Solder Paste...

Chat about pick and place machines, reflow ovens, assembly techniques and other SMT tips & trix

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
User avatar
westfw
 
Posts: 2008
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:01 pm

Solder Paste...

Post by westfw »

(as a hobbyist) Is the Chinese solder paste sold on eBay as for "BGA reballing" usable as a general purpose SMT soldering paste?
(http://cgi.ebay.com/BGA-Solder-Solderin ... 3a4cc6ba68 for example)
This seems to be the lowest dollar-out-of-pocket alternative for trying out paste-based soldering... (for instance, it looks like Mouser's cheapest is a 10cc syringe for $40...) If this isn't suitable, are there any reasonably priced sources for small quantities of Paste ?

User avatar
zener
 
Posts: 4567
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:38 am

Re: Solder Paste...

Post by zener »

2.59 and free shipping? Does it say "MADE BY CHINA" there??? No datasheet??? Well for that price I might buy some and try it! It is a name brand I trust......

User avatar
zener
 
Posts: 4567
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:38 am

Re: Solder Paste...

Post by zener »

westfw wrote:are there any reasonably priced sources for small quantities of Paste ?
We are looking right now so hopefully someone knows the answer.

ralphstirling
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:53 pm

Re: Solder Paste...

Post by ralphstirling »

The 10g syringes are a waste, because a considerable percentage can never be dispensed. My last purchase was two 30g syringes from Stencils Unlimited, for $16 each plus $7 shipping. It's worked
OK, although it isn't as "tacky" when dispensing by hand as I would like. It works fine with our home-made stencils though. Dispensed through a needle by hand it doesn't always want to stick to the pad. I'd be happy to learn of other sources though. I used to by 10g amounts from Zephyrtronics for $12. That paste worked fine, but I hated how much waste I had, and they don't sell it in larger quantities.

The Stencils Unlimited paste came with manufacturer's data.

-- Ralph

User avatar
ktownsend
 
Posts: 1447
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:18 am

Re: Solder Paste...

Post by ktownsend »

I've got a few different pastes in the fridge, but in the US the Zephyrtronics paste works well with a syringe. It's tacky enough that it sticks to the board well and I haven't had any problems in the oven (I've only use lead-free, mind, so I can't speak for the PB formulation).

adafruit
 
Posts: 12151
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Solder Paste...

Post by adafruit »

i gotta check out this zephyrtronix place!

ralphstirling
 
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:53 pm

Re: Solder Paste...

Post by ralphstirling »

They are at zeph.com . The paste is good, but the 12g quantities are a pain. We also have one of their ZT-7 rework systems which is very nice for removing parts. They make a lot of claims about its convenience for placing BGA's and QFP's too, but we haven't found that to work so well. After removing a part we clean up the board with solder wick, apply paste, line up parts under the microscope (not BGA's of course), and then either reflow just that part with the ZT-7 or just stick it in the oven for another reflow cycle.

-- Ralph

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “SMT (Surface Mount Tech)”