Electronic – What’s the easiest way to solder TSSOP parts

soldering

I'm limited by DIP so I want to branch out but my hand is shaky as it is with DIP so I can't even imagine trying to solder TSSOP. Are there easy methods for this? Do I need better equipment? I heard of some cooking method?

Found this which looks way too easy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uiroWBkdFY

What's going on here, what's that paste and is it that easy?

Best Answer

Soldering TSSOP and TQFP is a lot easier than you might think.

Things you need:

  1. A reasonable soldering iron.
  2. A flux pen
  3. Fine solder
  4. A flux pen
  5. Another flux pen.

You can see from that list what I deem the most important item. Flux. Lots of it.

How I hand-solder TQFP and TSSOP:

  1. Flood the area with flux.
  2. Position the package correctly
  3. Tack down two corners. Don't worry about excess solder.
  4. Flood the area with flux.
  5. Solder all the rest of the pins. Again, don't worry about excess solder.
  6. Flood the area again with flux.
  7. With a clean soldering iron re-flow the excess solder and allow it to wick onto the iron. Keep cleaning the iron to allow more to wick on.

In extreme cases you might want some solder braid to assist the wicking.

By "flood the area with flux" I mean make it swim in flux. Make a puddle of it so the chip sits there like a Labrador puppy in its own wee.

Finally I give it a bath in Isopropyl Alcohol to wash off the excess flux (which gets rather sticky in large quantities). A toothbrush helps to get it spotless.

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