Soldering project

School of Electrical and Information Engineering The University of Sydney May 26, 2012

Lab aims
What tools do I need to solder electronic circuit boards? What is the standard operating procedure (SOP) of manual soldering? How do I solder through-hole components?

The questions addressed in this lab are:

Pre-work
Read these notes. Do the pre-work quiz on Blackboard.

Background

Soldering is a process of attaching two or more metal parts by melting a ller metal (solder) at the point of contact (called joint). Solder is a special type of metal alloy that melts at low temperatures, typically starting at 200 C. Solder not only provides rm attachment but also conducts electricity. Solder is then used to attach electronic components such as resistors and capacitors to electronic circuit boards. Solder is usually made up of tin and lead. The typical ratio of tin/lead is 60/40. Lead is added to reduce the solders melting temperature. However since lead is poisonous, its use is becoming less popular nowadays. You may come across electronic equipments with a symbol Pb circled and crossed which claim that no lead is present. The trade-o for having no lead is that the minimum melting temperature can exceed 300 C. Solder also contains ux which prevents oxidation and corrosion. It melts at the joint forming a pool to remove oxidation and allow solder to spread easily on a pad on circuit boards. The ux also vaporise into smoke with a distinctive odour. The smoke should not be inhaled for health reason. For more information about the solder smoke, please see http://garypalamara.com/Articles Solder Smoke.htm. You should also watch the following videos which show the basic skills and tips in soldering. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxeDkcAa4Fs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0YxEilyQVY

Figure 1: Picture of a soldering iron

Figure 2: Picture of a reel of solder wire

Standard operating procedure (SOP)

Soldering iron (Figure 1) Solder wire which usually comes in reels (Figure 2). Fume extractor (Figure 3) Desoldering pump (Figure 4)

Soldering requires the following equipment:

Soldering requires a strict standard operating procedure since the solder can be dangerous. Firstly, when the solder melts, it becomes a very hot liquid metal which can become projectiles with improper handling. These hot liquid can land at someones skin and eyes causing severe damage. Secondly solder contains harmful substances such as lead which can be fatal if ingested.

4.1

Soldering

Safety glasses or goggles must be worn at all times. The fume extractor must be switched on. Place the fume extractor close to the components to be soldered. Clean the bench. Remove any unnecessary items from the bench. Switch on the soldering iron. If temperature control is available, set the temperature to 300 C.

Figure 3: Picture of a fume extractor

Figure 4: Picture of a desoldering pump

 Wait for a few minutes for the soldering iron to warm up. Never touch the tip or barrel of the soldering iron. To check if the soldering iron is ready, melt a small amount of solder at the tip. Ensure that the tip of the soldering iron is shiny and clean. Gently wipe the tip of the iron on the sponge to remove excess solder and dirt. Warning: do not ick the iron to remove the excess solder. Always apply a small amount of solder on the tip before and after use. This tinning process helps heat ow from the tip to the joint that you want to solder. It also protects the tip. Hold the soldering iron like a pen near the base of the handle. The soldering iron must only be removed out of its stand for soldering and then immediately placed back to the stand. Do not touch the board or component that will be in contact with the soldering iron. Use pliers, tweezers or helping hands to hold the board or component. Place the tip of the soldering iron on the pad of the circuit board. Place the solder on the joint. The solder should melt owing smoothly to the components lead and the boards pad and form a volcano shape as shown in Figure 5. Move the solder away from the joint and then the iron. It will take a few seconds for the joint to cool down. Return the soldering iron back to its stand when nished. Inspect the joint. The solder should look shiny and form a volcano shape. If it does not, reheat the joint using the iron and then apply a small amount of solder. Switch o the soldering iron after use. Switch o the fume extractor. Watch your hands thoroughly with soap after soldering to avoid ingesting any solder or metal.

4.2

Desoldering

Hold the desoldering pump using the other hand. (The desoldering pump is available from the lab tutors.) Push the plunger with your thumb until it clicks and stays. Place the tip of the pump near the joint Heat the joint using the iron. Press the button on the pump when the solder melts. The pump will suck the solder which will cool down inside the pump and become solid. Repeat the steps until there is no more solder left on the joint and the component lead can be moved.

Figure 5: Illustration of good and bad soldering joints

Populating circuit board

In this soldering project, you will be populating an oscillator printed circuit board (PCB). The circuit is identical to the square wave oscillator in lab 7. Figure 6 shows the circuit diagram of the oscillator circuit. The circuit generates a square wave with frequency of about 500 Hz and amplitude of about 4 V at pin 3 of the 555 IC. Figure 7 shows the top view of the PCB you will be soldering. The PCB is made up of several layers Top layer (red): contains tracks which electrically connect components. Bottom layer (blue): contains tracks which electrically connect components. Top overlay layer (green): contains markings and labels to indicate the components. On the PCB, this layer is usually white. Top and bottom solder mask layers which cover the top and bottom tracks for protection. Notice that on the PCB, only the copper pads around the holes are not covered for soldering purposes. The components consist of 2 resistors 2 capacitors 8-pin IC socket 555 IC 3-pin header The soldering task should take only up to 10 minutes. Figure 8 shows a picture of the populated circuit board.

Figure 6: Circuit diagram of the 555 oscillator

Figure 7: PCB layout of the 555 oscillator. The red tracks are on the top layer while the blue tracks are on the bottom layer.

Figure 8: A picture of the populated circuit board

5.1

Resistor

The locations for the resistors (R1 and R2) are marked with white rectangles and two holes at the ends of the rectangles on the PCB. Insert the resistors leads through their designated holes. Spread the leads outwards so that when you turn the board upside down, the resistors will not fall o. (Do not cut the leads yet.) Follow the SOP above to solder the leads to the pads. For practice purposes, you may desolder the leads and then apply new solder several times until you are condent. Make sure all resistors are soldered Inspect the solders. Make sure that they look shiny and form a volcano shape Cut the component leads at the tip of the solder (volcano) using a wire cutter (available from the lab tutors). WARNING: Hold the leads using your ngers or pliers while cutting them. Otherwise they will y o like projectiles.

5.2

Header

Header should be the rst group of components to be soldered to the board since they can withstand high temperatures from the soldering iron. However the leads are usually quite rigid and thick hence more dicult to practice soldering on. Insert the 3-pin header to its designated place (P1) which is marked with a white rectangle with three holes inside. If the header pins are larger than the holes, use hook-up wires instead. You may need to bend one lead to one direction and another lead to the other direction so that the header will not fall o. 7

 Follow the SOP above to solder the leads. Inspect the solders. Make sure that they look shiny and form a volcano shape Cut the component leads at the tip of the solder (volcano)

5.3

Capacitor

Insert the capacitors leads through their designated holes. The locations are marked with white rectangles with two holes inside and labelled C1 and C2. Spread the leads outwards so that when you turn the board upside down, the capacitors will not fall o. Follow the SOP above to solder the leads to the pads. Make sure all capacitors are soldered. Inspect the solders. Make sure that they look shiny and form a volcano shape Cut the component leads at the tip of the solder (volcano)

5.4

IC socket

IC chips generally can not withstand high temperatures. Therefore they should be the last components to solder. If available, IC sockets should be used. Hence only the sockets are soldered to the PCB. The IC chip can then be inserted later. Figure 9 displays an image of a 8-pin IC socket. Notice the groove on the black plastic part. It indicates the location of pin-1 which is on the left of the groove and so the location of the last pin (8) is on the right of the groove. Insert the IC socket in the right direction. Notice that the component layer on the PCB shows the location of the IC and the groove. Gently spread the leads outwards. Follow the SOP above to solder the leads to the pads. First, solder pin 1 followed by the pin diagonally across (pin 5). Solder pin 8 followed by the pin diagonally across (pin 4). This soldering practice is especially important when soldering surface mount components. Inspect the solders. Make sure that they look shiny and form a volcano shape.

6
6.1

Testing the circuit board

Continuity test

Continuity test is a method to validate the conductivity between two electrical contacts. You will use a multimeter to check the connection of every solder joint. Set the multimeter for continuity test by pressing the button marked in Figure 10 until the display showed CONT. Connect the probes shown in Figure 10 to the multimeter.

Figure 9: Picture of a 8-pin DIL socket with its pin-1 and groove indicated Test the multimeter by pressing the tip of the probes against each other. If the two contacts are connected electrically, that is having a very low resistance, the multimeter will beep. Refer back to Figure 6. Place the PCB on the bench with the components on the top. Place one probe on the upper lead of resistor R1 (near the R1 label) and the other probe into pin-1 of the header (P1) to check the connection between R1 and VCC. If the multimeter beeps, resistor R1 is conrmed to be connected to VCC. You may wish to place a tick sign on the circuit diagram to keep track of the continuity test. Move on to the next joint. Place the probes on the other lead of resistor R1 and the upper lead of resistor R2 to check this joint. And so on...

6.2

Functional test

Finally we perform the functional test to check if the circuit is working as intended. Make sure that the 555 IC is inserted into the socket before proceeding. Attach pin-1 of the header to the +5 V source of the NI ELVIS board using a hook-up wire. Attach pin-2 of the header to the ground and Banana B using hook-up wires. Attach pin-3 of the header to Banana A using a hook-up wire. Connect channel 1 of the oscilloscope to Banana A (with its ground lead to Banana B). Switch on the NI ELVIS board. Verify that the voltage at pins 4 and 8 is 5 V relative to the ground (or pin 1) using a voltmeter. Verify that the output of the oscillator circuit (pin-3 of the header) is a square wave with the expected frequency and amplitude. Show your working oscillator to a lab tutor for marking. Please take home your circuit board. 9

Figure 10: Picture of the digital multimeter with probes. The button for continuity test is indicated by a red arrow.

10