BGA reballing - machine preference?

[sorcerer]

I've not been trading long but business is really REALLY slow - thank goodness I'm working out of my spare bedroom and don't have to pay rent on a shop!

Anyway, been looking at the possibility of doing my own reballing (laptop mainly, possibly PS3/Xbox too) rather than having to farm the work out to someone else. I read somewhere that most people reckon that the faults appear because of the H&S (or EU?) requirement to now use lead-free solder that just can't cope with the thermal cycling that leaded solder can. Very tellingly (is that even a word?? ) it appears that anything 'mission-critical' such as medical, military and aviation electronics etc., etc., are exempt from using lead-free solder because of this. So if that's true, I can see a need for reballing well into the future until they sort this out and it may well be worth buying my own equipment - and I seem to have plenty time on my hands to practice

My preference would be for an IR workstation rather than hot air. I obviously have no experience of either but it would just seem logical to me that hot air wouldn't be targetted enough and would heat up other things around the GPU - could even blow other things off the board??

Anyway, I've been looking at the Puhui T-870A http://tinyurl.com/d6af5lx and also the Achi IR6000 http://tinyurl.com/c8yx6ya so does anyone have any comments or thoughts about which is the better of the two machines, or even suggestions for other machines?

Thanks

[Larry Sabo]

Browse the VCX game console repair forum, specifically the Reballing/reflowing techniques and equipment section. The participants have all kinds of helpful experience to share, including comments on alternative equipment.

[sorcerer]

Originally Posted by Larry Sabo

Browse the VCX game console repair forum, specifically the Reballing/reflowing techniques and equipment section. The participants have all kinds of helpful experience to share, including comments on alternative equipment.

Thanks Larry, will do. Hope others can offer any insight as well

[compnet]

I'd go with the one with the picture of that sweet 20 year old desktop board..

[sorcerer]

Originally Posted by compnet

I'd go with the one with the picture of that sweet 20 year old desktop board..

Hey don't knock it - any old board will do to practice on

I'm already asking friends and family for any old machines that would otherwise be going to the tip - dead or alive, doesn't matter really. Obviously working ones are better because I can then reball it and see if it's still alive or if I killed it

Have you got any experience of either machine?

[Larry Sabo]

I would definitely stay away from the Puhui T-870A; it's been reported several times on CVX as a total waste of money, due to inability to adequately control the temperature profile. There's also a newer version of the IR6000 with worthwhile improvements. It's okay for laptop MBs but not game consoles, due to the small preheater size.

[sorcerer]

Originally Posted by Larry Sabo

I would definitely stay away from the Puhui T-870A; it's been reported several times on CVX as a total waste of money, due to inability to adequately control the temperature profile.

OK, that's good advice then, cheers sir!

There's also a newer version of the IR6000 with worthwhile improvements. It's okay for laptop MBs but not game consoles, due to the small preheater size.

Do you mean in physical size or wattage? Obviously I'm only just learning about the machines and the job of reballing so I may well be completely wrong here, but I would have thought that physical dimensions wouldn't matter so much as long as there is enough wattage to create the desired temperatures. Hot air rises, so it will rise up until it hits the underside of the motherboard and then flow outward to the edges. The further out it flows, the cooler it will get but as we're only talking inches here, I would sort of assume that the whole of the underside of the motherboard will be pretty much at the same temperature.

[Larry Sabo]

If the pre-heater doesn't heat a majority of the board evenly, you get warping as it heats/cools, risking cracking solder balls when you screw down the MB or when it heats/cools in use. You could bold the MB down to a jig to reflow/reball, which is what users of Jovys do because of their miniscule pre-heater. For laptops, the board size is considerably smaller, so it's not as big an issue. All this from my haunting the CVX forum; I have very limited reflowing/reballing experience myself.

[sorcerer]

Thanks again Larry. I am looking in the CVX forum but it's like anything else - there is just soooo much info to take in that it's getting confusing

Cheers my friend, much appreciated.