[chbot] BGA reballing etc.

[Mark Atherton]

Hi Yani,

Pre-heater - can be used to dismantle SMT 
assemblies, also hand assembling an SMT PCB is 
much easier if the PCB is pre-heated (solder 
paste tends to spread, rather than clump).

I bought the stencils + jig out of curiosity, in 
the hope that it might include a 16 x 16 x 0.8mm 
pattern (which it appears not to have). So, 
solder balls are missing, but have plenty of 
spare flux. You are more than welcome to the 
whole lot, but please take some photos of your experiences.

You are re-kindling my interest in this project...

-mark




At 11:33 p.m. 5/01/2015, you wrote:
>Hi Mark,
>
>On Mon, Sep 15, 2014 at 10:52 PM, Mark Atherton 
><<mailto:markaren1 at xtra.co.nz>markaren1 at xtra.co.nz>Â wrote:
>Hot air pre-heater : Element 14, SKU 2064552
>Briefly touched on re-balling BGAs. Search eBay 
>for "BGA reball", also youtube for some tutorials.
>PS I ended getting 320 stencils from Aliexpress 
>for US$32, from RunTop Technology CO.,LIMITED 
>who I never want to deal with again.
>
>
>I have been meaning to email you for some time 
>in response to this (unfortunately I missed this meeting).
>
>This has been on my TODO list for a while, as I 
>now have 3+ laptops which have video issues (2 
>of which I have fixed temporarily by running the 
>hot air from my rework station over, but which 
>relapsed after days or weeks). To add insult to 
>injury, I *spent money* on one of the laptops, 
>thinking the video was sorted, I bought a $30 
>replacement keyboard off ebay - and now the 
>thing sits there mocking me. Something must be done.
>
>
>I was wondering what your reballing experiences 
>were - I gather you've given it a go?
>
>Did you recommend a particular kit? I seem to 
>recall when I looked into this a year or so back 
>that there are various approaches to clamping 
>the stencils to the chip, so would be keen to 
>know what the one you have looks like, and how well it works.
>
>Hot air pre-heater : Element 14, SKU 2064552
>
>
>Was this part of the reballing workflow, or an 
>aside? I seem to recall seeing such a thing in 
>some videos, but not others - I was wondering how much of a help it was.
>
>PS I ended getting 320 stencils from Aliexpress 
>for US$32, from RunTop Technology CO.,LIMITED 
>who I never want to deal with again.
>
>Â
>And finally cutting to the chase, how do you 
>feel about lending your 320 stencils (or a 
>subset if I did my homework and found out what 
>the BGA footprints for each chip were), and do 
>you have surplus solder balls I can compensate 
>you for monetarily? (or can replace by ordering 
>some of my own and topping up yours when they 
>arrive). As I have the next two weeks off work, 
>if you were willing to loan your kit (thus 
>eliminating the lead time), I was thinking I 
>should give this a go. I am lucky in that one of 
>them even has a removeable video card - so that 
>would be likely the easiest to work with.
>
>Regards,
>Yani.