How to melt all solder connections without affecting plastic

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TechNoob4Ever-1331358

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Jun 1, 2013
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Hi guys, I suspect that the solder has grown whiskers and I'd like to fix the problem by melting all the solder connections at the same time, but I'm wondering if there is a way to do this that won't melt plastic components or damage other components on the board? Also, will this cause any components to become displaced or move out of position?
 
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bucknutty

bucknutty

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Jul 22, 2010
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The correct way to re-flow the solder is to use an infrared solder gun. Other ways to do it is to use a heat gun, or toss it in the oven and hope for the best.
I have taken old video cards and baked them at 390-400 for 10-15 minutes to reflow the solder. Keep in mind that the oven trick will void any warranty, but works well on cards that have all metal caps. The plastic caps will pop and release a wonderful smelling fog.

The plastic VGA connectors and even the serial number stickers are unaffected by the oven.
 
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TechNoob4Ever-1331358

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What about these black and white plastic parts--will these be melted or damaged by either the infrared solder gun or the oven?

ZEN_MOTHERBOARD5_zps190e5eee.jpg


Or what about the brown and black colored plastic tabs in this one:

821-1975-A_2_LARGE_zps56110b47.jpg


 
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TechNoob4Ever-1331358

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I hope you are right; I'm gonna take a defective one and throw it in there at 390 for 10 mins just to see if anything melts. If something melts I'll post pics lol.

Oh by the way, just thought of this, how do you know that it will in fact melt the solder at 390 F? The solder on this board might be lead-free, in which case I would need to go up to near 500 F to get it to melt. And then I might in fact melt the plastic parts...
 
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TechNoob4Ever-1331358

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I've been doing some more reading trying to identify the melting point of the plastic parts. Turns out that the plastic parts are plastic thermoset molds. Thermoset molded plastics disintegrate before they melt. The curing process seems to take place at a temperature of 392 degrees F. So I guess if the solder is lead-free and requires more heat to melt than that, I might be screwed.
 
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