EE 221 L CIRCUIT II

LABORATORY 5: SOLDERING LAB

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS

OBJECTIVE
To learn how to solder circuits on Printed Circuit Board (PCB).

WARNINGS!!!
This lab involves hot soldering irons and components. USE EXTREME CAUTION!!!
a) This is a general procedure for performance typical soldering or de-soldering operations.
It does not apply to specialized soldering processes or equipment.
b) Many solders used in laboratories may contain lead. DO NOT breathe fumes generated
while soldering.
c) Beware of hot soldering irons and components. Make sure others are aware of hot tools.
d) Be aware of the location of your soldering iron or iron while it is hot, or cooling. Make
sure you place the hot iron in an appropriate holder to prevent heat or fire damage.
e) Switch off and/or unplug soldering tools when not in use. g. Allow soldering tool to cool
before storing.
f) Wash your hands after using solder and soldering tools.

COMPONENTS & EQUIPMENT

• HAKKO FX-888D soldering station (i.e. power, soldering iron, holder, wet sponge)
• Solder wire with flux
• Wire cutter
• PCB and circuit components/parts (e.g. resistors, capacitors, LEDs, etc.)
• Other accessories (if possible): helping hands, flux cleaner, safety glasses, desk fan, etc.

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Figure 1. Description of system

BACKGROUND
Properties of Solder:
Solder used for electronics is a metal alloy, made by combining tin and lead in different
proportions. You can usually find these proportions marked on the various types of solders.
With most tin/lead solder combinations, melting does not take place all at once. Fifty-fifty
solder begins to melt at 183 C (361 F), but it is not fully melted until the temperature reaches 216 C
(420 F). Between these two temperatures, the solder exists in a plastic or semi-liquid state.
The plastic range of a solder varies, depending upon the ratio of tin to lead. With 60/40 solder,
the range is much smaller than it is for 50/50 solder. The 63/37 ratio, known as eutectic solder has
practically no plastic range, and melts almost instantly at 183 C (361 F).
Flux
Reliable solder connections can only be accomplished with truly cleaned surfaces. Solvents
can be used to clean the surfaces prior to soldering but are insufficient due to the extremely rapid

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rate at which oxides form on the surface of heated metals. To overcome this oxide film, it becomes
necessary in electronic soldering to use materials called fluxes. Fluxes consist of natural or
synthetic rosins and sometimes-chemical additives called activators to remove oxides and keep
them removed during the soldering operation. The flux action is very corrosive at solder melt
temperatures and accounts for removing metal oxides. In its unheated state, however, rosin flux is
non-corrosive and non-conductive and thus will not affect the circuitry.
Controlling Heat
Although controlling soldering iron tip temperature is not the key element in soldering, the
advised soldering iron tip temperature is in range of 650 ~ 750 F. More importantly, the key
element is controlling the heat cycle of the work, i.e. how fast the work gets hot, how hot it gets,
and how long it stays hot is the element to control for reliable solder connections.
Thermal Mass
Each joint, has its own particular thermal mass, and how this combined mass compares with
the mass of the iron tip determines the time and temperature rise of the work.
Surface Condition
A second factor of importance when soldering is the surface condition. If there are any oxides
or other contaminants covering the pads or leads, there will be a barrier to the flow of heat. Even
though the iron tip is the right size and temperature, it may not be able to supply enough heat to
the joint to melt the solder.
Thermal Linkage
This is the area of contact between the iron tip and the work. Figure 2 shows a view of a
soldering iron tip soldering a component lead. Heat is transferred through the small contact area
between the soldering iron tip and pad. The thermal linkage area is small.

Figure 2: Minimal thermal linkage due to Figure 3: A solder bridge provides thermal
insufficient solder between the pad and linkage to transfer heat into the pad and
soldering iron tip. component lead.

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Figure 3 also shows a view of a soldering iron tip soldering a component lead. In this case, the
contact area is greatly increased by having a small amount of solder at the point of contact. The
tip is also in contact with both the pad and component further improving the thermal linkage. This
solder bridge provides thermal linkage and assures the rapid transfer of heat into the work.
Re-soldering
Care should be taken to avoid the need for re-soldering. When re-soldering is required, quality
standards for the re-soldered connection should be the same as for the original connection.
Workmanship
Solder joints should have a smooth appearance. A satin luster is permissible. The joints should
be free from scratches, sharp edges, grittiness, looseness, blistering, or other evidence of poor
workmanship. Probe marks from test pins are acceptable providing that they do not affect the
integrity of the solder joint.
An acceptable solder connection should indicate evidence of wetting and adherence when the
solder blends to the soldered surface. The solder should form a small contact angle; this indicates
the presence of a metallurgical bond and metallic continuity from solder to surface. (See Figure 4).

Figure 4: Solder blends to the soldered surface, forming a small contact angle.

LAB DELIVERIES

PRELAB:

1. Please watch the following videos.

a) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qps9woUGkvI
b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYz5nIHH0iY
c) https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=universal+pcb+soldering

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LAB EXPERIMENTS:

1. Setting Up Work Area.

a. Ensure adequate ventilation. If multiple people are soldering in a concentrated area, set up a
fan to gently blow fumes and vapors away from you and your co-workers.
b. Keep area clean around workplace at all times.
c. When working with statically sensitive components (most active devices such as ICs, FETs,
transistors, etc.), be sure to use an anti-static mat to work on and wear an anti-static wrist strap
to minimize risk of electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage.

2. Preparing Workpiece.
a. Clamp work securely while performing soldering or de-soldering. Use a vise, a helping hand
or other approved clamping systems to keep your hands free to work.
b. Use heat sinks to protect thermally-sensitive circuit components.
c. When soldering wire connections, make sure the wires are tightly connected. Use appropriate
covering like heat shrink tubing or twist-on connectors to protect the splice. Do not use wires
with melted insulation or exposed conductors.

3. Setting Up the Soldering Station.

a. Select proper solder and flux. Most solder nowadays are integrated with flux.
b. Select the proper sized solder tip for your work. As trace and pad size decrease, soldering tip
size must also decrease.
c. Turn the soldering station ON and set the temperature 650~750 F. Note: higher temperatures
lead to more rapid formulation of oxidation on soldering tip and will shorten tip life.
d. Make sure the solder tip is cleaned and tinned.

4. Tinning Soldering Tip

a. Allow the soldering iron to reach temperature.
b. Apply flux to the tip first and then liberally apply solder to tip. Note: flux-core solder may not
require application of flux.
c. Wipe off excess solder on sponge.
d. A properly tinned tip will be shiny and free of oxidation.
e. It is normal to have to re-tin a tip from time to time as oxidation builds up on the tip.

5. Soldering
a. Hold the soldering iron like a pen, near the base of the handle.
b. Touch the soldering iron onto the joint to be made. b. Make sure it touches both the component
lead and the track. Hold the tip there for a few seconds to heat the joint.
c. Unroll the solder and bring the end to the joint to be soldered near the soldering iron tip. The
solder should melt and smoothly flow onto the components to be soldered (component lead,
pcb trace, etc). Be sure to apply the solder to the joint, not the iron.
d. Remove the solder, then the iron, while keeping the joint still. Allow the joint a few seconds to
cool before you move the circuit board.

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e. Inspect the joint closely. Be sure that the solder joint is good, as described below.
f. Solder joints may be cleaned after they have cooled using isopropyl alcohol and a Q-tip or
similar cotton swab.

6. Solder Joint Evaluation

a. Good Solder Joints
• will be shiny and concave in nature.
• will be clean and free of dirt and voids.
• will fully cover the pad the component lead lays on or
passing through.

b. Cold Solder Joints

• do not make a good electrical or mechanical connection
• can be remedied by removing existing solder (de-
soldering and clean-up), and then re-soldered.

7. De-soldering
De-soldering is done to remove components that have been soldered together. Two common forms
of de-soldering are done through the use of a vacuum plunger device (solder sucker) or by applying
a braided wick to the joint that pulls solder away through capillary action.

a. Use of Vacuum Plunger

• To use a vacuum plunger, cock the plunger by depressing it fully until it latches.
• Bring the vacuum plunger to the location of the joint to be de-soldered.
• Heat the joint with the tip of the soldering iron.
• When the solder has melted, press the trigger of the
device, which will pull the solder out of the joint.
• Two or more tries may be needed to fully remove the
solder from the joint.
• On occasion, it is actually helpful to add solder to the
joint to provide addition thermal mass and uniform
heating to the joint. This can assist in complete
melting of the solder in the joint
b. Use of Solder Wick
• Solder wick is typically a ribbon of braided fine copper wire with rosin core flux impregnated
into it.
• To use solder wick, lay the wick over the joint to be de-soldered.
• Apply the heated tip of the soldering iron to allow the wick to be heated and melt the solder in
the joint.
• The solder will flow out of the joint and into the wick through capillary action.

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POSTLAB REPORT:

Include the following elements in the report document:

Section Element
1 Theory of operation
Include a brief description of every element and phenomenon that appears during the experiments.
2 Prelab report
1. None. Read through Background and watch the linked videos in the Prelab.
Results of the experiments
3 Experiments Experiment Results
1 Photos of soldered parts on PCB
Answer the questions
Questions Questions
1 What tools do you need to solder electrical/electronic parts onto a PCB?
4
2 What is the temperature range for a soldering iron to work properly?
3 What precautions need to be taken during the soldering process?
4 What is the most important thing during soldering?
5 Conclusions
Write down your conclusions, things learned, problems encountered during the lab and how they
were solved, etc.
6 Images
Paste images (e.g. scratches, drafts, screenshots, photos, etc.) in Postlab report document (only
.docx, .doc or .pdf format is accepted). If the sizes of images are too large, convert them to jpg/jpeg
format first, and then paste them in the document.

Attachments (If needed)

1. Zip your projects. Send through WebCampus as attachments, or provide link to the zip file
on Google Drive / Dropbox, etc.

REFERENCES & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1. C. K. Alexander and M. Sadiku, “Fundamentals of Electric Circuits”, 4th Ed,
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternating_current
3. https://study.com/academy/lesson/alternating-current-definition-advantages-
disadvantages.html

I appreciate the help from faculty members and TAs during the composing of this instruction
manual. I would also thank students who provide valuable feedback so that we can offer better
higher education to the students.

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