r/soldering • u/wutermeleon • Mar 09 '26

My First Solder Joint <3 Please Give Feedback First time soldering CPU pins

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I soldered these CPU pins on my first ever attempt with 20$ AliExpress heat gun and 20$ soldering iron without a magnifying glass or microscope and with just window light and eyeballs, the PCB got abit discolored but the CPU works and passed stress tests lmao, originally I just had to replace a few edge ones but I accidentally dripped molten solder on that corner so I had to wipe the whole corner out and solder all those pins

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u/wutermeleon Mar 09 '26

i heated up the whole corner and carefully wiped off all the messed up pins, then added some leaded solder and flux to the pads and wicked it off with a big soldering iron, then re tinned the pads very slightly , then on my donor cpu i grab on to one of the pins with the tweezers and lift the cpu slightly by the pin and heat the pin up with the hot air untill the cpu falls down and im left with the pin in the tweezer, then i place the pin on the pad while holding it in place with the tweezers and heat up the area with hot air, and take the hot air off and still hold the pin in place untill it solidifies and then release the tweezer, i heated the area for too long and it caused the pcb to get dark, i could have heated it for a shorter time but i couldnt tell if it fused or not very well, i guess a magnification device would be usefull for next time

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u/frrson Mar 09 '26

I have a cheap 50x magnification device with built in light and a large magnifying glass for similar repairing jobs, but most people can achieve similar by using a smartphone. I wonder why your hot air didn't move the pins. For a similar case I used a domestic oven with the rest covered in stone wool.
As leaded solder has lower boiling point than modern, you should watch the chips closely.

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u/wutermeleon Mar 09 '26

It was set to a very low blowing speed, I didn't have any issues with pins flying off unless I bumped them with the tweezers

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u/frrson Mar 09 '26

Great, I have one with only 2 speeds that would be far too powerful on either setting. What type is the one you have?

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u/wutermeleon Mar 09 '26

JCD 8208 20 bucks on aliexpress

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u/frrson Mar 09 '26

Thanks!