Noob question: Reflowing solder

solo742

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OK, this be insane, as it sounds goofy, but read on.

Got a sick M.A.C.H. 3, and the folks on the Dragon's Lair project said to "re-flow" the solder connections on all the boards (there are a bunch)

My question is this: I have a good soldering station and I am comfortable soldering, but I was searching the net and I saw a couple way to do this.

1) physically apply soldering iron/solder to each point
2) use a heat gun to re-heat solder joints/ add solder/flux as needed
3) put boards in oven and heat them up using the convection of the oven to re-flow the solder joints. (This is the one I am worried about) and still add solder/flux to suspect points as needed.

As you might expect, I do not want to screw anything up worse than it already is.

Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
It takes time but the best method is to remove the old solder, inspect/clean the pads, then apply new solder.

+1

Of the three that you mentioned, I would choose option 1. Add flux, heat the joint, add new solder as needed.
 
flux is your friend. I don't know how I went so long without using it.

if it's really old solder, I use the desoldering iron (the Radio Shack one with the red pump) to suck the old stuff out first. if you do go that route, or even if you use the manual snap pump, be careful that you don't nuke the solder joints. that's why flux is beneficial even for this step, it'll generally grab all the solder. I also use the regular iron to melt the stuff I want to remove first. it's kind of time consuming, but it makes your work significantly cleaner.

if you have great results, you'll see a shiny silver solder pad.

if not, then start getting creative. :( :)
 
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