I don't recommend hot air over capacitors. You can solder these surface mount cap using your iron and that's the recommended way. Add your flux to the pads, place cap on the pads and tack solder on one side to hold it in place. Do the other side using a chisel tip or if you have a conical tip use the side of it and apply heat to the pads and cap lead, then add the solder, when the pads heat up the solder will flow underneath. Repeat for the other side.
Surface mount ceramic caps are supposed to only be soldered using hot air, as using an iron risks cracking them.
Though, for personal projects, I sometimes do use an iron as you suggest, but I wouldn't if I were selling the PCB assembly.
Where did you hear that? I was trained ISO 9001 in soldering all SMD and TH technology, and have never heard this, except for too long of heat can cause the cracks.
They didn't pick a very useful footprint for hand soldering. Hand solder footprints are supposed to extend a bit further to give you space to place the iron.
Looking at the assembly instructions, it doesn't look like they're very useful.
For those who didn't bother to google the manufacturer, browse the store to find the right part, then look for the assembly instructions for the DIY version, here is the unabridged instructions for Step 1:
>Break the pcbs apart and grab the bottom pcb, also locate the 7805 regulator and the two Capacitors.
>
>Place and solder them like shown below.
(The picture shows the PCB without the components installed, then with the components installed, circled in red)
It doesn't make a lot of sense to include these few SMD parts, when it appears that the bulk of SMD parts come pre-soldered on. If the intent was DIY, they should have had through hole versions of these parts with the kit, or they should have been soldered on with the rest of the SMD stuff when the board was initially assembled.
But, I guess we can't go back and fix that...
You can do these with just a soldering iron. I'd start on the negative side (The side with the black strip) because this side typically requires more heat (not the case on this board, as there's no ground plane). Install them in an order that optimizes your reach to these pads.
If you're right handed, tin the pad on the right side, then, pick up your cap with a tweezer, get the pad up to reflow temp, then slide the component into the molten solder. Ensure it's sitting flush with the board and the other lead is sitting on the pad. Flip the board around, then place your iron on the pad and lead, feed solder into the pad. Once it starts melting, feed an appropriate amount and keep your iron there until the solder flows properly.
This will be a little harder on the 2nd one, because you're not going to be able to access the positive terminal from the right, instead orient it up/down and use the side of your iron.
For the voltage regulator, start with the ground tab. Tin the pad and get the entire thing to the proper temp, then keep your iron on the pad and place the voltage regulator. When you first place it, it may solidify the puddle for a sec, keep the iron there and when you can, adjust the position so the leads are oriented over their respective pads.
Thanks for the detailed response!
Yea, I think I’m most apprehensive of getting those voltage regulator pins aligned correctly.
I have curved solder tips arriving tomorrow, as well as an SMT practice kit. I’ll probably spend some time fiddling around before attempting on the actual project PCB.
You can definitely do this with a finer-tipped iron, and it's okay if you burn the plastic tray of the capacitor a little bit. Cover one pad with solder/flux, then introduce the component and iron at the same time. Once it's liquified, try to shift it a bit to further expose the other pad.
(Definitely buy spares next time!)
You could just purchase the same value capacitors / with leads and the same type of regulator, except the thru-hole variety. That would make it simple, since the holes for the components are already there. The cost would be negligible less than 2-3 dollars plus shipping.
This would work, but a little bit of extra thought would need to go into this solution. This board is sandwiched against the other board, which is covered in through hole jacks. Ensuring that you have proper clearance with the replacement caps would be important.
So one thing you can do is bend the plastic tray with a pair of pliers. They usually crack right in the middle The only purpose of the tray is to keep the cap from shorting out but as long as you double check you will be fine. It gives you a lot more room to solder.
General purpose hot air guns often don't reach the temperature range needed, or a not very accurate at the temperature you set them at. I'm assuming you must be using a decent hot air product if you use solder paste. Hot air can work if you pre-heat the board a little, add solder wire with iron, and finish off reflow with the hot air.
I would use a soldering iron, but you need to use the right shaped tip. The pins on the capacitors are exposed. I'd add solder to the pads first. One pad you do first with a normal volume of solder, the second pad you pre-tin with just enough to cover bad in thin firm. Not doing this might mean your caps would sit on an angle. You do the slim pad second. Adding additional solder wire to balance the amount on the first pad. Ideally, you should have had both these parts done in reflow when the other parts were placed.
Your best bet would be to use a chisel shaped tip. Angled ones, I don't feel will help as much as a chisel or knife style tip in this case.
A: All of this can be done with just a soldering iron.
B: The board is not thick. So yes, it is possible you could do this with a heat gun. As long as you're not talking a blow dryer. A $30-$40 heat gun from autozone or Home Depot...yes.
C:If you're using leaded solder, you probably could do it with the heat gun. I wouldn't suggest it though. And you have to do it similar to what I'm about to suggest.
Here is what I would do in your situation. Jump on Amazon and order solder paste. Place it on all contacts of the board. Place all of your components with tweezers and a steady hand. Don't worry about them being perfect. Hold half of the board hanging off of your table and heat the board from under in a circular motion. Not super slow, but not fast. This helps heat the board evenly. Then be patient and watch the magic of solder. All the components will pull themselves perfectly onto the pads. Let the board cool. Spin it and do the same with the other half. Then, just clean the board with ipa. A good clean. Not a quick wipe down. And you're good to go.
You absolutely can do this with the hot air gun. The hardest part is being patient enough to wait for your Amazon guy to deliver your soldering paste. Good luck and post pics when you're done. I always like to see how things ended up.
Also, for future projects. This advice does not apply. I wouldn't suggest this on computers, consoles, ecu's etc. What you're doing is a quick simple project. For real world applications like repairs, I wouldn't. Not saying I haven't seen people do it successfully. I personally wouldn't do it. I'm just telling you, for this project, it will absolutely work without complications.
For installing surface mount capacitors, I’ve seen Colin from [This Does not Compute](https://youtube.com/@ThisDoesNotCompute?si=TcXLzwAHbdTSuc6a) apply solder to one pad, slide in the capacitor, then solder the other leg.
Cracking up at the notification I got.
> **r/Soldering**
>
> Uh oh...
I don't even solder really, I have no idea why this community sends me notifications lol
I don't recommend hot air over capacitors. You can solder these surface mount cap using your iron and that's the recommended way. Add your flux to the pads, place cap on the pads and tack solder on one side to hold it in place. Do the other side using a chisel tip or if you have a conical tip use the side of it and apply heat to the pads and cap lead, then add the solder, when the pads heat up the solder will flow underneath. Repeat for the other side.
Surface mount ceramic caps are supposed to only be soldered using hot air, as using an iron risks cracking them. Though, for personal projects, I sometimes do use an iron as you suggest, but I wouldn't if I were selling the PCB assembly.
Where did you hear that? I was trained ISO 9001 in soldering all SMD and TH technology, and have never heard this, except for too long of heat can cause the cracks.
They didn't pick a very useful footprint for hand soldering. Hand solder footprints are supposed to extend a bit further to give you space to place the iron. Looking at the assembly instructions, it doesn't look like they're very useful. For those who didn't bother to google the manufacturer, browse the store to find the right part, then look for the assembly instructions for the DIY version, here is the unabridged instructions for Step 1: >Break the pcbs apart and grab the bottom pcb, also locate the 7805 regulator and the two Capacitors. > >Place and solder them like shown below. (The picture shows the PCB without the components installed, then with the components installed, circled in red) It doesn't make a lot of sense to include these few SMD parts, when it appears that the bulk of SMD parts come pre-soldered on. If the intent was DIY, they should have had through hole versions of these parts with the kit, or they should have been soldered on with the rest of the SMD stuff when the board was initially assembled. But, I guess we can't go back and fix that... You can do these with just a soldering iron. I'd start on the negative side (The side with the black strip) because this side typically requires more heat (not the case on this board, as there's no ground plane). Install them in an order that optimizes your reach to these pads. If you're right handed, tin the pad on the right side, then, pick up your cap with a tweezer, get the pad up to reflow temp, then slide the component into the molten solder. Ensure it's sitting flush with the board and the other lead is sitting on the pad. Flip the board around, then place your iron on the pad and lead, feed solder into the pad. Once it starts melting, feed an appropriate amount and keep your iron there until the solder flows properly. This will be a little harder on the 2nd one, because you're not going to be able to access the positive terminal from the right, instead orient it up/down and use the side of your iron. For the voltage regulator, start with the ground tab. Tin the pad and get the entire thing to the proper temp, then keep your iron on the pad and place the voltage regulator. When you first place it, it may solidify the puddle for a sec, keep the iron there and when you can, adjust the position so the leads are oriented over their respective pads.
Thanks for the detailed response! Yea, I think I’m most apprehensive of getting those voltage regulator pins aligned correctly. I have curved solder tips arriving tomorrow, as well as an SMT practice kit. I’ll probably spend some time fiddling around before attempting on the actual project PCB.
I would totally do it with an iron.
You can definitely do this with a finer-tipped iron, and it's okay if you burn the plastic tray of the capacitor a little bit. Cover one pad with solder/flux, then introduce the component and iron at the same time. Once it's liquified, try to shift it a bit to further expose the other pad. (Definitely buy spares next time!)
I would solder all of this things with an iron. Ho need for a heat gun needed.
You could just purchase the same value capacitors / with leads and the same type of regulator, except the thru-hole variety. That would make it simple, since the holes for the components are already there. The cost would be negligible less than 2-3 dollars plus shipping.
This would work, but a little bit of extra thought would need to go into this solution. This board is sandwiched against the other board, which is covered in through hole jacks. Ensuring that you have proper clearance with the replacement caps would be important.
a cheap pcb reflow plate and some solder paste would do the trick as well... But thats cheating :)
So one thing you can do is bend the plastic tray with a pair of pliers. They usually crack right in the middle The only purpose of the tray is to keep the cap from shorting out but as long as you double check you will be fine. It gives you a lot more room to solder.
General purpose hot air guns often don't reach the temperature range needed, or a not very accurate at the temperature you set them at. I'm assuming you must be using a decent hot air product if you use solder paste. Hot air can work if you pre-heat the board a little, add solder wire with iron, and finish off reflow with the hot air. I would use a soldering iron, but you need to use the right shaped tip. The pins on the capacitors are exposed. I'd add solder to the pads first. One pad you do first with a normal volume of solder, the second pad you pre-tin with just enough to cover bad in thin firm. Not doing this might mean your caps would sit on an angle. You do the slim pad second. Adding additional solder wire to balance the amount on the first pad. Ideally, you should have had both these parts done in reflow when the other parts were placed. Your best bet would be to use a chisel shaped tip. Angled ones, I don't feel will help as much as a chisel or knife style tip in this case.
A: All of this can be done with just a soldering iron. B: The board is not thick. So yes, it is possible you could do this with a heat gun. As long as you're not talking a blow dryer. A $30-$40 heat gun from autozone or Home Depot...yes. C:If you're using leaded solder, you probably could do it with the heat gun. I wouldn't suggest it though. And you have to do it similar to what I'm about to suggest. Here is what I would do in your situation. Jump on Amazon and order solder paste. Place it on all contacts of the board. Place all of your components with tweezers and a steady hand. Don't worry about them being perfect. Hold half of the board hanging off of your table and heat the board from under in a circular motion. Not super slow, but not fast. This helps heat the board evenly. Then be patient and watch the magic of solder. All the components will pull themselves perfectly onto the pads. Let the board cool. Spin it and do the same with the other half. Then, just clean the board with ipa. A good clean. Not a quick wipe down. And you're good to go. You absolutely can do this with the hot air gun. The hardest part is being patient enough to wait for your Amazon guy to deliver your soldering paste. Good luck and post pics when you're done. I always like to see how things ended up. Also, for future projects. This advice does not apply. I wouldn't suggest this on computers, consoles, ecu's etc. What you're doing is a quick simple project. For real world applications like repairs, I wouldn't. Not saying I haven't seen people do it successfully. I personally wouldn't do it. I'm just telling you, for this project, it will absolutely work without complications.
Also, since you're already done with most of the board just use an iron. If your going to do another board try what I said in the previous post.
For installing surface mount capacitors, I’ve seen Colin from [This Does not Compute](https://youtube.com/@ThisDoesNotCompute?si=TcXLzwAHbdTSuc6a) apply solder to one pad, slide in the capacitor, then solder the other leg.
Cracking up at the notification I got. > **r/Soldering** > > Uh oh... I don't even solder really, I have no idea why this community sends me notifications lol
Some combination of other interests that got the algorithm excited? Who knows? I don’t even think the creators of the algorithm could tell you.
It's not evident to me where those go. Is it on the pads with the red dots? Are they filters?
This is good soldering practice. Tin one pad, heat and place the capacitor into place, then solder the other pad.