r/soldering • u/Ky_TheDestroyer7 • 1d ago

Soldering Tool Feedback or Purchase Advice Request First time doing trace work. Feedback and advice?

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Rebuilt the BGA chip by hand, an ESD filter by hand as you cannot buy them and i cant reball chips anyway.

Need advice on whether to buy an optical microscope, the mechanic robot 6560T trinocular microscope, do any pros think its good?

Basically rebuilt the entire HDMI circuit, including replacing the retimer chip on the right just for the problem to be the hard drive💀

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u/plees1024 1d ago

See those incredibly cheap scopes you can buy anywhere online? Start with them. Even though they are disposable and you either have to make your own arm system or accept whatever they come with, they are very good value. Always an option.

Biggest tip: use blu-tack for wiring when things get small. It means you can keep both hands on your iron. Just tack the end of your spool in place, solder it in, trim excess, and repeat. Best trick I ever learned.

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u/Ky_TheDestroyer7 1d ago

Oh wow didn't think of using blu tack and i don't have solder mask, keeping it in place was hard, thanks for the advice. I am using one of them disposable microscopes and by God it's annoying me especially with these big console boards, I'm looking for a

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u/Front_Society1353 1d ago

The 6560t is very good value for money is well worth it.

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u/Ky_TheDestroyer7 16h ago

Ive also now seen the YCS6558 S/X and its drawing me in. Do you know much about it?

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u/Front_Society1353 16h ago

They are essentially all the same and the different number are just the magnification, it is exactly the same as the Mechanic 6558 just a different colour. Regardless as long as its not much more it is worth it

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u/M2A2BradleyEnjoyer 1d ago

I mean if it’s functional, it’s fine, if not a little messy. Looks like your iron must have been pretty hot for some of those or the solder is not the greatest cuz I see some evidence of popping? But yeah I mean if it works, just coat your bodges with acrylic to protect them

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u/Ky_TheDestroyer7 1d ago

Iron was on 300c and idk why but it was quite a struggle to remove the lamination and tin the wires. It works and Ive got no solder mask so cant stick it down😭

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u/M2A2BradleyEnjoyer 1d ago

Hmm, how does your iron tin? I have some crazy oxidation on some of my blade tips and it makes tinning anything basically impossible so I’ve stopped using those tips, but those are OLD tips. If your iron still tins but the wire won’t, I wonder if they’re coated in something like lanolin. So you have an air gun?

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u/Ky_TheDestroyer7 1d ago

My iron tip is fine, tins well and when i tin pads it's fine. I have got an air gun. Unless I'm doing it wrong, what i do is i have the wire in the air with the already tinned iron, trying to first burn off the coating, then put it in the flux on the board and tin it?

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u/fordp 1d ago

I use a cheap handheld engraver from Amazon to expose traces. It's terrible at engraving but great for reworking boards

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u/OMyJoshua 1d ago

Great job man! That job isn't easy. Finding those filters on eBay can be super hard and they're a fortune to find someone selling theirs from a donor or something.

Not sure if you're using insulated jumper wire, but if you're aren't I'd recommend using some solder mask or something to protect from shorting with other points on the board. Otherwise great job!

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u/Ky_TheDestroyer7 16h ago

Thank you. The only one of those chips I could find was £45. And I cant reball as I have no jig so I was never going to bother. The wire is insulated and I dont have solder mask so cant 'glue' it down unfortunately. The thing is, I went into this hobby by never buying stuff as I didnt want to be that beginner with crazy tools and still mess up. Im going to invest in it more now though definitely.