Smd component soldering

LarryD:
Roadrunner offers a solderable enamel wire for single type, prototyping boards.

Verowire is an almost identical system and there is a lot of stuff if you search for it.

I use it with surface mount resistors and capacitors, as shown here.

what program did you use for the image/design in the above post?

It is called MacDraft, it is just a general purpose 2D drawing package.

Wow! I'm going crazy taking apart old stuff.
Now that I know what they are. I wish I would have kept the optocoupler from an old Wall wart I threw away a few days ago.

It is called MacDraf

Thank you.

Marciokoko:
Great stuff guys. just a few more questions:

  1. If I buy a board like this, I can't really cut it up to use parts of it, right? Boards themselves are kind of brittle.

Strip board is normally paper phenolic, it is brittle, but pad board can be had in epoxy which is not, but difficult to cut.

I use a board shear which is easy but they are costly.

I'm trying to post images of what I have.

What are those 2 ICs of which one is labeled U2? This is a small pcb from a battery-solar panel combination:
IMG_7602.JPG

TL431 seems to be a shunt regulator. I thought this was a transistor at first because they look like a transistor. But I have been noticing that lots of things look like transistors :slight_smile:
IMG_7601.JPG

These black rectangles without letters are the transistors, right? Is there any way to find out what kind they are? I guess for R its just a matter of reading the letters on top of them:
IMG_7600.JPG

Quite possibly, its fairly common to see small smd without marking as there is not much room.

Even ic's can have no markings or have no traceable no's on the net.

If you need transistors they are cheap and not worth salvaging generally.

If you are a beginner though , nothing wrong with trying to identify components.

TL431 seems to be a shunt regulator.

Its a precision voltage reference

Well the optocoupler would've been cool!

TL431

Being through hole that's definitely salvageable and useful.

Sm generally not so much.
Small components are generally very cheap.

GrumpyMike, so in post #18, when a rail connects two components and you want to use the rest of the rail for something else, you strip off the copper? Is that what the greyed out square shapes are?

From post #24, what could those 2 small ICS be?

Marciokoko:
GrumpyMike, so in post #18, when a rail connects two components and you want to use the rest of the rail for something else, you strip off the copper? Is that what the greyed out square shapes are?

Yes they are breaks in the copper. Look at the previous photo to see them. I make them using a scalpel, rest it on the side of the hole and make a small nick. Then turn the board over and make a nick on the other side of the hole and the copper between the two nicks is removed. Repeat this for the copper on the other side of the hole for a minimum break that could be left or bridged by a surface mount component like a resistor.

I did this video to illustrate how to solder a surface mount light sensor:-

For this project:-

But it is not an Arduino project.

You make it look so easy. How thick is the tip of your iron? I measured mine at 1mm.

Marciokoko:
You make it look so easy. How thick is the tip of your iron? I measured mine at 1mm.

There is a tool for breaking the tracks, basically an 1/8 in drill in a handle.

If your bit is small it may not get heat in fast enough especially if its a long thin one.

Bit selection can make a difference with small stuff.

Strip board can adsorb quite a lot of heat, more so than a PCB.

FYI

There is a tool for breaking the tracks, basically an 1/8 in drill in a handle.

That's the one , mine cost 2 quid though.

About 20 yrs ago and still works.

This might stir the pot:

Also


.

Cool...makes me want to post my acrylic board with super glued wire :slight_smile:

Marciokoko:
You make it look so easy. How thick is the tip of your iron? I measured mine at 1mm.

That one started life at 0.8mm
http://uk.farnell.com/weller/pt-p8/tip-conical-0-8mm/dp/416708

Boardburner2:
There is a tool for breaking the tracks, basically an 1/8 in drill in a handle.

True, sometimes called a spot face cutter.
However there are two problems with it:-

  1. They often leave a very thin, almost invisible to see without magnification, strip of copper on one side.
  2. They produce a gap which is too big to span with a surface mount resistor.

f your bit is small it may not get heat in fast enough especially if its a long thin one.

That depends entirely on the iron behind it. The Wella I use is a curie point magnetically controlled 40W iron, so it does not over heat and can supply all the heat you need into a copper strip despite the shape being long and thin.

@LarryD - Very nice construction there.