Few Questions for you soldering pros

[tajora]

Okay. I'll be modding my own ps2 for the first time soon (2 days). I want to gather all the info I can about it, then practice on my old old gfx card first...then I'll move onto the actual ps2...

Okay, now for the questions (I'll be working on a Version 7 ps2)

1) For the pads on the motherboard that I will be applying tin(solder) on, do I need to first clean the pads with alcohol to remove the grease/grime/dirt? Or do I use a nail file?

2) Should I use a razor blade on each side of the pad to make sure it does not leak to other pads?

3) Which online store has the best (Less than $10) Soldering Iron's for sale...but also ship FAST?

Any additional tips to a newb would help alot m8's. Anything you could say...pointers...anything would be appreciated.

[Fixion]

Well, I'd use a quality soldering iron with a tip thats 1mm in diamiter or less. You won't find those anywhere near $10.

[Toma]

1) Pads (the copper ones and the solder covered ones): You don't need to clean them at all, at least I never do. VIAs, on the other hand need to be scraped with either a razor blade's edge or a fiberglass pen to remove the lacquer that covers the copper contact.

2) You can use a razor blade to prevent leaking from happening, but it's not a necessity. Just be sure not to heat up any neighboring components because that's what attracts excess solder.

3) Try your local stores, like Radio Shack. I bought a Weller SP25 for the sole purpose of soldering large wires together (18-12ga) from Fry's Electronics and I've been using it for modding ever since. A needle tip isn't required, but it does make things easier. Personally, my tip is about the size of a ball point pen's head.

Here's some tips you should find useful: if solder won't stick to a certain spot, use flux; just dab it on the area or on the wire then proceed to heat it up.

Never heat up an area for more than a few seconds. If something doesn't want to stick, remove your iron and let the component cool down for a bit.

Try not to have too much excess solder on your tip, I find that it's the cause of most solder bridges and splashes.

Hold your iron STEADY. If you can't do it, take a break and come back when you're more composed. A shaky hand is a terrible thing to have when you're modding a PS2, especially the earlier models.

[tajora]

1) Pads (the copper ones and the solder covered ones): You don't need to clean them at all, at least I never do. VIAs, on the other hand need to be scraped with either a razor blade's edge or a fiberglass pen to remove the lacquer that covers the copper contact.

2) You can use a razor blade to prevent leaking from happening, but it's not a necessity. Just be sure not to heat up any neighboring components because that's what attracts excess solder.

3) Try your local stores, like Radio Shack. I bought a Weller SP25 for the sole purpose of soldering large wires together (18-12ga) from Fry's Electronics and I've been using it for modding ever since. A needle tip isn't required, but it does make things easier. Personally, my tip is about the size of a ball point pen's head.

Here's some tips you should find useful: if solder won't stick to a certain spot, use flux; just dab it on the area or on the wire then proceed to heat it up.

Never heat up an area for more than a few seconds. If something doesn't want to stick, remove your iron and let the component cool down for a bit.

Try not to have too much excess solder on your tip, I find that it's the cause of most solder bridges and splashes.

Hold your iron STEADY. If you can't do it, take a break and come back when you're more composed. A shaky hand is a terrible thing to have when you're modding a PS2, especially the earlier models.

Thanks alot for the detailed reply m8.
I'll take all your tips into practice! I'll stop by the local radioshack and pickup a solder iron from them aswell.

[messiahfan2003]

And get some wrapping wire aka 278-501. Dont use no clean flux or one that uses acid base.

[shepd]

messiahfan, I thought the point of no clean flux was that it is safe to leave on the circuit board without cleaning!

If not I hope the couple I did with it don't come back...

[messiahfan2003]

I heard it has acid base in it which erodes the board.

[TarzanMan]

You can find an acceptable soldering iron for less than $10. Even rip-off shack (radio shack) has a 15W iron with a small enough tip to do ps2 mods for ~$8. Its what I used to do my mod. They sure as hell don't make 15W irons with fat tips :-) anyways)

Find the local electronics supply store and get the cheapest, smallest 15W iron they have. For your purposes, all an expensive iron will do is make your wallet lighter :-)

A razor blade on each side of a pad will leave no room for light and/or the wire or the iron to apply heat. Putting a razorblade on one side is the only practical way... it will help some, but you'll still need to have enough skill to not use too much solder and/or bridge a connection.

Do yourself a favor: 1st-Open up the PS2 and take a look at what you're getting yourself into. 2nd-PRACTICE tinning wires and soldering them on points similar to the PS2.

Tips (I did a V7 first myself):

-Do point 'I' (per MI diagrams) on the back of the PS2 motherboard first so that you don't have to remove its heat shield more than once. After you complete this point use 2-3 layers of electrical tape to insulate it (if it touches the heat shield, it will ground out the video signal... making it look like your ps2 is dead).


-Do the 4 BIOS chip pin legs next, followed by the 5 pads on the other side of the BIOS chip. Solder these to the mod-chip at your earliest convenience to avoid having to move them around later (and possibly fall off from all the moving around)

-Pre-cutting, pre-stripping and pre-tinning all of your wires will save you a lot of time.

-V7's have 7 tricky points. The 4 bios chip pin legs, 2 caps and 1 adjacent pad pair. I always save the caps and the ground for last.

-ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS put your ps2 inside the bottom plastic case prior to testing/turning it on. I found this out the hard way! Toasted the psu on the first perfect install I ever did (made an awesome green spark). I was lucky that only the psu was damaged and found a local replacement for $10

-Insulate ALL connections and the chip after you are done. Electrical tape is cheap and works best. Put it on your jeans a few times to reduce the stickiness so that it won't pull wires off solder joints if & when you have to inspect your work.

-Don't tighten the 9 ground/heat shield screws too tightly. For some reason, the two v7 MI installs I have done dont' work unless these screws are in relatively loosely. Maybe someone can shed light on this phenomenon for me.

-Keep the iron away from your eyes! Sounds obvious... but if its your first time you'll be focusing pretty hard on not jacking up your ps2 and might inadvertently burn yourself. Make sure to keep all your sensory organs away from the heated iron.

-Last, dont' expect it to work the first time. The first mistake I made on my first install was an incorrect SCEX point that I didn't catch until i'd stayed up all night rewiring/shortening every other single collection. If it doesn't work at first, then open it back up and visually check your solder points (to make sure they are the correct ones), and then use a multimeter to check for connectivity and short circuits/bridges.
You might also want to venture onto #ps2 on IRC EFNET for some real-time help if you get impatient.

Here is the site I read before I did mine (hadn't found my way to ps2-scene yet)
http://www.infinitymod.com/Install/MX-INST-GUIDE.htm
Everything they list is useful except for the solvent. I would add a pair of tweezers to the list to help grip the wrapping wire, and maybe a magnifying glass.

Good luck. Unless you already have most of the materials, buying all that shit will cost you almost as much as a 'pro' installation :-) The soldering iron (~$8), wire strippers (~$9) and kynar wire (~$5) were what was most expensive.

[mikearama]

-Keep the iron away from your eyes! Sounds obvious... but if its your first time you'll be focusing pretty hard on not jacking up your ps2 and might inadvertently burn yourself. Make sure to keep all your sensory organs away from the heated iron.

*LOL* Truer words were never spoken!