Well, it can be done but is not easy.
First, wick as much solder as possible off the pins on the sides of the package. Then hold the package with needle nose pliers and apply heat to the pads on one side of it, while applying a little torque to the package. You'll have to move the iron back and forth between the pads until both of them are hot enough to get the package to start to lift off the board. Then go do the other side and repeat.
These things will take an amazing amount of heat without damage. The main problem is not lifting the pads off the board. Don't know if it will have survived being powered up backwards. You might want to test that by simply pressing the clock chip to the board without soldering to find out, as to have to remove it a second time would not be good for the board.
Now, if you had a heat gun which you can focus the air flow just on the clock chip, that would work a lot easier and quicker.
KD1JV
I wouldn't feel so bad about this if I had been the one to screw it up. But this is one of those "factory pre-installed" parts. You know, the ones that got installed so WE wouldn't screw up. I have no doubt that I will be able to successfully remove the chip. I hope it just didn't get screwed up by being powered up in an upside down state. Then I'll have to ask for a new one. I don't think that this is the kind of part that is easily found at Jameco, Mouser or DigiKey. And even if it is, the shipping costs would probably kill me.
Then, to top off that good news is word of another impending snowstorm for tomorrow night and all day Wednesday. Antoher 6-12 inches is forecast. Good grief!
By the way, here's a NASA photo of just who got hit by this past weekend's storm:
73 de Larry W2LJ
Hi Larry, it looks like the north pole. 73 Paul
ReplyDeleteThat is really poor, leaving it to you to take a crash course in SMT rework to fix a problem that wasn't your fault. Good luck with that.
ReplyDeleteI've blogged about my problems with kits from Hendricks before, so I'll just say that I won't be buying any more.
Larry, I know this might be a silly question, but have you contacted QRPKITS about this factory installed boo boo? I know you have a lot of work and time already invested, but like you said, you didn't put the part in wrong. Personally I'd probably ask for a replacement board and parts instead of running the risk of destroying the PCB...I am not real good at removing SMT parts...maybe you're a lot better than I am at it. Maybe you can send QRPKITS the board, they can fix it, make sure the chip is good, and send it back to you?
ReplyDeleteThe shipping costs would kill you.
ReplyDeleteHow big is the surface mount device?
I would ask them to send you a new one.
BTW, by meaning the shipping costs would kill me .....
ReplyDeleteFor instance, Mouser charges $12.00 minimum, no matter how smal your order is.
73 de Larry W2LJ
Oh, I will be asking them to send me a new one; once I determine the old one is defective. At my old job, I dealt quite a bit with SMT; but that was over three years ago. Hopefully, I have not lost the touch!
ReplyDeleteIt took long enough just to get the kit in the first place. Just about two months from placing the order to receiving the box in the mail. I would not be hopeful about a timely fix by anyone connected with QRPKits.
Therefore, I will attempt to do this myself; and I will look into what it might cost to order one of these puppies from a third party vendor. Perhaps that way, I will actually receive it sooner. Julian is not the only one whom I've heard refer to horror stories when it came to getting replacement parts through QRPKits. com.
I went into this with open eyes and should have known better; but I heard so many success stories that I thought that I would luck out. Not so far.
73 de Larry W2LJ