erek
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2005
- Messages
- 10,785
Baking video cards to repair 'em isn't a long-term or reliable fix at all. I've done it a few times and basically they don't really last too well.
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You'll never get them to caramelise properly if you don't use a griddle or a frying pan.
I do this to bring dead Chrysler fobs back to life.using a hot air station to selectively reflow components is one thing,
using a hot air station to selectively reflow components is one thing, but baking the whole card seems like a bad idea. a lot of those older cards have electrolytic capacitors which won't be happy at all about the heat.
You do realize this is exactly how they solder surface mount parts to begin with... They do it in a much more controlled manner of course, but they reflow the entire board. If you've never read a spec sheet with a solder profile graph, you probably aren't alone. Best part is most components have a different requirement, so it's really some trial/error with a little bit of lowest common denominator. I have some plans to make an MCU controlled reflow station (basically a small toaster oven with a bit more intelligent control) so I can do some more surface mount stuff at the house. Agreed you can get some nasty fumes, I prefer not to do this kind of stuff in the oven I cook food in. Localized heating with a hot air station for sure can be safer, but not everyone has one... Most do have an oven.I always cringe when people recommend putting any PCB in an oven in an attempt to fix it. Not only will it never fix the part, it will outgas hazardous substances into your house. The heat burns off residual flux and other chemicals that will whaft out the oven vent and into the house.
Baking a card may give the mistaken impression it fixes the card, but it's only temporary because the joints are not reformed that have failed. It actually makes the problem worse because heating solder joints without flux further oxidizes them and makes them even more brittle and prone to failure.
Using a hot air station or completely reballing the chip is the proper way to fix video cards with failed BGA joints, though it won't work in all cases. One example is the Nvidia G84 and G86 series video chips, like the 8x00M where they had a defect that caused the bond wires inside the package to break. No amount of reworking or reballing will fix that.
Well taco head hurt for 2 days afterwards, but later was fine.
You do realize this is exactly how they solder surface mount parts to begin with... They do it in a much more controlled manner of course, but they reflow the entire board. If you've never read a spec sheet with a solder profile graph, you probably aren't alone. Best part is most components have a different requirement, so it's really some trial/error with a little bit of lowest common denominator.
I have some plans to make an MCU controlled reflow station (basically a small toaster oven with a bit more intelligent control) so I can do some more surface mount stuff at the house. Agreed you can get some nasty fumes, I prefer not to do this kind of stuff in the oven I cook food in. Localized heating with a hot air station for sure can be safer, but not everyone has one... Most do have an oven.
Thanks for the suggestion, it's been a while since I looked into it. I already have all the parts needed that I've gotten for free or close to it, but I'm sure it won't be as accurate so I'll see what hate available before I waste any time/effort. I only need smaller things done, hand placed. No plans yet for a pick and place, lol. Most of the time I use my desktop CNC to route out a through hole board but would like to get into surface mount a bit. Will most likely us one of the cheap board houses to get them made as my CNC isn't that accurate at really small features.Reflow ovens have far more direct control over heat zones than a home cooking oven. Heat inside a home oven is very uneven and poorly controlled because it uses a simple mechanical thermostat for a large volume of heated space. Gas ovens probably have better thermal stability over electric though since the heating elements take time to heat up and cool down, while gas is instant.
Not sure how large of boards you're making, but there are commercial IR reflow ovens on the market designed for prototyping for just a couple hundred dollars. You'd probably end up spending close to that with a DIY solution.
Chefs always forgetting to wrap their wares in a foil pack before baking.Made my cookies taste Asian afterwords.