STONES SOUND STUDIO
Digital Amplifiers
by
Russell Storey
Digital Articles links to read
First, you need some equipment and material
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Good
visibility. Strong light helps a lot
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Magnifying
glass. I prefer the type you wear like a pair of glasses or with a strap
around your head. These can be bought for around €20. You can also use a low
magnification stereo microscope, but I find these slower to work with and
they are a lot more expensive.
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A support to
bring your PCB to the right work height. A comfortable work position with
support for your arms is crucial for getting a good result. It is very
difficult to solder small components without a good support for your arms.
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A good solder
iron. Our PCBs are in double weight, double sided copper. These require a
substantial amount of heat. While some people have used smaller irons
successfully, a 60W soldering iron is the minimum recommended.
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The solder
tip should be thin and in good condition. Tips with long life coating should
be used and are much easier to keep clean.
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When
soldering parts that are connected to the ground plane, a substantial amount
of heat is required. However, do NOT turn up the solder iron temperature as
this may damage the underlying FRP. It may be required to preheat the PCBs.
I use a tabletop pot heater on my workbench, the type that is used to keep
food hot. These usually have a surface temperature of around 100 C which is
just fine. The boards will have a temperature of about 80C when lying flat
on the heater. In this way, not so much heat needs to be added, which
decreases risk of overheating the FRP and making the copper leads lift.
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Thin solder
wire. I recommend 0.5 mm (20 mil) or thinner, as it is easier to apply in
small quantities to the iron.
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Solder flux.
I use a flux pen of the "no clean" type. These are felt pens with solder
flux liquid. Flux is helpful for getting the solder to flow to where it
should be and also removes oxides.
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Thin solder
wick for removing access solder. It works as a strip of tissue when heated
on excess solder.
And now
to the actual work.
Most SMT
components are too small to hold and solder at the same time.
If you are just
soldering a few components, here is a good method
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Melt a
small amount of solder on one of the solder pads
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Hold the
component in place with a tweezers
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Melt the pad
with the solder. Push the component lightly down on the PCB so it mounts
flat. Let the pad cool.
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Solder the
second (and other) pads
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Melt the
first pad again and let it cool down
For "large"
components like SMA, SMB and SMC size diodes, I usually move the solder iron
sideways relative to the component, soldering along the pad, from one corner to
the other. This usually distributes the solder evenly. A similar method can be
used for 0805 size components.
For small multi
connector packages, like the main chip of the AMP3, or the chips of the AMP2 it
is important to be careful, as it can be difficult to repair mistakes. I
recommend the following procedure.
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Make sure the
solder tip is very clean and in good condition: wipe the hot iron clean on a
wet sponge. This removes oxides that otherwise mess up the soldering.
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Put the chip
in place, so the legs match the PCB pads. You can use a small clip to keep
it in place until the first pads have been soldered.
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Put a VERY
small droplet of solder on the solder iron tip. If it is not small and does
not flow out well, wipe it of on the sponge and try again. IMO the number
one problem when soldering small components, is using too much solder. With
the right amount of heat and flux, very little solder is needed, it is
hardly visible. If you look the PCB of a machine welded commercial
product like a peripheral card in a PC, you should get an idea of how little
is actually needed. These are soldered by basically dipping the whole card
into a bath with molten solder. Yet no bridges are formed! This is due to
the use of the right combination of temperature, solder, flux and time.
However, when hand soldering small components, the number one caution is to
use little solder. If the temperature/solder/flux/time is right, the
capillary flow will make the solder go where it should be. You can even use
a "wide" (1.5mm) chisel shaped iron tip, soldering two or three chip legs at
a time. Again, if the temperature/solder/flux/time is right, the solder will
not form bridges.
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Solder one
pad, preferably a corner pad. Then solder the diagonal corner and the
remaining corner pads so the chip is securely in place.
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Soak the legs
with flux. This helps a lot in making the solder flow to the right right
place. Flux also helps remove oxides, giving clean joints.
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The pads are
often more difficult to heat that the component legs; Place the iron tip on
the outer end of a pad and move the solder iron tip along the pad
towards the chip. This way, the pad will the be heated when the solder iron
touches the chip leg. You should see a change in the surface of the leg as
the solder flows up the surface when the iron touches it.
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If you happen
to get a solder bridge join two legs, remove as much solder as you can with
the solder wick. Add some flux to the wick. Heat the wick with the solder
iron and the wick should soak up excess solder. You can also use a very
sharp, thin knife like a break off knife, to cut away access. Be careful not
to cut any tracks. But cutting with a knife should not be needed if you have
a solder wick.
Previously I was using a very thin needle point iron tip, working one
component leg at a time. But recently I have found that with the right
conditions, a flat chisel shaped iron also works very well, even with very
small, tightly spaced chip legs. The right combination of temperature,
solder and flux will make solder flow, by capillary force and surface
tension, to where it should be, so multiple legs can be soldered at the same
time, without bridges forming. But I would not try this without having
solder wick near by, that can soak up excess solder in case messing up.
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When all legs
have been soldered, test all the pins with an ohm meter. You need test pins
with thin tips. Some test pins supplied with budget testers are too thick to
be used. I usually set it in "beep mode". Place one pin at the outer end of
the exposed pad on the PCB. Set the other pin on the top of the chip leg,
where it enters the chip. In this way, you do avoid pressing the leg towards
the PCB, which could indicate a connection, even if there is none. I move
the pins one by one. In this way, you can quickly test both the connection
between the component leg and the PCB and at the same time check that there
is not connection between adjacent legs /pads.
Alternative ways of soldering SMT components
If you are
soldering a quantity of components, here is a rational way. Use epoxy glue to
fix the components to the board before soldering. You should use SMT type epoxy
like Loctite 3609. It is expensive but good. I usually apply the epoxy to the
PCB with a small syringe. Only a small spot is needed for each component. The
epoxies suited for this is are of a one component, heat-curing type. They do not
harden until you heat them to around 100C for about one minute. Therefore, you
have plenty of time. I use the following procedure:
(A)
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If there are
components to be soldered in an oven, do this first. If not, you can skip to
(B) below...
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Spread solder
paste to all PCB pads that should be soldered in the oven
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Place the
components on the PCB
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Pace the PCB
in the oven
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Preheat to
about 140C for two minutes
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Increase the
temperature to get a peak temperature of about 220C. The time above 200C
should be 30-40 seconds
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Let the PCB
cool slowly. Don not force cooling.
(B)
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Bring out all
the SMT components required for a board
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Place epoxy
dots on the PCB
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With a small
pincer, place the components on the board
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When all SMT
components are in place, bake the board in an oven at 100 C for about two
minutes
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Take the
board out and place it on the table heater
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Solder the
SMT components.
The procedure
above may seem complicated, but once you get the hang of it you will probably
work faster this way, than with traditional through-hole components. Further,
down on this page you can find more about the details of how to solder SMT
components.
(C)
Now finally add
any through-hole components To the PCB
Soldering in an oven
Components that
have connectors that are not accessible, like bottom side cooling pads, need to
be soldered in an oven. For the 41hz audio amps this only applies to one of the
chips of the AMP2. A small toaster oven or other domestic oven will do. Do NOT
use the same oven for food unless you are prepared to do a thorough cleaning.
You do not want lead in your food and you do not want grease in your PCBs. For
repeated use, I recommend you get a separate little oven toaster for the PCBs.
You could even make a simple oven by using an ordinary kitchen pot on your
stove. Preferably, use a stainless steel pot with a lid and a good thermometer.
Most solder melts at around 180 C. When soldering, you have to go a bit higher
the melting point temperature, to get a good wetting and ensure proper melting.
On the other hand, components can be damaged if heated to much.
Hot air soldering
Yet another possibility is to use a hot air gun. I have not tried this and would
use it with precaution so that components are not damaged. Is there anyone out
there who has tried this or has comments or ideas?
I usually solder
the heat slug of the heat dissipating AMP2 chip in an oven, or skip the
soldering and use heat transfer paste between chip and PCB and put a small heat
sink on top. Of course the legs of the chip have to be soldered. The chip is
rated to be soldered at 270C for 10s (typical solder specification for chips).
Solder melts at 180C and is very fluid at 190-200C. I would say it is impossible
to heat both PCB and chip in a controlled manner with an iron.
Well you can also
solder the "normal, way" but then add heat transfer paste between chip and PCB
for better cooling. Or add a heat sink on top of the chip.
If I would solder the chip, or have it done, I would like to test it before
delivery but that would be difficult, without building the rest of the board.