Had a customer yell at me about my BGA rework temps

Last Tuesday I was reballing a laptop GPU and a guy who used to work at a board repair shop in Dallas leaned over my shoulder and said I was running way too hot. I had my preheat at 190 C and top at 260 C. He told me I was practically cooking the PCB and that I should drop the preheat to 150 and use a slower ramp. I argued with him at first because I've been doing it that way for years. But I tried his method on a scrap board and didn't pop a single cap and the solder flowed way smoother. Now I'm wondering if all the boards I've done before have hidden damage. Has anyone else had their whole process challenged by some random dude and ended up changing everything?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordangibson15d ago

A buddy of mine from my old shop in Austin, Texas told me the same thing about my preheat last year. I was running 210 before he showed me a board he'd been working on with a 140 preheat and I couldn't believe how clean the results were. Now I'm second guessing every job I did before that and it's a real bummer thinking about all those boards I might have stressed out.

jackson.wesley15d agoTop Commenter

Man, I totally get that feeling @jordangibson! It's wild how something as simple as dropping the preheat can change everything about your results. But don't beat yourself up over the old boards, you were working with what you knew at the time and that's just how we learn in this trade.