A no-brainer solution for holding down SMD parts for hand-soldering
The SMD Beak by V.K. Papanikolaou is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
I ordered this awesome N|Watch kit the other day, which requires some serious SMD hand-soldering skills. There's always the easy alternative to use a reflow oven, but guess what, there is no stencil included (and no, I don't have a paste dispenser). In a desperate need of a third hand (!) in order do a neat job, I saw some similar DIY solutions (thumbs up for Google images) and managed to build my own version in less than 30 minutes, just using junk metal parts : the SMD beak !
Step 1 : The arm : find a metal rod (mine was 5 mm), file its tip to a conical shape (like a pencil) and bend it at about 90 degrees. Adjust its length to your preference.
Step 2 : The base : find a larger metal rod, about one inch in diameter and length. Drill a hole (for about 1 cm deep) using the same drill size as the arm diameter.
Step 3 : The weight : find a third rod, about half an inch in diameter and length. Drill a hole in the center, using the same drill size as before, this time all the way through. This is going to be the extra tip weight, for a firmer component grip.
All the three parts are now finished. Ready to be assembled !
Insert the tip through the arm rod until it stops at the bend.
Insert the arm end in the base hole. Use some glue if needed. Your new tool is now ready !
A few tests : the tip weight is substantial, nothing can move at all, even the smallest passive components. Now ready for soldering !
The Beak in action : Making of the N|Watch
Nice design! I liked it so much I just finished making (a much worse looking) one! I ended up using an 18cm steel nail for the main piece (attached weight to center and bent nail over in a vise).
ReplyDeleteThe all important test: resistance tip to base <3 ohms... should work great on my ESD mat.
I liked your design for the SMD beak. A friend with machine tools make one of these for me but he made the arm about 20 cm long (I had estimated yours at 16.5 cm) and he left it so the weight was able to slide. With the weight back at the base, there still seems to be enough pinning force and as you'd expect, there is a lot more pinning force with the weight out at the tip. This got me to thinking the weight might not be needed. Have you tried the SMD beak without a weight (I have not but plan to)? I guess I can let the weight slide, but I was wondering what you thought.
ReplyDeleteFor my SMD beak, the resistance tip to base was <1 ohm.
Thanks, Joe
Many thanks for this cool idea! I just made my own (much less pretty) version out of odd metal scraps from the shop, held together with hot glue. What an ingenious solution. I was foolishly optimistic about conductivity and ended up with an isolated tip (just got unlucky with the hot glue in final assembly) so had to add a little ground wire from tip to beam. It now looks rather steampunk :-) but my resistance is 2 ohm so it worked.
ReplyDeletethank you for this, it's so cool!
ReplyDeleteI came across with this post by chance.
ReplyDeleteMan, what a luck guy I'm! That tool is exactly what I needed.
Thank you so much for sharing.
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