Soldering Tiny Components

There are a couple of solutions.You could use an SMD soldering clamp or my ersonal favourite is to tin both the workpiece and the wire then place them together. you can apply heat by several methods also, such as hot gun, iron, electric heating of the wire, laser or, my favourite, using a magnifying glass (solar soldering). There are also various conductive epoxies and glues. Main point is to use a low temperture solder. Solder paste is another option.

There are two problems you have. First, there is only a small differential between the heat required to solder quickly (you need a fast rise time and low dispersal) and the local melting point of the material (wire). you might fix this by brazing (welding) the components together but you risk melting one of them if you are not quick enough. Which is where lazer or magnifying glass technology is useful as it gives fst rise time, very intense heat with very small target area. The trick is to keep the circumference of the area under heat as small as possible as this reduces the area through which the heat can disperse.Second solder wont stick to dirt, so you need appropriate flux.

My recommendation is tin and flux both work and wire, making up a supply of wires and work, then place them together and apply heat using an external, high temperature, pin point heat source (which is where I like magnifying glass as its all heat and nothing is in the way). The solder should melt almost instantly under the focus point (ensure the focus is on both wire and job). Remove heat source before the whole job melts. It pretty much the same as Gas welding really just smaller.

Good Luck!

Hope this helps

What a great idea to use magnifying glass to solder. I have never thought of that. I used to play with magnifying glass when I was young, but I never thought of using it this way. Thanks.

MidniteFighter

I would love to try out the magnifying glass soldering, the only problem is that I can't find any equipment for this. Do you know any sites that handle this kind of equipment??

The cheapest magnifying glasses are found in toy shops, some are plastic and low power though, best to try Office supply shops for reading magnifying glasses. you can get high power lenses form telescopes, binoculars or Microscopes (which will also supply a work table and a hands off focusing mechanism). High school science texts will give you some background on basic optics if you want to go for multiple lenses.

Another source are camera or photographic equipment lenses.

Have a try with a hand or desk magnifying glass. you might get a nice big old one from junk shops/yards or quite probably buried in the office store room.

PS some old microscopes are very valuable so check before dismantling!

Enjoy

Apply solder on both parts. If the tip of your soldering iron is too big, wrap a stiff COPPER wire around the tip and let it stick out a few millimeter. Use this wire as tip.

Don't solder it at all. Use some form of conductive elastic coupling and a mechanical arrangement to capture the component.

If soldering is really required, look into using solder preforms (search the web for solder preforms). If not, consider using a spring connection or an elastomer.