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  • Author Author: ntewinkel
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Soldering a tiny LED using a Digital Microscope

ntewinkel

In an earlier blog post, I mentioned my new tech toy: a relatively affordable little 7" digital microscope I bought on Amazon.

 

A few people were curious as to how effective my new little digital "Koolertron" microscope would be for soldering.

As some people in the past have mentioned, digital microscopes can have a bit of lag which can make doing anything like soldering impossible or at least terribly annoying.

I've actually found it to be quite nice to use. Now, I'm no expert, so others with quicker reflexes might feel lag that I don't notice image

 

So I took some video of my very shaky attempt at soldering a tiny smd. I think it's 0402 ? it's smaller than the 0603 ones that were marked. In any case, at one point I obviously thought it was a good idea to buy some impossibly tiny smd LEDs for some future impossibly tiny projects. Life lessons abound.

 

Here are a few more learning opportunities that I will share right now, as I made several mistakes in this soldering project that made things very difficult:

1. solder flux. sigh. don't forget the flux, even on those little parts. especially on those little parts

2. find a way to secure the little parts, or else they will just stick to the solder on the iron.

 

That explains the burnt look on the finished LED image

 

In any case, I eventually saw the folly of my ways and life got easier. I'll spare you the very frustrating parts, and just share a few short videos so you can kind of see it in action.

 

The result worked out well enough, though it wasn't pretty image

image

 

I use magnet wire with smd LEDs for use in art type projects, as the wire is much thinner than regular type wire, and the lacquer coating keeps it from shorting out.

I find it easiest to just burn off some of the lacquer at the spots you need to solder or connect to battery.

 

Bit of an intro/overview first:

 

Here is my messy attempt. it's cool to see how much messier things are when they are enlarged with the microscope image

I think this might have been try number 5 or so, after the forgotten flux and the silly attempt at loose soldering.

 

And finally, showing the LED actually working - success!!

 

Cheers,

-Nico

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  • Hi Nico,

     

    The image from the microscope was very clear, it was interesting to see how convenient it made the whole process.

    Your hands are more stable than mine, but you had a difficult job because the tweezers caused the LED to move when you placed it on top, if you can find ones with a very square edge, they can be flatter and they can grip the part from the sides without it flying into the air.

    I've not tried the pointy soldering iron with surface mount, perhaps the flat tips ones (conical slice) could help, I believe since they may carry more solder that would deposit onto the LED/wire. But you managed it fine with the pointy tip anyway, so maybe flat tip is not necessary at all.

    Good work!

  • in reply to shabaz

      wrote:

     

    ... the tweezers caused the LED to move when you placed it on top, if you can find ones with a very square edge, they can be flatter and they can grip the part from the sides without it flying into the air.

    That's a good point, I never thought about it, but my tweezers are cheap crappy ones image  what made it worse is that I used them to pry something out of another project recently that totally twisted the ends up. I should probably get a better set at some point.

     

    I've not tried the pointy soldering iron with surface mount, perhaps the flat tips ones (conical slice) could help, I believe since they may carry more solder that would deposit onto the LED/wire.

    For some reason I thought I had to use the smallest tip for the smallest parts, but I do have the slice type tip I can try.

    As I mentioned above, I'm not exactly what one might call "highly skilled" at soldering, especially when it comes to smd sizes image  so I very much appreciate the advice and helpful tips image

     

    -Nico

  • in reply to ntewinkel

    Hi Nico,

     

    The tweezer style below seems reliable to me, although some might prefer angled ones, etc.

    I don't think I have any 0402 LEDs, but I had 0603 and 0402 capacitors, as shown in the photo below, the 0603 is gripped with it.

     

    It is >10 years old, I don't think these particular ones (VOMM brand) are made any more, but are labelled "PSF SA" which might be (not 100% sure) a general tweezer size/shape code that other manufacturers make too.

    image

    They have a squared-off flat end that is about 0.8mm wide measured with calipers. Each time I misplace them, I feel totally lost trying to do surface-mount, so from my perspective they made a big difference to me.

    image

Comment
  • in reply to ntewinkel

    Hi Nico,

     

    The tweezer style below seems reliable to me, although some might prefer angled ones, etc.

    I don't think I have any 0402 LEDs, but I had 0603 and 0402 capacitors, as shown in the photo below, the 0603 is gripped with it.

     

    It is >10 years old, I don't think these particular ones (VOMM brand) are made any more, but are labelled "PSF SA" which might be (not 100% sure) a general tweezer size/shape code that other manufacturers make too.

    image

    They have a squared-off flat end that is about 0.8mm wide measured with calipers. Each time I misplace them, I feel totally lost trying to do surface-mount, so from my perspective they made a big difference to me.

    image

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  • in reply to shabaz

    I had an orthodontists modify a pair of dental tweezers from his toolbox, to make these flat tip babies. The tip is normally closed, pinch to open. They are super thin and have a smooth surface. They actually close to hold one side of the 402 LED to enable soldering the other side.

     

    I appreciate your commentary on misplacing your tweezers. These were at one site and I was at another. I carried the material to the other side to use the tweezers:)

    image