Precision / tiny soldering job? (hdmi port)

Electronics
#1

I have a broken hdmi port on a playstation. I have the replacement part in hand. I have followed a great many tutorials on exactly the same procedure and various troubleshooting tutorials.

The problems I am having that tutorials are not resolving:

The four anchor joints are soldered on very firmly. I have used a combination of heat gun, soldering iron, flux, and a desoldering gun to remove the pins. they are on SOLID.

The hdmi pins themselves are very tiny. This makes me nervous as it might not be an intermediate project. I’ve done lots of soldering. Never done precision work before.

Can I get some hands on guidance on advanced soldering?

Thanks guys!

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#2

Try some desoldering wick. Be patient about it too.

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#3

already tried desoldering wick.

#4

To be able to get enough heat into those you need a soldering iron on the top of the board and desoldering iron under it. You’ll need to add some leaded solder to those anchor points to be able to get the heat transferred through to be able to pull out what’s in the middle. You’ll probably have to add solder more than once - use leaded. Lead free takes more heat.

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#5

If your soldering tip is too big, take a piece of solid copper wire and turn it on the Sherline lathe to get a tiny point (then file it flat). Tin it and then use it as a custom soldering tip.

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#6

hm interesting. i definitely dont have clearance to that machine. anyone wanna be kind and turn like 20 of those and deposit them over in the electronics area as a low cost but very useful donation? add them to the tip jar. this isn’t the only precision soldering job i have lined up.

#7

Also, I find it will help if you add fresh solder to to joint before trying to suck / wick the old solder off. especially if you’re adding leaded and it’s got lead free solder.

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#8

Do you have a solder sucker?..just be careful and done get it too hot

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#9

Does the Dallas maker space have a solder sucker? They have the plunger units but the tips need changing as of my last attempt 4 months ago

#10

Yeah, we have a few, they are in the black tool chest, top bin.

#11

You might also consider using a Dremel on each of the tabs (and possibly even the entire connector), remove the main connector, then go back and remove the remaining tab pieces from their holes.

Don’t be afraid of destroying the old connector, possibly even removing each signal pin one at a time so that you don’t have to heat the entire connector set at once.

It is a lot easier to divide and conquer high pin count connectors as long as you don’t care about destroying it in the process.

Obliterate the connector, not your PCB :slight_smile:

Regards,
Steve

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#12

in a moment of haste i did take wire cutters to it. and manage to crush a nearby diode. according to the forums ive read the diode at that exact location isnt even mandatory (!?!)

I do have a dremel. I think i’m gonna go to town on the unit sometime soon. didnt even consider that. might make the giant glob of anchor pin easier to remove since i’ve probably bent the metal at this rate.

#13

Low temp solder can help with eutectic melting, as well as heat transfer. If you can get rid of the body of the connector that’ll probably be the biggest help, it’s probably just sinking all your heat away.

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