That’s promising (!)... I must admit that I am a soldering novice and on course to receive the pcb’s next week! I’ll have a couple of chances to get it right and have bought myself a ‘helping hand’ to journey through.
I’ll keep this thread updated on my progress.
Exciting! Let me give you some tips to increase your chances of getting it right the first time:
- You absolutely must have some solder wick ready for removing solder when you used too much, or remove it completely if you want to entirely loosen the components (i.e.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9327 )
- Use Flux (you apply it to and around the pads before soldering, i.e.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14579)
- Take the time, look at some smd solder tutorials (i.e.
- specifically look tips for packages with many pins that have fine pin pitch)
As I mentioned, the wurth usb-c connector has both through hole and smd pins, we've always started with the smd pins first.
We would put down some flux, drop in the USB connector, solder one pin (to make sure the placement is right).
Then we did a bit of a funky technique that my friend was very partial to (but I'm not sure if I would recommend it):
We would gob up all the pins/pads with solder pretty carelessly, which would result in a lot of pins just shorting.
Afterwards, we would apply the solder wick flat on all the pins, heat it up with the iron, and it will draw all the extra solder from between the pins into the wick, leaving a pretty clean result (in theory, see below). We've used the same approach for the through hole pins on the other side of the pcb by the way, as they also have a fine pitch and can easily be shortened with the solder.
I think I'd recommend a more conventional technique (such as what you will find in the videos). One of the issues with our technique was that, if you use too much solder, the space between the wires that go from the pads into the connectors (what I marked out on the first 3 pins in red in the picture below) act like capillaries, sucking up solder in between them into/under the connector, where it will be hard to remove:
But the good thing is that, if you have wick ready and don't use too excessive amounts of solder, you get a lot of chances to fix shortened joints easily.
Don't hesitate to ask. I wish I could do a quick demonstration video, but I don't have any tools around due to the quarantine situation
.