It’s only 1/8″ across so those five wires sticking out each side are very close together.
The tip of the soldering iron I tried to use is too big – it bridges all five wires at once. I should’ve stopped and bought a smaller tip but, no, I had to go ahead and try. So now the right-most two of the bottom five are soldered permanently together. Copper braid and solder suckers have failed to clear the bridge.
This chip, an AD9833BRMZ Programmable Waveform Generator, is a goner.
For $10.80 each, I’ve ordered two replacements from DigiKey and I’ll also pick up a super-tiny soldering tip at the neighborhood Fry’s Electronics tomorrow.
Then, if I can’t get it done with the first replacement, I’ll find someone who can for the second.
I solder stuff smaller than that all the time.
The solder can’t be permanent. If it isn’t melting, then there is something wrong with what you are doing.
When you pick up a new tip, also pick up some liquid flux. A Kester flux pen (#2331-zx) would also work. Clean the solder pads with an alcohol/ammonia combination and dry completely. Apply a liberal (sorry for using the l-word) amount of the flux. Place the component and solder with fine tip and fine wire.
If you bridge leads, remove the solder with fine copper braid. Before using the braid, run the flux pen (or apply liquid flux) along the braid and on the chip. Flux is key.
Thanks, Grand. I have both a bottle of liquid flux and a flux pen. But the copper braid I have may be too coarse. I’ll see what Fry’s has when I get the pointy-tip for the soldering iron.
But fluxing the copper braid — I haven’t tried that. Thank you! (I don’t know if my previous attempts have torched the part or not. But the replacements are “in the mail” from Digikey so I’ll have backups.)
Another suggestion:
The pins on that part don’t need a ton of solder on them. You might find that the amount of solder that the tip holds when tinned is actually enough to solder a connection between the little pin and the pad. Some tinned pads have residual solder on their surface. Solder might be wicked into the pin/pad gap and provide sufficient electrical and mechanical contact. Don’t over-solder.