BGA rework

omarale

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Hi to all, I m just looking for buy a BGA rework station, mainly pointing to JOVI system RE-8500, but I d like to know your thoughts and experience about actual systems and brands/models, I `d really appreciate any suggestion/advice about this. Best regards to all
 
There's not much BGA rework needed in this hobby since most of the boards are 2 or 4 layer through hole.

Maybe some of the video cards used in Golden Tee or more recent game boards require a BGA but most don't do alot of repair on those.

Maybe there is someone here that reworks ball grid arrays but I haven't heard of it. Channelmanic does alot of surfacemount rework.
 
I've personally done a little bit of BGA rework with hot air, and found it to be very hit or miss. I saw someone use an IR rework station, and it was MUCH better, but also much more expensive. He was also experienced with that machine. I haven't seen the RE-8500 though.

Depending how critical success is, it may be worth taking on. I know a lot of assembly houses inspect BGA solder joints with X-Ray, and that's the only way I'd do it if it was a commercial application. If I was just trying to resolder BGA chips on my own dead Cruis'n board that was basically free and had nothing to lose, I'd just squirt a bunch of flux under the chip and pop it in an oven, hot air, or IR and hope for the best.

DogP
 
I don't do BGA... SOP, TSSOP, SOIC, FPGA, etc..., yes. BGA, no.

You want infrared for doing those. Don't use hot air or you'll just popcorn the chips.
 
I'd recommend the Zephyrtronics ZT-7000. It is great for Sega Chihiro boards, I've repaired half a dozen of those, and also Midway Zeus boards. Normally, we use this machine to repair Xbox 360 consoles.

I recommend the "big grid" air bath preheater they offer as well.

I offer BGA reflow services, and when necessary, re-ball services with leaded solder, priced on a case by case basis.
 

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I'd recommend the Zephyrtronics ZT-7000. It is great for Sega Chihiro boards, I've repaired half a dozen of those, and also Midway Zeus boards. Normally, we use this machine to repair Xbox 360 consoles.

I recommend the "big grid" air bath preheater they offer as well.

I offer BGA reflow services, and when necessary, re-ball services with leaded solder, priced on a case by case basis.

You still fixing 360s?
 
I just watched a few videos on the Zephyrtronics. Certainly not the nicest looking unit I've ever seen, but it's capabilities are very impressive. I wouldn't mind investing in one, at $2750 it wouldn't take too many PS3/360 repairs to pay for itself.
 
Around Dallas it would with all the folks offering "BGA repairs" for $30 on the game consoles.
 
For $30, I'd guess they're just reflowing the solder, not reballing. I'd also guess they're not giving a good warranty.

For those who don't know, a reflow is done by heating bottom side of the circuit board, flowing flux under the chip, then heating from the top and bottom for a specified amount of time. It is much easier to do, but not reliable, especially if reflowing lead free solder.

$30 to reball wouldn't be enough to pay the employees, much less pay for the machine and supplies.
 
$30 to reball wouldn't be enough to pay the employees, much less pay for the machine and supplies.

Which is why I don't touch newer game consoles. Too many hacks out there that try shortcuts.
 
For $30, I'd guess they're just reflowing the solder, not reballing. I'd also guess they're not giving a good warranty.

I think you're giving them too much credit. I'm guessing they're installing clamps to press the chip harder against the mobo... like the x-clamp mod on the 360.

DogP
 
I'd recommend the Zephyrtronics ZT-7000. It is great for Sega Chihiro boards, I've repaired half a dozen of those, and also Midway Zeus boards. Normally, we use this machine to repair Xbox 360 consoles.

I recommend the "big grid" air bath preheater they offer as well.

I offer BGA reflow services, and when necessary, re-ball services with leaded solder, priced on a case by case basis.

Thank you for the comment, I ve been in their site and seems good, I think the most important point for the user is to have a good process description, the main secret for sucess in rework. When you get a new chinese system, their manuals and user guides aren´t clear, confusing the technician and forcing to do the guess work, burning or rendering useless the pcbs or chips in this case. Its good to have a site where you con find videos and many information about the procedure. Since most tech poeple I spoke with says IR is better than hot air, I think this convection hot air system wouldn´t be such bad if you learn how to use it first.
My doubt is, can you buy ZT-7000 with any airbath preheater or you should buy the system AND a preheater separately? Does it worth spend 1900 plus to the system or you refered the big grid as a spare for doing only extractions and simple through hole work?

I understand there are service around for low cost, I also sent a few to reball, but the results were so bad, that decided to invest in a system and do it myself. The thing is in my country there´s no much people dedicated to that work, so we have no choice...
 
Where I work we use ERSA 1650XL. I'm not familiar with other systems, but with the ERSA the board pre-heater and the reflow head are all part of a system, along with the optical placement device. I like the ERSA, although it feels expensive so you can probably get away with a more simple unit.
 
Where I work we use ERSA 1650XL. I'm not familiar with other systems, but with the ERSA the board pre-heater and the reflow head are all part of a system, along with the optical placement device. I like the ERSA, although it feels expensive so you can probably get away with a more simple unit.

Thank you, seems a very expensive equipement, and they should have a good support, it must be very precise and independent in process the rework, yes agree that a smaller unit would be appropiate for my needs.
 
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