Solder Reflows - Anyone done it?

AmDaMan · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:54

Hey chaps,

I was looking into this as my T40 laptop sometimes freezes or garbled if you press on it or knock it... So I think it may be some of the solder joints. Someone mentioned reflowing, has anyone tried this with good results?

Also can you use a hairdryer or is that just daft?

Cheers.

Grumpy · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:57

Not 100% sure what you mean but if it's what I think, no, a hairdryer will not melt solder.

postmanfw · 2 Mar 2008 at 21:22

Maybe if it was a very hot dryer?

Nah solder melts at 200+c

Had a friend IBM T41 and its video output would crash/go if it was knocked or moved. Turned out to be a corroded motherboard due to liquid damage. Considering the corroson it was a miracle it even fired up at all.

Have you dismantled and checked for loose connections and damage? Mine was on the underneath side of motherboard so was a bit aof a pain to discover

AmDaMan · 2 Mar 2008 at 22:03

Hi, yeah i've had a look and the motherboard was immaculate, hardly a spec of dust on it. If you push down hear the pcmcia area though when the machine is on it messes up the display and locks up.

IAmATeaf · 3 Mar 2008 at 11:43

Depends on what you're trying to reflow TBH. If it's a chip with tiny multiples legs then ideally you'd need a rework station but they expensive. A cheaper way would be to take a blow torch to it, I kid you not. Get yourself a butane powered soldering iron and some liquid flux. spread the flux on the 1 side of the chips legs, get your gas powered soldering iron in flame mode and run the flame up and down the legs, you'll see the solder change colour, when it does the gently press down on that side of the chip, remove flame whilst keeping the pressure and let the legs cool down. You've just reflowed the legs on 1 side so repeat for the other.

Also a gas powered soldering iron is a great way of setting off the fire alarms at work

Funny but not funny

AmDaMan · 3 Mar 2008 at 12:28

Hey up, i've just used a mini gas pen torch all over the motherboard and a hairdryer as a cool down and it's actually worked lol!!

I've been knocking it about while it was installing Windows and there were no problems!

Cheers!

Grumpy · 3 Mar 2008 at 20:29

AmDaMan said:
Hey up, i've just used a mini gas pen torch all over the motherboard and a hairdryer as a cool down and it's actually worked lol!!

I've been knocking it about while it was installing Windows and there were no problems!

Cheers!

Good to know

Did you use any flux?