Electronic – SMD soldering: tiny components stick to tweezer point

pcb-assemblysolderingsurface-mount

When soldering SMD components, the 2-pinned ones (like resistors, capacitors, …) are the hardest in my opinion.

I started long time ago with the 1206 format. Then scaled down to 0804, 0603 and finally I'm working with the 0402 ones.

I'm facing a new challenge right now. Once I get some flux on my tweezer points (it happens all the time), they get really sticky. This leads to numerous problems.

If I'm really lucky, I grab the part first time right. This means that I grab the part by its middle, and I can move it to the pads for soldering:

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Misery starts when I grab it wrong first time. "Wrong" can be many things: I grab it by the side, it's not aligned well to the eventual target, … Anyway, the moment I want to release, I open my tweezers and the part keeps sticking to either side of the tweezer points.

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Has anyone experienced the same problem? What was your solution?

EDIT

Here are some ideas that might inspire you..

  1. Tweezer material or coating

    I've found a pair of tweezers online like this:
    enter image description here
    These tweezers features a "Stainless Steel Body" and "Carbon Fibre Tip". Will this tip material help to prevent the stickiness?

    Perhaps you're using tweezers with some special coating?

  2. Super hydrophobic coating

    Maybe this is a bit strange, but did anyone experiment with a "super hydrophobic coating" on its tweezers? I believe this should help to avoid any liquid/flux from sticking to the tweezer points. I've discovered some sprays online (http://www.neverwet.com/) but haven't bought any of them yet. Would they work on a pair of tweezers?

  3. Tweezer form

    To avoid stickiness, would you recommend a very fine tip? Curved or not? If curved, curved inwards or sideways?

  4. Tweezer tip roughness

    Some tweezers have polished points, others are more rough. What is best?

  5. Demagnetization

    Some tweezers claim to be "antimagnetic". Does this feature really help?

Best Answer

  • Pick it right the first time

When you un-peel your component tape, the little buggers fall randomly on your work surface. Or more likely, since Murphy's law applies, all resistors fall upside down. Solution is to use double sided adhesive to stick the component tape to something like a piece of cardboard. Then you can pick components from it with your tweezers directly.

  • Clean tweezers

Yeah, the flux sticks... I use a simple sponge, it works...

  • Use vacuum

I haven't tried this yet, but a vacuum pick and place tool is supposed to be amazing for this. Check on youtube for DIY inspiration.

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