soldering issue

[Dcofer]

So I installed a 12v fan to the side of the case to aid in the cooling of the extra gpu heap pipe but I am having trouble soldering to the 12v pins on the mobo.  Naturally I do not hold the iron to the board for too long yet the pads are not getting hot enough to allow the solder to flow onto them.  please help I would like to get this done tonight.  Also  I am aware that I can use the dvd power but I am trying to avoid that if at all possible.

Edit: I am using an Ayoue 968 rework station for the soldering

[laxboy]

ok what you need to do is take the solder that you have and basically put that solder on the spot you want to solder to the iron you have wont melt that solder but when you put the solder you have it will.

[Dcofer]

Well i get the basics of soldering because I use it on class projects just fine but the problem I am having is I can get the solder to flow onto the wires but for some reason the component tab I am trying to use (Q3F1) does not seem to be getting hot enough for the solder to flow onto it and make the connection. I am being cautious about keeping the iron on it since I do not know the tolerance of the component.

[Modded Matt]

clean the part add flux and solder it. there may be oil or some other contaminance.

[GhoSt]

use a larger tip on your iron if possible (larger tip = more surface contact = more heat transfered from iron). Rohs compliment solder often takes a lot more heat to melt. Yea as matt said, slap on some flux and any oxidation/impurities will be reduced, which will help the new solder flow.

[crazy-modder]

I have had that problem too. That rohs solder can be a pain in the ass. The only success i have had with melting that solder is with my reflow gun. And i had to take the temps to almost 400 degrees C, Which is 752 degrees F. A regular soldering iron will not melt that solder. Get a dmm and find different 12v points on the board. There are Plenty of other 12v spots on the board. Some xbox 360 motherboards have empty spaces where mosfets go, and alot of those are 12v.

[Dcofer]

I can melt the solder just fine normally n new proto boards but this just isnt working.  I even tried it with flux but that didnt help on that spot so Ill have to try another spot.  It would be awesome if I could find an open component spot with 12v.  To do that I would just plug it in and turn on the box and just dmm the different spots (pretty straight forward I guess)?

[hyper999]

i have no problems with my regular iron, you should try using a hefty chisel tip and lead solder, you may also need to keep a bit more solder on the tip than usual to get decent heat transfer.

[Dcofer]

I was curious about the tip I was using and I noticed a couple of you mentioning the chisel tip so I will see if my iron came with one (which I think it did) and give that a try.  I am used to soldering to bare copper pads and the fine tip works good for that so that issue hadn't even crosses my mind yet.  Thanks for all the helpful/informative responses, this is why I like this forum for this stuff haha

[crazy-modder]

I have tried so many different tips including a chisel with no success. And I have a hakko station, so I know it's not because I have a cheap station. I've tried a few different kinds of flux too.

[Dcofer]

I do see a few open mosfet locations I am going to try and see what I can do with those when I get done with classes today.  So far soldering to the current mosfet tab is just not working for me.  My Aoyue 968 came with a handful of hot air nozzles some of which have small tips, maybe I could use those to make the solder connection, If I were to do it that way how would you recommend going about that? (Note: I cant heat the bottom of the board unless I can heat it in the housing due to having done an xclamp fix that connects the two)

[DARk_ANGEL]

why dont you find a spot that can get soldered? for example there is a spot on the board it looks like a box and there are 4 dots one of those dots are 12v ill google a pic for you
it works because im running my core coolers on that if you can see the pic

http://www.rbjtech.net/xbox/aftercooler/image007.jpg

[Dcofer]

I had tried that spot earlier but I wasnt sure how much heat that could take (thought I was assuming it was a component mounted on the other side) If it is just an open pad then I will just crank up the heat on the iron and try that pad again

[DARk_ANGEL]

yea its not that hard to solder that because i used a 15 watt iron and did it its really easy just make sure you glue you wires because it would come off

[Dcofer]

awesome, I will give that another try when Im done with class today.  Yeah I have to tape my wires down else they go everywhere haha
Post Merge: January 28, 2011, 12:13:22 PMO also I ran into a little issue, How did you mount your fan to the case? I have mine mounted to the outer case but when I put the lid back on it hits the heat sink a little, I can close it just fine but it does put a little pressure onto the heat sink which is probably ok but While Im here I might as well ask.  I am using a 60mm x 10mm fan.

[DARk_ANGEL]

 try sanding off some of the outer part of the fan. but the fans i have are the xcm core coolers they are made for xbox. but i think if you sand it down a little it would get looser and it can fit properly

[Dcofer]

little bit of a forum rez but I decided my soldering tip was too small so I borrowed my neighbors just a little bit ago and boom it soldered instantly with the larger surface area.  I just hooked up the fan and tested it out and it works perfectly my only camera is my iphone so I will get a couple bad pics and post them in a bit.  I would liek to thank everyone for the great advice