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SMD Stencil soldering - perspectives of a first-timer on what's easy and difficult // KiCad, PCBWay
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- Опубликовано: 7 авг 2024
- #smd #stencil #soldering
When I had over 30 components to solder, I ordered both the PCBs and a stencil from PCBWay www.pcbway.com/. Since this was my first time using the stencil, I share some easy things that I could have fixed or considered before making the PCB layout. I also share what are some of the difficult parts such as the technique itself. Overall, using the stencil gave me a deeper appreciation of large volume manufacturing that I also show as a contrast.
‣ Some links below are affiliate. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
⏰ TIMESTAMPS AND RESOURCES
0:00 Intro
0:36 Why and when to try out a stencil
1:38 Easy parts of stencil soldering
3:00 Solder paste layer
3:58 Ordering the stencil and options
4:42 Solder paste
4:58 Hard parts of stencil soldering
5:30 Setup a soldering jig
6:29 Spread the solder paste
7:11 Component placement
8:01 Soldering with a hot air gun
9:02 Outro
🛍️ PRODUCTS MENTIONED
MECHANIC Solder Paste Flux XGZ40 s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AS3uzg
ATTEN ST-862D Hot Air Gun workstation s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Am4hDi
Kapton tape s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A0p00j
🎩 DEMO FILES
KiCad PCB layout files hutscape.com/oak/hardware
Interactive BOM hutscape.com/oak/bom/ibom.html
📺 WATCH NEXT
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🔗 LINKS SHOWN
Inside a PCB Soldering Factory - in China by Strange Parts • Inside a PCB Soldering...
SMT stencil and Laser Stencil www.pcbway.com/pcb_prototype/...
InteractiveHtmlBom plugin for KiCad github.com/openscopeproject/I...
🔌 TOOLS USED
hutscape.com/tools
🎶 MUSIC
Spring Field by Godmode from RUclips Audio library
Since you asked for tips about SMD stencil soldering in your video, here's my process.
I use an ancient small unregulated hot plate where I marked the positions on the temperature knob that yield 50C, 100C and 150C, all of which are below the melting point of the solder paste I use.
I put the board on the plate when it is cold and slowly bring it up to 150C using each marking in turn. At that point the hot air rework station need to only raise the temperature of the board around the solder joints a little bit in order to make it flow.
I use high heat and low airflow along with a small nozzle for this final step, and try to keep the airflow away from the centers of the component bodies.
I then transfer the PCB to a piece of Oak wood to allow it to cool somewhat slowly so the solder joints don't fracture. This has worked pretty well for me so far.
Thanks for sharing! I have also been wondering about a hot plate. Yours seem like a nice balance of not too many features but with just enough temperature grades to match the reflow profile.
Love the idea of using the hot air gun at the final step + the wood!
Whenever I look at your perfectly tidy desk, then at the state of my desk… and table and kitchen counter and coffee table and every other flat surface… it makes me despair!
Great video as always.
Haha, well if you can find all the stuff you need, then it's all good! I have another motivation to keep things away hidden inside cupboards - a growing and curious toddler 😅
Thanks for this!
Very informative topic specially for starters ⚡
I’d definitely recommend building a toaster oven based reflow oven , the toaster ovens are very cheap , I use unexpected maker’s reflow master to control it , and get great results . I now only use my hot air gun for rework.
Did you get solder mask between the qfp pins ? I’ve only just worked out how to get this by setting options in KiCad, but it gives better results and less rework , in my limited experience . 😃 Anyway, great video and good clear explanations . Many Thanks for sharing your experiences 😃
Thanks!! Yeah, seems like a toaster oven / hot plate is a better way than a hot air gun 😅 I learned the hard way!
Regarding the Paste layer for the QFP, yeah it did seem all fine. You can check here, page 3 of the Gerbers rendered: hutscape.com/oak/hardware/docs/layout.pdf. I didn't have to do anything special in KiCad though. I just chose the normal footprint for the TQFN footprint, but I did allow the pin width settings to pass the DRC in the PCB layout editor.
Could you explain which "setting options in KiCad" gave you better results? Will look into it.
@@sayanee The settings were under File->Board Setup -> Solder Mask/Paste The defaults are set to 0 , which seems to mean the Manufacturer uses their own values , I set mine to : Solder mask clearance 0.05mm and minimum width to 0.1mm . I also reduced the width of the pads on one of the footprints in the footprint editor to allow a little more space between the pads. I've also changed some of the soldermask cutouts to partially cover some of the copper , for a tiny device (TPS82140) but I've not had those manufactured yet ( This device has proven very difficult, and I've normally had to use the hot air gun on it ) I've "checked" the solder mask by uploading to the PCB manufacturers web site and using their viewer. If you have a contact email that you're happy for me to use , I can send you pictures of my boards
@@DaveHines1 Thanks for sharing!! Yes, I kinda did similar things after checking with the manufacturer's capabilities.
@@sayanee It doesn't look like you need more projects but I'm very happy with my DIY Controleo reflow oven and would recommend it to anyone. Pretty cheap and very reliable reflow.
I've been curious about how people use thermal glue for SMD components on both sides of a 2 layer PCB but haven't found any good basic overviews.
@@electrocontinuo LOL! "It doesn't look like you need more projects". Always a dilemma, right? Finish the current projects, or get excited about new ones? 😆😅I do hear a lot of good reflow stories from DIY ovens made.
Yep, my question still remains how to use manual SMD stencil for prototypes for 2 layers. For now, I'm going to just make it on one layer as my PCBs are generally a proof of concept rather than miniaturization. I'll also keep a lookout for thermal glue methods that I never heard of before.
Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks for the great videos! (I always learn something.)
Although I admire your tenacity in going with manual soldering, there are now companies that will source components and do SMT assembly, of a small quantity of boards, for very reasonable prices. The quality and reliability of a machine soldered board is far and away better than what most of us can accomplish using manual tools. When you are developing a prototype there is nothing more frustrating than wasting time trying to chase down a bug in your design, only to discover that the cause is due to an open, short or intermittent connection due to a poor solder joint. (Arrrgh!)
Do yourself a favour and pay the few dollars for machine SMT assemby.
My 2 cents.
Thanks again.
Yes!! That's exactly my next aim :) Probably a hybrid - assemble most of the passives and hand solder the rest.
Amazing comprehensive video as always! After using the hot air station, do you have any recommendations for hot plates? There are some on Amazon, however unsure how well they work and reliability (some reviews say the ground wire is not attached). These wouldn't have a heating profile either...
Yes, same thoughts here. I'm wondering whether a hot plate would be better! I don't have a model to recommend, but would be nice to find something not too expensive for a home lab, with simple features (no heating profile as you pointed out). I guess this will need a little more research!
Ultimately, I guess it will also depend on our individual use case. Will we be using the hot plate to do all of our PCBs? Then a hot plate with a little more features would be good. Will we be using it to just prototype small volumes before doing the next version in the factory? Then a hot plate with fewer features would suffice enough to test the concept. These are also some considerations.
@@sayanee www.seeedstudio.com/Mini-Hot-Plate-Preheater-MHP30-p-4751.html is one that everyone has been raving about.
@@ChinmayPendharkar Thanks! You egged me on to do a little research on other models that I saw on social media. So I'm going to drop them here for anyone's reference!
Arturo twitter.com/arturo182/status/1354916451925307396 seems to have UYUE 946-1010 www.aliexpress.com/item/32991264316.html.
Mohit Bhoite twitter.com/MohitBhoite/status/1301917906297483265 seems to have something similar UYUE 946C www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002567982222.html
Informative. Thanks for sharing.
How much does assembly costs? Wanted to know if manual effort is worth enough (even for small scale production) considering the complexity and time required to assemble with the help of stencil.
Exactly, we have to do the cost-benefit analysis depending on each project, number of PCBs, number of components, type of components, testing, etc.
I think in general, the cost of assembly will get cheaper with higher volumes.
excellent presentation... regarding storing the solder paste in a cold storage, would highly discourage using a kitchen fridge.. there are harmful fumes generated even by sealed paste, and those that are not lead free are more dangerous.. especially dangerous when there are children at home..
best would be to buy small cold storage units, or to use and throw these small vials of solder paste...
Great point on safety 🙏🏻
Hey how you change the pcb footprint colour in kicad
Please tell
If you didn’t then i mind! ☹️
Oh I used the KiCad color schemes and followed the instructions here: github.com/pointhi/kicad-color-schemes
I used the nord theme: github.com/pointhi/kicad-color-schemes/tree/master/nord
Happy exploring other themes :)
@@sayanee can please make a video about this . This will definitely help those type of people who are absolutely nooby like me.
On the other hand there are some bit of information about this in around youtube!
So why not?