This simple tool will change your life. I was lucky to learn how to solder surface mount from a master. He had crafted a tool very similar to this for himself and used it daily. The design is simple, a weighted pin is attached to a piece of round stock and this holds the part down on the board. Using this tool I soldered an entire surface mount board with no errors on my first try.
When you assemble the tool make sure that you push the bolt through and thread the nut first, because you might bend the threads while filing the tip down. Make sure that the tip has a round point about the size of a standard ball point pen. Any sharper and you could damage/mar parts.
To use the tool just put the part under the pin and go. It’s that simple, no re flow plates or panavises or any of that junk. You don’t need to worry about tip size for most jobs either. Another plus is that the bolt acts as a heat sink so small parts don’t fry.
You see that tiiiiiny little part. You’re welcome.
I doubt that, since I solder very little.
Interesting approach. I usually just apply solder to one pad, then reflow the solder with an iron while placing the small component with tweezers. From then on the component is effectively pinned. Works well down to 0402s for me.
That’s brilliant. You’re right, it will change my life. Thanks for sharing.
Ignore Don; he doesn’t know what he’s missing.
Zapp, you don’t have to do any of that with this. I normally tap the part into position and just solder away. It actually makes it easier than through hole, if you can believe it. It works faaaantastic for multipin parts too. IC’s with 20+ pins are no problem at all.
After mucking around with tweezers, this will be a treat! Thanks!
[...] Very cool – perhaps teaching your family to solder surface mount parts is the logical next step? Head over to Gerrit’s blog for the basic instructions. [...]
Green engineering paper pad FTW!
[...] How to make soldering fine pitch surface mount ridiculously easy. » Dammit Coetzee (tags: diy projects electronics) [...]
Nice idea!! I made this.
SMD Tool
I just purchased from harbor freight a multi-purpose with magnetic base with fine adjustment to make a smd holding tool…but your SM helper is a good idea also.
@mikekoma
haha! I really like it. That’s the beauty of this project, you can make it out of anything. The one I originally saw was made of brass and angle iron.
I would definitely gonna try this out
Very interesting take on an “Eleventh Finger” SMT holder (there’s some ongoing discussion of these on an amateur radio mailinglist I’m on focusing on an SMT-heavy transceiver kit).
Just to verify some dimensions and such:
Roughly 2″ diameter dowel segment for bottom, roughly 1/2 to 1″ diameter dowel segment for top, 6-32 bolt and washers?
(Among other things, I’d like to build this beauty myself and possibly provide a parts list to the mailinglist as a whole with pointers to your simple instructions)