Fibreglass Pen and Flux Pen

[ppuppy]

I have to say I am new to soldering work, although I chipped my Xbox successfully, but I was not awaring things like Fibreglass Pen and Flux Pen. just learnt from somewhere, but not sure which one or two I suppose to have. cos I want to do a good job this time to my ps2, don't want mess it up. so anyone can tell please, which of the following three i should have. well, if anyone can give a brief instruction about how to apply them on, i guess it will be a certain order to use them, or may be just only one needed, but which one please. Any comment will be appreciated.


http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/mod...moduleno=33850

http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/mod...moduleno=33849

http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/mod...&moduleno=3932

[ctrlbreak]

Either of the top two (flux) will be fine, and one of the bottom ones (fibreglass) looks good too.

Rub the area to be soldered (VIAs I assume?) with the fibreglass pen to remove any pcb lacquer and oxides from the area, blow away any fibreglass fragments, then dab with the flux pen to provide a good bit of flux to aid the solder joint. Now attach a pre-tinned wire to the point and you're away.

I would also recommend cleaning the joint areas at the end with some IPA (iso-propyl-alcohol) on a cotton-bud or similar as the flux can cause corrosion (even though it claims not too!).

If you are NOT soldering to VIAs or copper pads then you won't need the fibreglass pen.

[sdv]

I have the first flux pen - I have used a few and always found the rosin based ones IMHO better. Rosin is nasty tho' so avoid breathing the fumes, as you should do during any soldering.

Its just like a magic marker pen, the type where you can push the tip in to release liquid, so you just 'draw' the flux on, you dont need buckets of flux on there. One brush will do. If you get too much on there, just let it evaporate. A big blob of flux will just cause your iron to rapidly cool down when it hits the flux.


As for the fibreglass pens I have one and have used it once or twice in my 15+ years of soldering, but i dont like them at all really.

Apart from the nasty dust, they never seem very good or accurate on small things. I prefer to use a scalpel to remove resist or even metal polish like brasso to remove oxide on copper surfaces, but each to their own I find the gold plated points like you find in the ps2 rarely need cleaning anyway. A bit of flux and then apply a little solder tinning the point before attaching the wire does the trick.


One thing you will find handy if you are setting out on improving your soldering skills is desoldering braid - The circuitworks stuff is excellent!. If you ever bridge the pins on a chip you will thank me for this tip

good luck

[ppuppy]

thank you all for valuable info. just learnt alot from what you've said, and well prepared for a go. finger cross, hopefully I will not make a mess.

BTW, I can see from some install pics, all points on the ps2 board seems not that tiny, well I am not sure whether that's just enlarged picture for a clear view, how the points actually are compare with the D0 point in the xbox? are they similar in size?

[sdv]

Apart from the power / reset / eject points (the big round points)they are all smaller than the xbox points

IMHO the bios points are probably around half the size of an xbox pad, via points are smaller still. If you can solder D0, you should only find the via type points tricky if any.

[NickH]

So all i need is a abbrasive fiberglass pen for my ps2 v9 main board to use it on the via holes right? Can somebody please reply, thank you.

[dlanor]

So all i need is a abbrasive fiberglass pen for my ps2 v9 main board to use it on the via holes right? Can somebody please reply, thank you.

You just revived a thread that has been dead since January 2004, over five years ago...

For such cases I suggest that you create a new thread instead, stating your case clearly without risk of confusion with issues from several years back in time.

As for your question (within its limited context) I would reply "Yes".

Best regards: dlanor

[NickH]

and after that i just solder over the via hole, after i use the abbrasive fiberglass pen right? please reply somebody thank you very much.