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March 2011

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Subject:
From:
Bob Landman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bob Landman <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 3 Mar 2011 10:01:35 -0500
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My father and grandfather were "tin knockers" (that's sheetmetal workers to you youngun's). 

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/post_42.html  Tin knockers bring style and staying power to new roof of Sacred Heart Basilica in Syracuse

A big block of sal ammoniac was always present when they were soldering with their soldering coppers (didn't call them irons then).  Large tips of copper fastened to a iron ron and at the end a wooden handle.  http://www.northwaysmachinery.com/productdisplay.asp?cat=120

In the shop, gas fired burners kept the irons hot but in the field, a blowtorch http://www.blotorches.com/torchfix/torchfix.html  did the trick.  The hook on the top of the blowtorch is where the iron rod is placed, and you'll note 9if you've seen a white gas fired blowtorch) a cradle just above the end of the torch.  That's where the tool rested, it's tip in the fire belching forth.

They still sell the old tools http://www.monumenttools.com/Roofing+lead.htm  (I used one to repair the copper flashing on my bay window roof).

Bob Landman
 

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mickey Weiner
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 4:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Interesting little story. Sounds vaguely familiar for me at least

Right , I use it to clean the tips of my stained glass soldering irons. It does great job on removing the black residue that accumulates on and around the iron tip.

Best Regards
Mickey Weiner
972-8-9774808



On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 8:13 PM, Stadem, Richard D. <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Sal ammoniac is still commonly used as a tip tinning compound today. 
> Many things change, but some good things stay the same.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ed Popielarski
> Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 11:53 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [TN] Interesting little story. Sounds vaguely familiar 
> for me at least
>
> Inge,
>
> You might be remembering this:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal_ammoniac
>
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Ed Popielarski
>
> Sr. Mfg. Engr.
>
>
> NBS Corporation
> 2950 Patrick Henry Dr.
> Santa Clara, Ca. 95054
>
> Ph: 408-654-1100
> Fx: 408-654-1107
> Cl: 408-234-1497
> Cl: 949-581-6601
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Inge Hernefjord
> Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 2:56 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [TN] Interesting little story. Sounds vaguely familiar 
> for me at least
>
> Very familiar indeed.
> I remember, when I was a little kid, my grandfather was doing some 
> repair of his old Philips radio. He heated his old fashioned soldering 
> iron in the wood stove, then gave it one or two strokes against a 
> piece of salmiak
> (?)
> and dipped the component's terminal in a thick flux paste and finished 
> the operation by soldering. It hissed and lots of stinky smoke filled 
> the room.
> That was probably the start of my interest for electronics. The golden 
> painted electron tubes fascinated me, also how the magic eye 
> fluctuated when he was tuning in London BBC.
>
> Inge
>
> On 1 March 2011 20:19, Gene Felder <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > If you guys had not seen this article, I thought you would enjoy it.
> >
> > See
> >
> >
> http://www.jameco.com/jameco/workshop/techtip/smt.html?CID=March11NL33
> 55 
> 763&<http://www.jameco.com/jameco/workshop/techtip/smt.html?CID=March1
> 1NL3355%0A763&>
> > sp_rid=MTgyNDYwMTE3NzkS1&sp_mid=3355763
> >
> > SMT Soldering Nightmare
> > Submitted by an anonymous Jameco Customer
> >
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > "I just thought I should share my SMT soldering experience. A
> particular
> > chip I wanted to use, specifically a USB-enabled microcontroller, 
> > came
> only
> > in an SMT package (44 pins at 0.8mm spacing). I wasn't confident, 
> > but
> I
> > figured I could do this. My iron was old and clumsy, but with 
> > careful application of delicate quantities of solder, lots of flux, 
> > and a reel
> of
> > wick I thought I could make do. I've done some passive component 
> > work
> in
> > the
> > past and they came out fine.
> >
> > The soldering went okay. Messy, with all the flux and solder bridges 
> > between pins, but with a little more heat, the wick sucked the 
> > excess away.
> Careful
> > metering showed all the connections were good. I realized that I
> needed
> > sharp meter probes for this. The blunt ones are safer, but I needed 
> > a
> sharp
> > one to be sure I'm on the pad at one end and on the pin at the other.
> While
> > I won't try this at home, I've seen a professional use scalpel 
> > blades welded to his meter probes just to get them sharp enough.
> >
> > Testing was the key, and I tested for both shorts between pins (most
> > common)
> > and open connections (they happen too). To fix a bridge, a quick dab
> of
> > some
> > more flux, and a bit of wick was an easy fix. I heated it up and
> watched
> > the
> > excess solder slurp away. I was careful not to over do it because 
> > it's
> easy
> > enough to get an open connection instead. With every repair came new 
> > testing to make sure I wasn't going backward.
> >
> > Fighting back the nerves after testing, fixing and retesting, I
> plugged it
> > in and turned it on! Smoke came out of the chip. Not good, but I 
> > guess
> it
> > makes for a more interesting story.
> >
> > This required more inspection of the board layout and more testing. 
> > I
> found
> > a few minor concerns that were easy enough to fix. Sadly, however, 
> > my patient died on the table. The chip was no longer working and was 
> > pronounced dead due to a hard short across the power rails.
> >
> > To remove the corpse I used a hot air gun, usually used for 
> > shrinking heat-shrink tubing. It runs much hotter than your typical 
> > hair-dryer,
> so
> > don't use it for that, but for heating things, it works quite well. 
> > I clamped up the board and began directing heat over the chip. 
> > Sadly, my strategy was a bit south of perfection, for my plastic 
> > parts (sockets,
> etc)
> > began to melt.
> >
> > I stopped and regrouped, electing to make myself a heat shield out 
> > of aluminum foil. The foil wraps around the board and covers all the 
> > components, except where I've razored out a little square to clear 
> > the now-dead chip. This worked although the nearby plastic parts 
> > still
> melt a
> > little, but they were still functional and now had a bit of extra 
> > personality.
> >
> > While blowing heat, I lightly pick at the chip with a long sharp 
> > awl,
> and
> > eventually (this took some time) it popped loose and fell off the
> board,
> > off
> > of the table and onto my lap. I was wearing shorts. It was hot and 
> > it
> hurt!
> > Fortunately, the chip wasn't very large and only left a small 
> > souvenir
> of
> > the experience.
> >
> > The circuit board clamp, however, offered more resistance, and I
> managed to
> > singe a couple of fingertips along the way. Now I cleaned off the 
> > pads
> with
> > more flux and wick, I addressed the board layout concerns, and it 
> > was
> time
> > to stick down a fresh new chip. It went well with a similar procedure.
> All
> > the connections, including the edited ones on the PCB layout, tested
> out
> > fine. I cross-checked it with the specification sheet to confirm I 
> > had
> done
> > it correctly.
> >
> > I pulled out my handy little microscope and also did a visual
> inspection
> > this time of the solder joints. I was ready to try again. Power
> connected.
> > Checked for polarity. All was well, until I turned it on.
> >
> > Fizzle. Smoke. Pop.
> >
> > Another board was inspected, edited, and provided, in case something
> was
> > wrong with the first one. Another chip was installed, with an 
> > absolute minimum of supporting components.
> >
> > Fizzle. Smoke. Pop.
> >
> > Fortunately I had purchased quite a few of these chips. Much more
> checking
> > ensued. On-line designs for similar boards were cross-checked with 
> > the
> chip
> > spec sheet. The spec sheet was crossed with the schematic. The 
> > entire schematic was carefully metered out with a continuity 
> > checker,
> including
> > possible shorts. All appeared well.
> >
> > But the chips kept going up in smoke. A few more iterations of
> aluminum
> > foil
> > and heat-gun work, plus several more hours sticking down and testing
> more
> > chips, resulted only in more burnt chips.
> >
> > At this point you must be wondering if this story is going to have a
> happy
> > ending. Time passed as did the waves of frustration before I was
> finally
> > able to establish what may have been the problem. It wasn't a
> soldering
> > problem, a circuit board layout issue, personal ESD discharge, the
> solder
> > or
> > the flux I used. Then I started to think that maybe it was the
> soldering
> > iron itself that was the problem.
> >
> > Never missing an opportunity to buy some new gear from my friends at 
> > Jameco, I bought a new iron with a properly grounded tip and a much 
> > finer tip
> at
> > that. I stuck down yet another chip, and it worked without drawing 
> > excessive current and/or boiling itself. Yes... It seems at the 
> > moment it was my soldering iron that was destroying these things. 
> > Further experiments
> are
> > still in progress.
> >
> > A brief note to all my fellow hobbyists who might want to try SMT
> work. You
> > should get an ESD-specified soldering iron for anything more
> complicated
> > than surface-mount passive components!"
> >
> > Gene Felder
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________________
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