Tried hot air rework on a board without preheating it first... big mistake

I was fixing a laptop motherboard last Tuesday, just a bad DC jack, nothing crazy. I thought I could just hit it with my hot air station at 400C and pop the old one off quick. But the board was cold from sitting in my garage all night, and I didn't think to warm it up slow. The pad lifted right off with the jack, took the trace with it. Spent 3 hours trying to bodge wire it back together and still ended up with a dead board. Learned the hard way that a cheap preheater plate or even a hot plate on low for a few minutes saves way more time than rushing. Has anyone else ruined a board skipping the preheat step, or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

wilson.emma27d ago

Oof, I feel your pain on this one. I had a very similar thing happen with an old Xbox motherboard, I got impatient and hit a cold board with the hot air and just watched the whole pad lift like a bad sunburn peel. Took me forever to trace out where the damn via went and I still ended up having to scrap the whole project. It's one of those lessons that sticks with you because it costs you time and a board you actually wanted to save. Now I'm paranoid and I'll even set the board on a coffee mug warmer for five minutes before I touch it with the iron, just to be safe.

robin83626d ago

Not gonna lie, I've skipped preheat tons of times and been fine. You sure it wasn't just too much heat or bad technique on your end?