The 9 Essentials for Microsoldering

If you can find it, get the 63/37 lead solder, it will lesson the chance of getting a cold solder joint.

I would add more, solder paste, good air ventilation system, to keep your lungs healthy, and anti-electrostatic wire strip for grounding.

Wait, Radio Shack is still around? 🤔

solid advice.

Thank you for your expertise and willingness to share the information. Excellent.

Really good straight forward video. Thanks.

With hot air people generally dont preheat enough. If you have a thick boy PCB or a large ground plane you need to warm it up rather than just point the hot air nozzle at the chip and the rest of the board surrounding it is cold.

Some good quality small needle nose pliers, cuz sometimes tweezers just aren't beefy enough. A small diagonal or flush cutting pliers and an exacto knife or similar are good to have around.

Honestly it didnt need to be 15 mins long. Kind of a waste of time IMO.

It was reallly difficult to find a video that goes over everthing you need along with a brief description of what they're used for. Thank you very much.

Great video!! Very useful info for a beginner! Thanks man!

Thank you!!

Nailed it!

You did not mention ESD(a simple ESD chain will suffice!), and I must say that is a big one, as that can suddenly muck up your repair when you least want to toast a chip, or a cheaper/free choice would be to mention clothes/carpets/materials that do not build up voltages!

My two cents: If you like soldering, dont go cheap on solder station, but do read reviews!!
I have two expensive shit soldering irons that I quickly sold off, the type you ended up with is the only way in my opinion, and can change between 245-115 sizes which for microsoldering is all you need(I only use 210 and 245)!

If you could only choose one flux, choose the gel style as it is supreme for hot air, in holding the components in place, as well as not disappearing by the heat. Liquid flux is king for a lot of tasks with a regular iron, as well as cleanup is a sooo much easier!

As with the soldering iron, I must say that going cheap(under 100$) is a waste for microscope, as there are so many advantages of a good microscope, and so much hassle with a bad one, the same can go for a microscope holder, unless you mainly need one magnification.

you forgot something. gloves.

Kapton tape is inexpensive and is often needed.

I know this video is almost a year old but what temp range would you recomend for a hot air station for pcb work

why does my copper wick not react like that? it only takes dabbles of the solder off?

I prefer a desoldering station over a hot hot air station

I have to say thank you for this video. I’ve attempted Microsoldering with the wrong equipment and it just caused a great deal of frustration being new in this branch of repair. I ended up not getting into it as well as I could have. You make a great point, though it maybe expensive it is worth shelling out a decent amount of money for the proper equipment. Saves a lot of headaches. I will attempt to begin Microsoldering repairs and this is a fantastic first time necessity list. Thank you!

You also need to pick up Dental picks, Vacuum Pen for removing chips, and low melt solder, essential to ground yourself with a ESD wrist strap

Actually you can remove surface mount ics and other components with a gas soldering iron with the hot air tip no need for a soldering hot air station

Fume extractor should be 2 or 3 on that list, especially if you're using lead solder. That is bad $hit to breath.

Do I need an expensive multimeter?

Solder iron
ipa
Flux
Soldering station
Twezer
Thats about it, be a man.

What a great video honestly

I would like to ask you about these links you added below, can I order them and if the prices are still the same, please answer me. I live in Greece.👍

You can use cheaper HotAir Station,Just use Low Temperature Soldering Lead,It will remove easy

I feel the hot air station is definitely nice but not necessary if you know how to use a butane torch (note the butane torch is very hot and requires a Fair amount of practice to get good results). The addition of hot tweezers makes removing surface mount component's alot easier and faster.

I would suggest thermal camera. With regards to multimeter even a cheap multimeter will do

Is 888d fx hakko enough for consoles?

That "better than factory" reminds me of NorthridgeFix. 😅

The fairly expensive microscope arms that NF guy sells is very solid and works great. Buy once, cry once.

Thanks for your list of 10 things for micro-soldering. I have been soldering for over 60 years and now find the need/desire to be able to work with SMDs. I had thought of all the items you mention with the exception of fume extraction, I always had some type of reaction to rosin core solder... Good idea to extract it. Being of limited means, I appreciate your running the gamut of tools and I am investigating what can support the basic needs to micro-solder, Thanks again

Thanks a lot man. This was very helpful

I filter the fumes with my lung

When doing hot air station soldering, do you keep your board elevated or can you lay it on a piece of metal for example. I was concerned if I just lay my board on a plate to work on it that it'll absorb my heat from the board.

I want to change my soldering + desoldering + hot air stations with Hakko but my wallet disagrees with me everytime I try to XD That plus having them here in Europe it's a bit more difficult given that we don't have that many distributors.
+1 to "flux is just magic, it helps too much while soldering to even try to understand why as a mere mortal" :D
I guess I have the worst solder wick that exists because I haven't been able to use it at all; it just never gets solder attached to it... :(
I tried a microscope (an Andonstar one) but I hated when the "pillar" of it was in the middle always and the "base" of it was too small... so in the end I returned it (and bought an oscilloscope... And for microsoldering I use one of those glasses with magnifiers that you could put on them; not the best, but works for me I guess. I'll try buying one like yours that I could put away with an arm and connect it to the monitor, I think it'll be the best option.

You should have at least an inexpensive Multimeter as your first tool for any electronics soldering! This is useful to make sure that the soldering you are doing has conductivity where it is expected and not shorting other unexpected conductors. One of the first tools I utilize in electronics troubleshooting is the multimeter. You will also need a good set of assorted shapes and sizes of hex driver bits to be able to get to the PCBs where the electronics soldering will take place.