AVR-Chat

> 
> The trick is to use plenty of liquid flux. It helps if you have a special 
> tip like Metcal's 'mini-hoof' which is made specifically for drag soldering:
> 
> http://www.metcal.com/tips/minhoof2.html#fine
> 
> Leon 
> 
> 

A word of caution here too. We have found that the smallest concave tip 
is very rarely used, & a lot is done on 0.5mm & 0.65mm pitch TQFP's.

There are two main issues to consider with the miniwave tips. One is the 
thermal mass & the other is the solder reservoir capacity. I find that 
the best tip tends to be the one which just fits into the space between 
the edge of the IC & the passives at the periphery. That way I can do 2 
or 3 edges without restocking the tip & the higher thermal mass tends to 
provide a better joint with less bridging than the finest tip.

Sounds a bit frack to bunt but as I said earlier it is well worth 
finding big eyes at first to get a good feel for the process until you 
get the knack.

Similarly a huge blade tip is the last thing that you would expect to 
use but they too are quite good for drag soldering.

Get enough practice & you can graduate to the heated edge of a
garden shovel ;-)



-- 
Cheers

Don