Australia's Science Forum

Hi all,

Just wondering if many of you do anything with Electronics?
I do a bit and my current (sorry for the pun) issue is with soldering Surface Mount Device (SMD) LEDs and was wondering if anyone had any experience that they could pass on. I need to replace the SMD LEDs in a couple of microscopes as they did not have appropriate heatsinks and are very dull, so I have the PCB but need to replace the actual LED as the company who supplied the microscopes wants approximately $20 for 1 and I am sure that if I figure it out it will turn out cheaper.

Thanks
Andrew

TV Technician for 30 years before this job .
Ideally you would use a SMD workstation . Its like a miniature heat gun that melts the solder while you pluck the component off with tweezers.

Failing that , again hold the component with tweezers and using a traditional soldering iron with a pencil bit , quickly alternate from end to end melting the solder and the component will easily come off .If you have some ,use desoldering braid first to remove the bulk of the solder . This technique works well for components with two leads like a LED
Desoldering braid is also helpful in cleaning excess solder off the pad before you replace component

Be gentle when pulling on the part , you want it to come off because the solder has melted not because you have ripped the copper pads off the Printed Circuit board ....That be bad

Thanks Bigmack, I do have a SMD workstation and thanks for the helpful information