A couple of months back I did an article about unpacking the arduino Uno board that was manufactured in Italy. It had a lot of SMD components that I am assuming was made using automated pick and place machines and reflow machines.
I have been using the board but not on a regular basis and recently I used it to put together a project. While working with the board, I noticed something strange. It was very minute but one of the ICs, A comparator was not placed correctly. On closer inspection I found that the IC was not even soldered properly from one side...!
There was nothing wrong with the operation since it made good contact, but it would fail eventually. I considered getting a cell repair guy to repair the board the next day but patience is not something that comes easily to me so...
Not the best soldering example but it worked since the circuit uses only a few pins. Turn out that soldering equipment has become more expensive that I thought.
A temperature controlled soldering station of sorts with calibration costs 3k to 6k.
A simple hot air rework station starts at 1200/-
I am not looking to any serious soldering the near future so I think this experiment can be considered successful and chapter closed.
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