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Why does nobody talk about how a $12 soldering iron tip fixed my dead flash hot shoe
I always figured cheap soldering tips were junk and you needed a fancy station to do any real board work. Last month a customer brought in a Nikon SB-600 with a hot shoe that had no contact, and I almost quoted him a full replacement because I figured the board was toast. Before I gave up I grabbed a $12 replacement tip for my old Weller, the pointed one, and reflowed the three tiny joints where the shoe meets the flex cable. Two of them were cracked from years of the flash getting jammed on and off, and the iron pushed heat into them in about four seconds each. The flash fired first try and the guy came back a week later with a six pack of Yuengling. Now I keep three of those tips in the drawer and I have fixed four more shoes since. So tell me, is there a tip shape or temp you swear by for flex cable work, or am I just getting lucky?
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noah_barnes15d ago
So a twelve dollar tip and a six pack of Yuengling is the whole business model now, huh? Meanwhile I'm over here with a fancy station and a drawer full of tips I paid way too much for, still scared to touch anything smaller than a grain of rice. For flex cable stuff I keep my iron around 650 and use the little bent chisel tip, the one that looks like a flathead screwdriver got into a fight. Lets me drag heat across two joints at once instead of poking at them one at a time like an idiot.
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