Can someone show me how to solder very small LED's onto a circuit board. I've looked at guides online but I really learn by doing. I have never soldered anything this small before. Thanks

1/23/2006 2:43:10 PM

through hole or surface mount?

1/23/2006 2:44:53 PM

sounds like they are surface mount...

its almost impossible without a microscope or at least a good magnifying glass... you'll also want a very fine soldering tip obviously

1/23/2006 3:01:02 PM

I usually "pre-tin" whatever i'm soldering...then all you have to do it put the component in place and heat it up.

1/23/2006 3:12:15 PM

kinda off-topic:

anyone tried that Cold Heat shenanigans soldering iron? it's pretty damn awesome if it really works. any experience with it?

[Edited on January 23, 2006 at 3:32 PM. Reason : ]

1/23/2006 3:32:40 PM

i've used it... works well in certain situations but doesnt work at all in others. It basically is just two contacts and uses electricity to heat the wire...So, in a situation where you can't connect the two contacts on the gun, it doesn't work

1/23/2006 3:34:54 PM

Quote :

"kinda off-topic: anyone tried that Cold Heat shenanigans soldering iron? it's pretty damn awesome if it really works. any experience with it? "

Ha! I was going to ask that same question.

1/23/2006 3:38:33 PM

Quote :

"It basically is just two contacts and uses electricity to heat the wire"

i wonder how that affects delicate circuitry

1/23/2006 3:43:05 PM

Quote :

"sounds like they are surface mount... its almost impossible without a microscope or at least a good magnifying glass... you'll also want a very fine soldering tip obviously"

Not true.

1/23/2006 3:47:40 PM

Surface mount isn't hard. You don't need a magnifying glass, just a pair of needle nose pliers.

Take the component in the pliers. Hold the part over the pads. Apply solder to one side of the component. Make sure it flows and creates a good joint. Remove the pliers.

Then solder the other pad. Make sure not to heat up the component, or the first pad you soldered will melt.

It takes a bit of getting used to, and a steady hand, but very easy to do after that. I've done a few hundred hours of it and it's kinda fun.

1/23/2006 4:12:10 PM

yeah its surface mount. I don't have a very steady hand, and I've never done anything this small. Anyone wanna help me out and show me how to do a couple?

1/23/2006 4:46:18 PM

if your trying to use wellers or worse anything that you get at walmart good luck... Soldering small components is easy with the right equipment... problem is that equipment is rather expensive.

Best approach is to have a tip on each side of the component and handled the component with the tips themselves... of course this requires very small soldering tips...

good luck...


how many components is it? what is if for? I'll do it for $10 if its <10components...

[Edited on January 23, 2006 at 5:01 PM. Reason : I'll do it for you but you wouldn't be able to watch b/c its in a secured lab]

1/23/2006 5:00:12 PM

Quote :

"i wonder how that affects delicate circuitry "

not a clue, i've never used it for anything beyond a few resistors and shit like that

1/23/2006 5:00:43 PM

circuitry doesn't give a crap about heat... the way boards are made on an assembly line is similiar to an oven at 350...

you can burn the casings themselves but thats about it...

this was the first thing that I was taught in microsoldering... (when they were teaching me to handles things with dual tips)

1/23/2006 5:03:18 PM

Quote :

"circuitry doesn't give a crap about heat..."

ahahaha you've obviously never worked with anything particularly important

1/23/2006 5:05:51 PM

Quote :

"how many components is it? what is if for? I'll do it for $10 if its <10components..."

Its about 40 components. It lights the LCD of a Radio.

1/23/2006 5:20:58 PM

Quote :

"ahahaha you've obviously never worked with anything particularly important"

hahahaha, you should see some of their shit

1/23/2006 5:45:59 PM

I spent all of last week lifting dqs pins on leaded DDR ram modules... (look at a memory stick, look at the little black things on it, then look at the pins comming out of those... I can lift those pins up and soldering something to each individual one... its what I did last week)

I'm not saying you can take a blow torch to the stuff... but in order to heat a groundplane on a significant PCB you have to hold the tip to a component for a significant amount of time (30seconds +) so for most purposes parts don't care a whole lot on how long they are in contact with soldering irons... if you wanna talk LED's refer to my senior design project...

40components if its all surface mount and its the board is laid out and I just have to plop them down I would do it for $50...

[Edited on January 23, 2006 at 5:58 PM. Reason : getting correct polarity on all 40 would be a PITA... you couldn't find a premade matrix?]

1/23/2006 5:56:15 PM

$50 sounds steep for me. I think I'll just get some boards and practice. Thanks though. BTW its not only putting them down you'll have to take the old ones off as well.

1/23/2006 6:15:01 PM

those Cold Heat soldering tools have really weak tips...so i wouldn't recommend those to anybody unless you only use them in the portable sense (only when necessary). as far as soldering your LED's, just use a fine tip and put the solder on first (pre-tinning), then place the LED pin on and heat it up. it's really simple that way.

1/23/2006 8:42:37 PM