CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:40 pm Post subject: Reballing SMT devices

Thought I'd post this here, since it's really CRT/digital (!) related.

I am considering buying all the equipment for reballing the 80 and 120 pin SMT devices. I know Craig has the stuff to do it, not sure about Mac. I figured I'd provide some public knowledge.

Can either of you (or anyone else that knows about this equipment/method) post some links to appropriate equipment? I will search youtube later for some videos, but some links to decent equipment that won't break the bank would help.

Also, the question is, if I pull an 80 pin chip off a board to put down a new reballing strip of solder, how do you align the pins to make sure all 80 line back up properly? I know Darrell, formerly of Hammerhead Tech had a $47K robotic machine to do Ibooks with, but he sold the unit as he wasn't making any money on it. Super sweet to watch in action though...

Oh, also looking for a decent line on that super low temperature solder to desolder/solder SMT chips with. I have a 24 pin SMT chip off an LCD inverter board that I need to swap one on. Any lines on good solder?

Thanks!

stefuel · Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:49 pm Post subject:

Well,.........If you wish to "reball" it will cost you more then just dinner. Laughing

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:01 am Post subject:

WEll you know what they say... use lots of fux... errrr... I mean.. flux!

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

before taking the chip off you can use white out strip painted from chip to board.

But what I tried once on a mac book and it worked was taking a tin from a burnt out tea candle and filling it 3/4 with
alcohol. place the alcohol filled tin cup on the chip and set it on fire. it should heat the solder enough to make a connection.

3-5 times it works.

But you could just use a SMD work station like the AOYUE 968 re work station. Cheap yet effective and reliable so far.

http://sra-solder.com/product.php/6267/1/d96008543bff3636958d2845b5bc4eb7

They might also have balling specific units. I know they have some small PCB ovens etc.

here is one

http://sra-solder.com/product.php/6383/88

Athanasios

Sparky015 · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:19 pm Post subject:

Curt,
You don't need a reflow oven if your changing out one chip. Reflows are more for the entire board. What you want is a convective reflow system, which will allow you to pinpoint the area of rework.

http://www.paceworldwide.com/product/section/id/4.html

I have a wand accessory for my rework station for this task as I need a conductive station more than convective, but if your going to be doing this fairly often, one of these would be best suited. I have the IR unit at work in my engineering lab. Get yourself some solder paste for the re-install and you're in business. The low cost unit may be your best bet to avoid breaking the bank.

rosenbush · Joined: 14 May 2010 Posts: 94 Location: Brownsville Texas

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:09 pm Post subject:

The point is, you can't see the pins, they are under the chips. Smile

I'm talking the 80 to 120 pin chips as per the PS3, XBox 360 and other late model devices.

Sparky015 · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:19 pm Post subject:

Can't be done conductively (soldering iron). Has to be convective via reflow, and since your doing one chip and not the entire board, you have to use a rework convective device.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:46 pm Post subject:

and that's precisely what I'm looking for... That and some proper SMT gear. My WTCPT (I think) station don't cut it.. Smile

I will be in a position to buy in about a month. I'll check out all the links given, post more if anyone has them, and will be ready to deal with the new millenium electronics crap by the end of Jan 2012!

dturco · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 9:26 pm Post subject:

I saw this last week when discussing soldering irons. Starting at $3995.

https://www.manncorp.com/rework/br620/index.php?auto=done

Has a video and all.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:41 pm Post subject:

Gorgeous! Too bad I'd never recoup my investment... Sad

Need something about 1/4 to 1/3 the price. That's what I'd be willing to invest, anyways.

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

ok Curt here is your "BGA Ball Kit"

Aoyue 833 IR Preheater

Aoyue 968 Hot air re work station

Hot air gun holder for 833 listed above

And pick your size BGA heat gun nozzle

All for about 800 bucks.

they also carry board holder specifically for the PS3 and X box

Athanasios

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

oh and they also have re balling stencil kits and balls .

http://sra-solder.com/product.php/6826/0

http://sra-solder.com/product.php/6567/0

http://sra-solder.com/product.php/6587/0

Athanasios

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

just found this on that site as well, all in one unit.

1230 bucks , perfect for game console repairs!

http://sra-solder.com/product.php/6785/0

nashou

dturco · Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:09 pm Post subject:

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:44 pm Post subject:

Something like that would be the goal. It sucks that I'm not a lot closer to some of you other techs, I'd go 1/2ers on it...

stefuel · Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:46 pm Post subject:

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

Yeah it does look sweet, If I had extra cash id buy to learn how to use one and then advertise locally for game repairs. Good source for secondary income. Things sucked these past two weeks, I have no idea where they see economic recovery.

I guess i'll stick to the tea candle method for now Wink

Athanasios

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

Yeah it does look sweet, If I had extra cash id buy to learn how to use one and then advertise locally for game repairs. Good source for secondary income. Things sucked these past two weeks, I have no idea where they see economic recovery.

I guess i'll stick to the tea candle method for now Wink

Athanasios

Sparky015 · Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 11:33 pm Post subject:

They aren't hard to operate. The pre-heater warms the board so the heat doesn't impact the rest of the board (goes back to the variable temp argument in the soldering thread), and the convective wand just reflows the solder there. The fancy ones (not sure if the one you show has it) has a vacuum pic inside the reflow wand to suction cup the chip to remove it, and is programmable so it's totally hands-off. Same thing for install, just apply your solder paste, pick and place, reflow. The ultra high-end units even dispense the solder paste. Very slick machines....if you can afford it! They are designed more for OEM rework operations where your working on the same board over and over again than the home enthusiast and the like. The low cost ones are obviously much more manual and hands-on and more for our crowd.