out a window and an eye (glasses to the rescue!)

for solder, i use spooled thin silver-bearing solder. low melt temp, good to mix int stubborn joints.

i use my solder to tin it and a pastel-yellow sponge from the supermarket (wetted) to remove exess solder. wet denim works too, btw.

[momaka]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

The only tools I use for soldering is a 60w "gun" type iron from Radio Shack. It's more than enough for simple stuff like power supplies and other single-sided PCBs. You don't really need any other stuff unless plan to do a lot of soldering in the future. You do need to buy solder, though.
Other tools you might need for the job:
- old tootbrush, preferably with hard bristles - after you solder the new caps, use the tootbrush to clean up any loose solder blobs
- a damp rag to clean the soldering iron tip
- a needle or a pin to clean up the capacitor holes on the PCB after you take out the old capacitors

[ratdude747]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

a gun has too much power i think. my 30w pro-quality iron does a very good job and a gun is overkill.

fyi, they make soldering picks for the needle method of hole cleaning

[momaka]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

Okay, correction to my above post, I have a 30 watt soldering gun, not 60 watt. Sorry for the confusion. Here's the link to my iron
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062735
Basically it's the cheapest soldering gun from Radio Shack, along with this
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...10&tab=summary

fyi, they make soldering picks for the needle method of hole cleaning

Why spend extra money on that when I already have the tools for the job

[ratdude747]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

because the needle heats up too fast/ too small for fingers

or just buy an actual solder sucker- if pogo stick make it all aluminum like this one: (mine)



that means don't go to radio shack- all of their irons are the screw mounted shaft tip, not threaded sleeve like you find on better irons / soldering stations. their suckers wear out easy- the alum. barrel is nice but the plastic tip holder and top strips easy- mine exploded when it died (after having to epoxy parts together), shooting the tip which ricocheted all over the room, almost taking out my eye and a window. kronus is crap, btw. most of my kronus tools are dead or broken. tip of soldering pick broken off, wire stripper as sharp as a flat tire. overpriced too. shop online or find a local electronics store other than radio shack if you want to get what you paid for. the only 2 things radio shack was good for was tandy computers back before i was born and zip-zaps/rc cars. everything else is overpriced crap.

[s0lid]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

I used 16V 2200uF sanyo Low ESR caps in antec psus, they're available in 10mm diameter
Got couple working CWT antecs here: 380W Truepower, 3x 450W Antec Smartpowers.

[370forlife]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

You don't want to use one of those spring loaded kinds, as williwake's website says:

"It is NOT recommended to use a mechanical pneumatic solder pump in order to clean the hole, they really have far too much power. There is a possibility to damage the lead port by sucking it out at the same time as the solder. This would mean that you would have to carefully solder in the new cap, making sure that solder flowed all the way through the hole in order to meet the right traces in the layers of the board. It will be quite difficult so forget about mechanical solder pumps. Additionally the recoil can impact the board and damage a trace or the pump can spray solder debris on the board that can cause a short when you power up the board."

[ratdude747]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

what?

ive been using mine with no issues

maybe williwake cant use one, but i know many who can and haven't killed anything. i even use mine fully cocked with no problems. buy a good one, wd40 the seal, and it will work fine. if the trace goes with the joint, then you have a crap board not worth fixing.

[KeriJane]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

what?

ive been using mine with no issues

maybe williwake cant use one, but i know many who can and haven't killed anything. i even use mine fully cocked with no problems. buy a good one, wd40 the seal, and it will work fine. if the trace goes with the joint, then you have a crap board not worth fixing.

Hi Ratdude....

Maybe you've "got the knack" of using those Pogo Stick solder suckers, but the points mentioned remain valid.
Clumsy desoldering people like me end up hammering the board due to the recoil. Or breaking a fingernail.
Also, if you inadvertently wreck a trace with it, what do you tell your customer? Especially if the board was working (however badly) before the recap.

Does anyone make one of those things with a more controlled release instead of the rapid Splat! Blam! style?
Maybe one that goes up more slowly like the trunk lid on a car? You know, with those shock absorber things? That would reduce both bad tendencies.

Sticking with the expensive Hakko 808,
Keri

[shadow]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

Does anyone make one of those things with a more controlled release instead of the rapid Splat! Blam! style?
Maybe one that goes up more slowly like the trunk lid on a car? You know, with those shock absorber things? That would reduce both bad tendencies.

I have a suspicion that if a solder pump made like this would not work very well.

However it is just a suspicion.

[PlainBill]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

A couple of observations on this.

#1. There are many ways to do this. At various times I've used anything from a professional Weller temperature controller solder / desolder workstation, a 'pogo stick' solder sucker, a soldering gun, the Radio Shack soldering iron with a bulb, and a 40 watt soldering iron and a dissecting pick.

Use the one that works for you. I don't have the $$$$ to purchase parts for a Weller (the cost of the desoldering tips will make you cry), let alone buy one. I never could get the RS unit to work worth a darn, in my hands the 'pogo stick ' spews solder dust over everything. The soldering gun gives me a sore wrist. But with the $10.00 soldering iron and $.10 dissecting pick I can remove a cap AND clear the holes in under a minute. (To keep my ego in check, I knew professional reworkers who could pull the old cap, solder in the new one, clean up the board, and tell you about her grandchildren in the same length of time).

#2. Take an old board and practice. When you are pretty sure you have it down pat, practice some more. After you've done a dozen boards for real you will be tempted to redo the first ones, you will have improved that much.

#3. Don't be too cheap. Make sure the soldering iron takes iron plated tips. Solder does an amazing job of dissolving unplated tips.

#4. Double and triple check the orientation of every cap. I make it a point to check each one when it goes in the board, recheck them all before soldering, and recheck before clipping the leads. And today I caught one I had put in backwards (luckily before turning on the power).

PlainBill

[ratdude747]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

spay wd40 inside the barrel and under the thumb rest. that"
-makes solder dust stick inside until you clean it
-improves seal
-makes it suck a bit faster
-less effort needed to cock it.

i also shake the sucker after every joint. if i hear to many chunks inside i open it and clean it"
-remove tip
- using a finger or towels/old newspaper, etc. , get all the gunk out of the barrel
-spray a small amount in barrel
-spin around sucker until you see that all the walls are well coated
-shake out excess
-screw tip back in
-once in a while, spay some under the thumb plunger and get as much of the stuff in the the hole.
-wipe off sucker
-hold the button and depress the piston a few times. it shold be a quick snap. if it is slow, spray more under thumb. continue to depress it like this to get the wd40 worked in.

i also keep an old bike spoke handy, if you lose sucking power, you clogged the tip. i use a bike spoke because it is slightly smaller than the tip of the iron. anything that fits in the hole will do.


and thats how i make my pogo sucker work!

[ratdude747]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

keri, a slow sucker like that would clog easily. the solder would harden in the tip, not the barrel. mine has very low recoil. the wd40 helps that. quick, but light.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

I use a big Soldapullt for my PSU autopsies at jonnyGURU.com - it takes a while for that one to get too clogged to work, and doesn't seem to have too many issues with recoil. I usually get through a power supply and a half before I have to crack it open and clean it out. I also have a couple dental picks I use on double sided PCBs when the sucker alone won't clean things out.

I had a smaller Radio Shack solder sucker before this one and never used it because it just wouldn't do the job properly.

That said, I don't usually use these things on multilayer boards - I prefer the dental picks and/or a sewing needle by themselves for mainboard work.

[chaosoffar]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

So figuring to start out with this after reading everything:
exacto knife set
Stahl Tools STSSVT Variable Temp Soldering Station 5-40w + extra tips
desoldering bulb and stainless needle/dental pick

As far as solder just need 60/40, no special type? Guessing desoldering wick/braid isn't really necessary just an option? I'll have to come up with something to practice on too yet.

[Krankshaft]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

I guess I'm the only one who uses desoldering braid ?

I have never been a fan of solder suckers I only use my squeeze ball type sucker when I have to remove lots of solder and don't want to waste the braid. Like flyback pins or power connectors for example.

When I first used braid it was pretty frustrating because just like learning to solder there is an art to desoldering but once you get the hang of it. You won't want to have it any other way.

As for my iron I'm still using an unregulated one albeit a higher end unregulated one.

http://www.hakkousa.com/detail.asp?C...ID=2491&Page=1

The Hakko Dash is a nice iron head over any of that cheap Ratshack crap.

It also has a wide selection of tips which are inexpensive. Unlike those copper crap tips for the Ratshack irons that decompose so quickly it's pathetic.

Hakko also stocks a full line of parts on their site (and I mean every part from PCB assemblies to power cords so repair is possible). This is crucial for me since I'm not into the if it's broke junk it ignoramus crowd.

I just haven't had the money lately to upgrade to a station but I'm eyeballing a Hakko 937 because I'm a sucker for a digital temperature display.

If your more on a budget and want a station I would recommend the Hakko 936.

http://www.hakkousa.com/detail.asp?C...ID=1249&Page=1

All of these can be found cheaper from online retailers.

[ratdude747]

Re: Few questions from a beginner

i use silver bearing solder. melts faster and provides a better joint