I make "free" stencils for almost all of my SMD projects. The lab I work in has a cheap, hobby-level, laser cutter that I use. I cut open aluminum cans, sand of the inner plastic layer, spray paint the can, laser off the part of the spray-paint mask that I want to have solder on, and then etch the aluminum in standard PCB etchant. It takes a half hour tops.

Thanks Dave, your video collection needs to be held by the National Library.

After 6 years, your adventures are still actual and give help to others.

The solder mask working along with the hot air is so satisfying.

Never seen this done before, pretty amazing the way the solder melts and reforms into an efficient shape.

Dave, I know this video is well over a year old now but I wanted to add that in a pinch I find an old credit card makes a good squeegee for my stainless steel stencils. Has a good sharp edge, is very stiff while able to give some bend under high pressure and doesn't scratch the stencil.

Thank you. I didn't know anything about reflow soldering other than the Gigabyte motherboard tour. This vid takes the mystery out of it and leaves no questions unanswered.

Brilliant. Great to see how this is done from start to finish!

This video is even more interesting than usual because I got the same hot air tool. Never did a stencil work nor did a whole board with reflow, just some single ICs. Thanks Dave.

MANY thanks indeed for this - definitely one of my favourite of all your videos. There is something of doing a jigsaw, or building a lego kit about this surface mount reflow stuff. Please do more!

I can always count on you for these things!

Thank you, you show me to solder SMD parts. I finished my qualification as Industrial Electrician, Subject Area: Machines and System last Friday. The problem is SMD solder wasn't a part of content in the qualification, so I must catch up on myself. This video bring me a little bit closer to the SMD solder technique. :)

This was gold for pitfalls to avoid.

I was told a story about a group of people soldering LEDs on boards for emergency exit signs. Someone screwed up on which way the LEDs go and placed it the wrong way, and everyone trusted that guy so they put them on the way he did. And no one paid attention, because they were busy talking about weekends and wife and kids and stuff. And it wasn't until the next day they realized that they have to throw away all the 5000 boards because the LEDs were put on the wrong way!

A dramatic and emotional soldering video 😂 I want to cry happily to see it. we like your video. thank you for sharing

Very informative. Well done Dave!

Awesome ... thanks answered alot of my questions on solder masks

Great video! Very informative, gonna try SMD soldering in the next time :)

A wonderful series. Thanks so much!

The paste issue you had with it not sticking onto the pads when wiping is due to the paste either being too warm or not kneaded enough. Knead it on an aluminum plate to where it becomes the consistency of peanut butter, for a few mins till it's very smooth, then apply it. But like you touched on, the paste should re-flow once in the oven too. Been an SMT Operator producing class 3 PCB's for a few years now, and always see this issue whenever someone doesn't prep the paste. It's awesome to see people producing PCB's right at home. Feel free to ask any other questions, love teaching and passing info to people who like to learn.

damn dave this was a really great video. ive only just figured out what this wave soldering stuff was and i was looking for a start to end video and well look at this. solder mask and stuff makes more sense now.

Very nice video quality, I can see the individual microballs of solder!

Thank you for such a good video with practicable details!

Great explaination. Thanks Dave!

You can use old credit card or similar plastic or metal sheet to apply stencil paste. Also a thin squeegee from local hardware show will do job perfectly. It is important that edge is smooth and material isn't to flexible. I work with smd every day at my job. For printing stencil we use LPKF stencil printer for bigger series of boards, but for prototypes I just make frame like this one on video and I attach metal mask with some tape on one side to create sort of hinge.

Still very good! Even in 2021. Thanks Dave!

Whenever I'm soldering LED's, mostly in monitor backlight boards, I heat the borad from below so the solder melts before the temperature gets to the LED's.

The titanium Centurion, or "Black" AMEX Card works the best!

you can also use magnets to hold the stencil on place i used with reballing of cell phone chips it works greet i have under the boards also a plate for the magnets greets mmtpc

Hi Dave, I love your program, relay useful for every one ,please keep going and make more and more video Thank's and have good job

Makes one long for the days of soldering vacuum tube-based circuits, Dave!

if you apply the past in multiple passes it goes under the stencil edges and it ends up next to the pads, if you do it in one pass you get nice sharp edges. Might not be a big deal in some cases but when using IC's with very close pin spacing shorts will form between them.

Very informative thank you Dave.

For those who are looking for where to get stencils made, you can get great mylar stencils from Polulu for very small run projects or prototypes, then you can get stainless steel laser cut ones from QuickStencil when you're ready to move up. Good luck!! Also, look into building a reflow toaster! Super cheap and extremely effective!

Great video! Slightly prolonged, but has perfect PCB design! :)

Awesome video, ready to do my own!

You should do a tutorial about the mounting and removal of surface mount electrolytic capacitors, great video btw :)

Great tutorial! Exactly what I needed :)

Interesting video. Great quality. Would love to know which camera you used?

Great stuff, thanks mate! Bit of a sus edit just before the plug in tho!

The WF24 Chip looks like it could use a little more love :) Thanks for the nice Video :)

2:30 Dave did a magic trick !

just opened up a post on the beginners section on eevblog to discuss this further. you can see the surface resistance/conductivity there.

Thanks to all these videos, I am really interested in restarting my very old hobby.....#madscientist ensues

Thanks very much Dave, I learned heaps! You explained the principle of solder masks really well, it was good to see it work.

For the folks in the US, I found a couple tools that work very well for stenciling. The spreader is a Hyde 4” Flexible Joint Knife. It's got the right amount of "spring" to apply constant pressure and has a sharp edge. I use a Techni-Tool Spatula Part #: 758SO0026 to apply the paste evenly. I've assembled hundreds of boards using these two tools and they're as good as new.

YOU ARE AMAZING ,MATE

Great video thanks for showing us all im trying to Reflow a mini USB

The flux is included in the solder paste. AFAIK that's the main reason for the shelflife and the time parts can be placed after applying the paste. The solvent of the contained flux will evaporate and the paste will go hard.

Nice catch about oposite diode marking :D

great video ..i never knew this technique existed..i learned something new!

Just a quick note too all those keen on getting a reflow oven. I bought a cheapie from China and found it to be crap beyond use even. It was the T962 (not the A version). Get a good one, modify a toaster or whatever you need to do but don't get a T962 because you will have wasted your money. In the end the 858D+ I bought served me best. Cheers Dave by the way.

Correct. It's also why the paste should be kept in the fridge, so the solder balls don't all fall out of being suspended in the paste.

Awesome, thanks for sharing

Absolutely - that's how I started out. It's pretty convenient to just pop them in, push a button, then out pops a properly reflowed part at a specified temperature profile. Just like baking cookies ^_^

nice build.

Thanks for the video. 2 questions come to mind. 1/. How did you work out the diagram for the LED had the cathode and anode back to front in the diagram. 2/. Do you concentrate the heat away from the heat gun the chop centre and concentrate more on the joints or are the chops usually able to withstand the heat

Dave! BAD SOLDER JOINT on the middle pin of one of those WF24 chips!

a few questions about this: how, if necessary, do you clean your stencils? is it good practice to do so? also if so how often should it be done?

Wow, really good stuff to know here especially if you're in the repair buiness

You sir just gained a subscriber

great job

I've done a tutorial on SMD hand soldering

I'd like to say this once again - it's a good practice to preheat the board from the bottom. In Russia we even used an iron sometimes (yes, the one your wife uses to iron the clothes). Just put it upside down, place the board on it and enjoy. Soldering is much easier in this case, because board doesn't take so much heat anymore. And the chance to overheat your chips is also much less now. Well, iron is weird, it's better to use IR heater.

Proskit made one suction pickup tools that works with 1xAAA battery and works like a real charm ! ive been using it for a year and its awesome! its Pro'sKit MS-B126 and its 20$

Great video very enjoyable to watch.

Yes. The syringe is the only type available at my local Jaycar store.

The visual identifier on those LED's was the one angled corner I think?

Really great video!!!

Cooking with EEVblog and todays show "Reflowing".

Neat and interesting Idea. I've always hand solder these tiny pitch chips, QFN's mainly. I just pre-tin pads, remove excess solder with home made silver plated desolder braid, place and align chip, spray contacts with SK10 solder flux, then run iron/solder down a whole row at a time. use the same silver plated braid on the soldered area to tidy up. result looks like a reflow job ;-) #Note: I don't use Toy soldering irons for this type of work, I use a Metcal MX5000 workstation. Steve

Use the sticky part of a post-it to hold the smd parts easier to pick up with tweezers

One trick for shaky hands is to use one of those pano-vise. Clamp in your solder iron, tighten the nut just enough to move the iron with a little effort. Very stable.

According to IPC general recommendations the stencil should have rounded corners to optimize for maximum release when the stencil is removed from the board. And it is very important to have about 50% of the size pad size for the solder paste opening in larger thermal pads, especially under the components. Please use IPC recommendation solder paste layer when you're using stencils.

I just love reflow slodering, even if I need to do some extra research on how much heat, I can put on the board till I fuck up a part.

Hey Dave, enjoyed the video, good stuff. Do you have any plans to do a blog on how to produce your own solder mask rather than have to get it done commercially. I produce my own PCBs but would like to put a solder mask on. Keep up the good work.

Could you please do a video about PCB design when doing solder paste based PCBs?

You can make a really cool vacuum pickup tool by getting a fish tank pump and reversing the value so it will suck instead of blow.

Excellent!

Another great video...

Great video. If possible, what are your thoughts on reflowing a BGA chip that has already been soldered in place (but one of the balls may not be making proper contact. (is there a limit to how many times you can re-reflow a BGA? )

thanks once again

Now that was satisfying to watch, despite the spatula. You don't have to be in contact with the solder paste. Couldn't see any smoke either, like from regular soldering. I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes the preferred way of soldering, if it isn't already - even for hobbyists. I reckon you would need a bit more paste for through-hole components though.

thanks for the nice video ! did the same on my channel a short time ago.

29:01 looks like a bit of a light joint on the middle right side of that WF24 6-pin

Nothing, I just took out some extra dialog, it did work first go. I posted a preview of a longer version of this video on Twitter at first, it was 40min and probably has the extra dialog. This final edited version is 31min, so many more cuts.

quick question. can't seem to find this kit anywhere! is there a link where i can buy this same kit? or is it some limited production run.....

nice video Dave ,what about using a low malting down Temp soldier paste I think it could reduce the over heat damages , does it have a disadvantages ? thanks

Great video thanks

The solder paste has liquid flux in it, a lot of it actually. So no, no flux needed. In fact, the gradual increase of temperature, besides giving time to the pcb to warm up gradually and not crack or bend or whatnot, is also chosen in such as way as to give time to the flux to work on the surfaces for a few seconds before it boils/evaporates and the solder actually reaches the temperature needed to make the connections.

I usually don't shake doing this stuff. It's the combination of the camera angles with the tripod in the way etc and having to stand up doing it reaching further than normal, and also talking at the same time.

Great Video!

Hi, I've searched eBay and amazon for an hour now to find this kit, I would love to make it. Any links please. Thank you.

The heat gun can also be a very ham-fisted tool, as can an uncontrolled or mis-used toaster oven.

I’m not sure this would be needlessly complicated for only a marginal gain but: if your stencil is made of a thin steel sheet, maybe you could use magnets underneath the PCB to secure it in place and get multiple anchor points spread over the whole surface?

I assume you had the stencil made? For prototyping that can be quite expensive. I'd like to avoid that high cost ($125) each time. For production its worth it. Good video - thanks much.

I think that the issue with dragged solder paste is that your spatula is too soft. It's bending quite a lot so the trailing edge is very flat on the paste, and that increased surface area is dragging the solder away from the trailing edge of the mask.

Dave, I read somewhere that solder paste can be refreshed by running the container of paste through an ultrasonic jewellry cleaner. I think the idea was that it re-mixes the flux components. Have you heard of this before or tried it?

Oh, very interesting video - for sure ! I found out it's NOT a method for my shaky hands ;-)) Can you show some solderings too where you use ordinairy solderiron and tin on SMD's ?

That a miracle!