Robin Hoods Playground

I need some help soldering a wire to the XBox motherboard so I can dump the NAND. My problem is this one odd pad I need to connect to. The first I got soldered with minimal difficulty, but this fifth one.... I've been trying to get it connected for days now, and it's like WTF!? already. NOTHING sticks to this pad!I've cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and scraped away a little bit of the melted plastic, but still nothing. Is my pen messed up or am I doing something wrong. It's a very fine tip and for whatever reason I get no heat at the tip. Does anyone have any tips? This is driving me crazy!

well man
this is not a junk post
this is a good j-tag question.
ill move it to the right place.

the only thing i can offer is try a little more heat on the iron (if its adjustable iron)
if its not then you may have to try a different tip or soldering iron.
do not rush that man
take your time
i dont care how long it takes

One thing that helps me when soldering is the use of flux. You can pick it up at electronic stores or Radio Shack. I recommend liquid solder, apply it with a q-tip. Note that this is different than the flux you use when brazing copper piping!

Be careful with the amount of heat you use, a 15w soldering iron should be fine for any soldering you are doing to a motherboard or ic chip. You can very easily lift a lead or solder pad if too much heat is used.

moonknight is on the money man

also
the flux is nice
but
dont get to much on the point
just a small spot on the pad you are working on.
what can happen is you will put to much and then bridge the solder across more than 1 pad(or solder point)

This is where I like to disagree. Sorry guys, but if you're using a rosin-core solder, or most solder these days has flux already in it. Especially if you got it from Radio Shack or a hobby store. Flux can be useful but I don't recommend it on jobs like you're working on. If you don't clean it completely, then you risk the flux creating a path for current flow. THIS IS BAD! But like Cofree said, take your time and do it right. No need in rushing it.

very true technoe
I dont use flux because the solder i use has it

ive found that as long as you have a good glean copper spot (even very small) it will stick just fine
i use flux as a last recourse.

and a must , dont bridge one point to another.

Thanks guys. I'll be getting the tip replaced in the next few days. The iron is 60W. Should I consider getting a less powerful one, like a 40W?

if you cant control that watt
then that could be to hot

It does seem to melt the plastic a little too easily... thanks

Could you not tin the copper wire with solder first, then just heat the end of wire for it to flow onto to your points.

I tried that but it wont stick. The pad needs to be hot too.

you need to tin the wire
but
you also need to build a small pad of solder on the point
i have had 1 that was a pain in the back side
just keep working on it man

dont get in a hurry

keep your tip clean and well 'tinned' use a tip tinner product.

tonyuk73 wrote:keep your tip clean and well 'tinned' use a tip tinner product.

elenco-soldering-iron-tip-cleaner.jpg

Exactly Tony, that's an excellent tip!