Soldering the pins on an OKR-T/10

[mxrdrver]

I just picked up a couple OKR-T/10s from DigiKey. Those pins a ubber tiny. I've seen in a couple threads that people are using needle nosed plyers to spread them apart to solder various resistors, caps, etc to them.

I was hoping to avoid this if at all possible. Would it be possible to temporarily fill the spaces between the pins with hot glue or something else so I could solder each pin individually? I'm worried that if I don't do something like this, I'll accidentally solder 2 or more pins together.

I was just thinking. Let me know if I'm wasting my time.

 

[chefjoosie]

This is kind of ghetto, but you could cut small strips of a soda can, and slide them between pins. Hot glue will melt and make a hellacious mess. Keep the aluminum strips small, or they'll sink heat and make it a pain to solder. You should be able to pull them right out after you're done, normal solder/flux don't like aluminum, especially with the spray coating they line soda cans with.

 

[asdaq]

Was going to suggest the same. I would burn off any paint or plastic coating and thoroughly clean the strips so add not to dirty the soldering too. A few layers of aluminum foil will work too.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[mxrdrver]

I like those ideas. Thanks. So, I realize now that the hot glue thing wouldn't work. Maybe for just temporarily attaching header pins to the OKR for use on a breadboard. But for permanently soldering, I think the foil and/or pieces of old soda can would work.

 

[ecat]

Firstly, your best friends when it comes to soldering these finicky parts:

A nicely sized tip. Too big makes for clumsy use, too small and pointy makes for poor heat transfer. The size and shape of these two are the sort of thing you're looking for:
Hakko T18-S7 - T18 Series Soldering Tip for Hakko FX-888/FX-8801 - Bevel - 1.2 mm/60? x 14.5 mm - Soldering Iron Tips - Amazon.com

Amazon.com: Trakpower Chisel Tip for TK950 Soldering Station, 2.4mm: Toys & Games

Next up, some thin solder, thin helps you avoid creating big blobs. I'd go for 0.4mm but 0.3mm should do. It's hard to find an item on Amazon with reasonable reviews so something like:
http://www.amazon.com/Amico-0-3mm-Diameter-Soldering-Solder/dp/B00AKQTHFI/ref=sr_1_39?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1401041907&sr=1-39&keywords=solder

http://www.amazon.com/1-2%25-Solid-Soldering-Solder-0-4mm/dp/B0094EJG3K/ref=sr_1_1?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1401042199&sr=1-1&keywords=solder+0.4mm

Finally, some flux designed for use with electronics. Avoid plumbers flux or anything that uses acid. Flux helps solder to flow where you want it to go and helps prevent bridging. These pens are nice:
Kester 951 Soldering Flux Pen Low-Solids, No-Clean 10ml - Solder Rework - Amazon.com

If you really need something to wrap around the pins, kapton tape is thin, flexible, easy to remove and wont melt at the temperatures used when soldering:
1 Mil Kapton Tape (Polyimide) - 3/8" x 36 yds: Electrical Tape: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific


And finally, finally - honest this time. Something to help hold everything in place while you get the job done. You can try to enlist the help the friends, family and small children but burnt fingers make for reluctant helpers. Something like this is ideal:
http://www.amazon.com/SE-MZ101B-Hel...01043619&sr=8-1&keywords=solder+helping+hands

Hope this helps

N.B.
You don't absolutely need any of the above but if things go wrong when you are working with the equipment you have to hand then the above will hopefully give you some ideas as to what could be improved.

 

[mxrdrver]

Great links. Thanks. I have a 40 watt soldering iron already, but suspect the stock temp may be higher than I want. Still have to put a meter on it to check.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Visus]

A trick taught me by craighb: take a strand off of small gauge stranded wire, wrap your pre-tinned wire and pin with strand, solder hands free with good mechanical connection. It also makes the pins a mile apart..

 

[mxrdrver]

So, it would be smart to pre-solder the OKR pins? If that's the case, it would make sense. Then solder the cap or resistor to the bed. I watched a bunch a videos last night, and that seemed to be a popular practice. Correct me if I'm wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Visus]

You don't necessarily have to --they take to solder really well and fast even without flux has been my experience. If you do--:

Just tin them lightly. you can tin them with just your iron running over them, you do not need to feed solder-- do it with a clean well tinned iron tip at the pins- It goes really quick-make it really quick, the board wont stand much heat. Tin iron tin pin, tin iron tin pin, --- yeah caps go even faster and are easy to add and hold by hand. just make sure you always have a cleaned off by wet sponge and wet tinned iron tip, not drippy wet-- just a nice glaze--"tinned" and soldering is easy, sorta. lol

If you need to bend the legs on the caps, you can angle them anyway you want, hold the legs with needle-nose bend with another pair of needle-nose or your fingers --never stressing the caps body, you can do this same technique on the OKR..

Mamu has a guide about wiring the OKR and how she spreads the legs and turns it into a tightly packed module...
http://www.howder.com/dena_howto.pdf

 

[mxrdrver]

I sooo feel like i'm late to the party on all of this modding. Trying to backtrack and read up on all these posts from 4-5 years ago is making my head spin. Something that I did come across was a Mini Pre Cut Interconnect Circuit Board from madvapes. I understand it came in kit form. Has anyone ever used it before? I wonder if madvapes had it custom made just for them. With my luck, it isn't available anymore anywhere.

 

[asdaq]

I'm pretty sure that is for something simpler than an okr or ptr8100, and not an efficient regulator. It doesn't exactly allow for caps and the schematic looks off.

Have a look at bigblue's evercool thread as the pin out on that board is the same as the okr. There are a bunch of solutions there too including ic boards.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk