Tips on How to micro Solder on a budget

Written By: Ken

Comments: 5

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

35 minutes - 1 hour

Introduction

Purpose of this guide it to show that in a pinch you can fix some really small problems without lots of money or equipment. But you must have patience.

Tools

Parts

Step 1

Problem was broken power connecter on grandsons Kindle. Removed bad connector and broken trace came up with part. New connector also shown.
I used a soldering iron with a 700 degree tip and de-solder braid to remove defective part. Hot air gun would have been a better option but I didn't have one.
Enlarge the image to zoom in and see fine detail. Also how I checked the work.

Step 2

After cleaning up the board and reseating new socket I simply resoldered in place. Now with the new socket installed, I needed to connect the unsoldered lead to the data port on board.
To find where the trace/lead went to I went to the Internet to find where it connected. I found many usable images to determine the path.
To remove the coating on the board where I needed to solder , I scrapped away the coating with an Xacto knife.

Step 3

Stripping and tinning a piece of 60mm wire I layed it in the path where I needed to attach. I bent the wire to give better leverage.

Step 4

Putting a piece of electrical tape over a bent wire kept it in place

Step 5

Using a fine tip on my iron , I again used a 700 degree tip , dabbed the area with liquid flux and soldered the wire to the lead and exposed trace.
When done I removed tape, cleaned flux off and trimmed wire to length.
You must have a steady grip on your iron to attach the wire. By using a long wire, you make it easier to keep it in place as you solder and it's so thin you can remove the excess wire with little stress to the repair.

Step 6

The repair was the size of the wire next to the finger posted here

Step 7

Not very high tech, but it got me through this without a proper scope. In this image I was verifying I didn't have any solder bridges on socket.
When everything was cleaned back up I put the Kindle back together and it charges and plays like it should.
When I was done soldering I used my iPad Pro 9.7 to take hi resolution image that I could view and blowup to ensure the repair was intact and clean

Conclusion

using this technique, you can get yourself out of a pinch by repairing an item half the length of rice ,and half as thick.

5 comments

I am a tinkerer lol and am getting into building racing drones. could you pls tell me where a good learning guide is for micro sodering?? I've been practicing on old boards and whatnot but when I try soldering a wire to the board the solder wants to ball up or not attach the wire. also is cleaning the board important? pls help its so frustrating!! lol and any general tips or tricks for soldering would be GREATLY appreciated friend

dustykeith17 - 08/02/19

Cleaning after soldering really depends on the type of flux you use. Some are cleaner than others. Use an inexpensive microscope. Look at these skills tutorials: Soldering Skills. Be patient and enjoy.

Ken - 12/02/19

If the old solder is relatively clean and there’s no excess, would de soldering still be “necessary” to make proper connection? Or could you just melt a little more solder on them til enough of a ball is present to reattach the part and have solid connection? (Part in question is a fan socket for a mid 2012 13” MacBook Pro)

matthew storstad - 19/01/20

it’s easier for me to attempt micro/soldering rather than pay $100+ for a new board. It’s dead already, right ?

I’d like advise in a few areas. First, equipment. I need some decent helping hands and vise to keep the items steady. A pen style iron and station. Second, when is a desoldering gun appropriate ? Third and most importantly, I need to know how to solder a post that has broken flush with the pcb board.

James Walker - 04/02/21

you can make an excellent digital magnifyer by using your smartphone. Pick up an adjustable phone stand from Ocean State Job Lot for 5 bucks. Put your phone on it and go to your camera mode. You can use the zoom to see the circuits you are working on up close and crystal clear.

carl hungus -