My first build. Low tide. Made a mistake. Is this redeemable?

[boysenpai]

So this is my first build. I heard it was not recommended for beginners, but I've soldered my guitar electronics in the past and also, I just really wish to have Shallow Water for 5+ years and making my own was the only way I could afford it.

It went well until I started to solder chips. It came as a kit but there were no instructions as to how to solder particular components so I googled a lot with each new tier of components. Found a little bag with two chips, found their placing on the pcb, soldered them in. Cut off the residual pin tips. Then I opened next back and I noticed there were these slots and I couldn't pair them with anything. Then I realised these were slots for the chips that I already soldered straight onto the pcb and trimmed their pins.

Will the chips work when soldered straight into the pcb? Or, will the chips slide into the slot and work even with the tips of their pins trimmed? Or should I look for replacement?

 

[drgonzo1969]

Those are the sockets for your chips. They are not essential for function of the pedal. They help protect the chips from heat when you solder and also make removal easier. However, It looks like you may have installed the chip circled in red backwards. The little circle indention should be facing the other way I think.

 

[Fama]

Those are the sockets for your chips. They are not essential for function of the pedal. They help protect the chips from heat when you solder and also make removal easier. However, It looks like you may have installed the chip circled in red backwards. The little circle indention should be facing the other way I think.

Yep, looking at the picture on https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/pcb406/, looks like you're right, it's the wrong way around.

Sadly it will not work like that.

The bad news is that desoldering parts can be hard, especially with IC's I would assume (I've always used sockets so haven't had to desolder them) because you can't pull it out completely unless all the legs are clear of solder, so you need all 8 done at the same time.

Those who are better at desoldering can probably help you more, but I would suggest getting a solder sucker (I have this one https://www.musikding.de/Desoldering-Pump but I'm sure there are much better ones available too) and just trying to get all of the solder out from all of the legs, and then remove the IC. Install the socket instead, and hope that the IC hasn't burned.

The good news is that while it's the MCP602 which I think is a bit rarer and harder to get (although tbh I didn't check, could be that it's available otherwise too), you can at least sub it with more common parts. I think I used a NE5532. Some of the other parts are harder to source.

 

[boysenpai]

You are exactly right. It is the other way around. I was matching the direction of the name on the part with the name on the board, then I realised that the signs are not indicative of the placing but the silhouette of the part on the pcb is. Just bought desoldering braid and was told by everyone so far that I have a real delicate task ahead of me.

The sweet old man in the shop also told me once the chips are soldered straight into the board and in correct direction, it is better to leave them in, finish the job and if it works, it works. I guess I'll abide.

Thank you all for the tips! I'll try to remove the MPC602, place it correctly and then finish the pedal, plug it in and see what happens. Then trouble-shoot. I love it so much and have learned so much so far. Wish me luck!

 

[Fama]

You are exactly right. It is the other way around. I was matching the direction of the name on the part with the name on the board, then I realised that the signs are not indicative of the placing but the silhouette of the part on the pcb is. Just bought desoldering braid and was told by everyone so far that I have a real delicate task ahead of me.

The sweet old man in the shop also told me once the chips are soldered straight into the board and in correct direction, it is better to leave them in, finish the job and if it works, it works. I guess I'll abide.

Thank you all for the tips! I'll try to remove the MPC602, place it correctly and then finish the pedal, plug it in and see what happens. Then trouble-shoot. I love it so much and have learned so much so far. Wish me luck!

Yep, don't try to remove the other IC's - hopefully (and probably) they are fine, and desoldering might cause more issues. But do put a socket on this one (and others you might not have done yet), I just plugged in an IC the wrong way around and probably fried it when powering up the pedal for the first time, and sockets make it much easier to just swap them out. You can also just get faulty parts sometimes (or at least fakes from questionable sources), so sockets are useful there too.

 

[boysenpai]

I just can't get that bloody thing out. Tried all the possible hacks. No success. I suppose I'm saving up for a new kit. Damn this hobby is pretty unforgiving.

 

[drgonzo1969]

Ya they are the hardest thing to desolder. You could snip the legs and desolder the remaining pieces. Then just solder in your socket and try a new chip. No need to scrap your whole build yet

 

[boysenpai]

Ya they are the hardest thing to desolder. You could snip the legs and desolder the remaining pieces. Then just solder in your socket and try a new chip. No need to scrap your whole build yet

I tried to do that but I can't reach it to snip off the legs as it is. I could desolder the surrounding components, clean the board up and replace them. The surrounding stuff is fairly cheap. All of it is, really. I think I might have thrown the towel in too soon.

Something worries me though. I heated the board many many times while trying to desolder it. Perhaps scratched it a little. Is there a way to check whether I caused any damage and the board is healthy?

 

[Laundryroom David]

I tried to do that but I can't reach it to snip off the legs as it is. I could desolder the surrounding components, clean the board up and replace them. The surrounding stuff is fairly cheap. All of it is, really. I think I might have thrown the towel in too soon.

Something worries me though. I heated the board many many times while trying to desolder it. Perhaps scratched it a little. Is there a way to check whether I caused any damage and the board is healthy?

You should probably move this over to a troubleshooting thread and post more pics of the board - both sides, good lighting please.

 

[boysenpai]

You should probably move this over to a troubleshooting thread and post more pics of the board - both sides, good lighting please.

Will do, thank you very much!

 

[drgonzo1969]

You can snip the legs of the chip off right at the black plastic. That should give you enough room to maneuver the leftover legs out.

 

[steviejr92]

Yes I agree with everyone’s assessment. The best way to approach this is to snip the legs off closest to the body. That way you have something to grab onto with your tweezers as you try to desolder the other side and pull it out. Take your time you got this.

 

[boysenpai]

It has been done. I'll continue at the trouble-shooting section.

 

[jwin615]

As tempting as it is, don't brute force it. You'll lift a pad and the board is borked. Or, at minimum, you'll be running jumper wires.
Do you have a flux pen by chance? Add flux to your braid before trying to desolder. Will assist in wicking. Adding flux, or fresh solder can help as counter intuitive as that sounds. Especially for lead free solder.
Snipping is best at this point, if you can get to the legs.

Note, the following is a little more advanced and requires an iron with fast thermal recovery. A $10 blister pack iron won't work.
You can also try and get some clean copper wire, 14 or 16 gauge, and bend it to the outer diameter of the legs, in a rectangle. Solder the rectangle to the corner legs then flow solder across each set of 4. So you'll have the rectangle with solder flow on each side of the IC.
Then, heat the copper with your iron. Need a broad tip for this. Once all the solder is wet, the IC should fall out, or if you bent the legs, easily come out with tweezers. Don't use your hand, it's hot.

 

[jwin615]

Congrats! Sadly, you may have lifted a pad. Try to clean it up with isopropyl. If it's not shiny under there, you'll likely need a short jumper as outlined.

 

[jwin615]

here is a good tutorial on the desoldering method I mentioned earlier.
I'd advise getting some scrap electronics to practice on. It works quite well, especially if you don't have a quality desoldering pump.
I've never cared for the handheld pumps myself. Preferring the heated ones like PACE makes.
I bought one of these on a whim, and it works pretty well. Takes a few minutes to heat up. I believe they are on Amazon as well.

 

[damianvila]

As @jwin615 said, most probably you’ll have to use a jumper wire for the missing pad. It’s not complicated.

As for desoldering, you want to invest in good quality desoldering braid. It makes a difference.

And if you need a hand desoldering pump, my recommendation is this one:

The good thing about this one is that you can put the solder tip, put this pump on top, and as soon as the solder melts, you press the button and activate the pump. The silicone tip of the pump can withstand the heat of the soldering iron and creates a good vacuum on the pad.
These used to be expensive, but now you can get one for under $10.

 

[zgrav]

For future referenece --- the easier way to try to remove an IC safely is to buy some low-temp solder. You can add it to the pins you want to remove and use your soldering iron to heat them up at about the same time -- the solder stays liquid longer and you can remove the IC pretty easily without damaging it. This stuff also works well with bigger ICs, transistors and potentiometers. You are also only using a small amount each time so your supply should last a long time.

 

[drgonzo1969]

For future referenece --- the easier way to try to remove an IC safely is to buy some low-temp solder. You can add it to the pins you want to remove and use your soldering iron to heat them up at about the same time -- the solder stays liquid longer and you can remove the IC pretty easily without damaging it. This stuff also works well with bigger ICs, transistors and potentiometers. You are also only using a small amount each time so your supply should last a long time.

nice! That is a great tip.

 

[boysenpai]

For future referenece --- the easier way to try to remove an IC safely is to buy some low-temp solder. You can add it to the pins you want to remove and use your soldering iron to heat them up at about the same time -- the solder stays liquid longer and you can remove the IC pretty easily without damaging it. This stuff also works well with bigger ICs, transistors and potentiometers. You are also only using a small amount each time so your supply should last a long time.

Can I please ask couple of questions. What does IC stand for? And next, I think I don't understand how the low-temp assist in removal of pins attached with regular solder. Do you mean that the low-temp blends with regular and the whole mixture will remain liquid longer?