Overheard a guy at the parts counter say he never uses a magnifying glass for SMD work

I was picking up some capacitors at a shop in Austin and this older repair guy said he just uses his phone camera zoomed in for all surface mount soldering. I tried it on a dead router board last night and could actually see the solder bridges clearly for once. Has anyone else ditched their loupe for a phone camera trick like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

shanes6613d ago

Tried that phone trick with a can of compressed air first to blow off dust from the board, made the camera focus way faster. You can also tape a cheap clip-on macro lens from Amazon onto your phone case for even closer shots without the zoom getting all blurry. Biggest tip is to lock the exposure on the solder joint so the phone doesn't keep adjusting brightness while you're working.

nancyramirez13d ago

@shanes66 Totally, locking the exposure is key, that auto brightness thing will drive you crazy when it keeps flickering. Another trick is to put your phone on a mini tripod or even just prop it steady against a heavy tool case, makes the focus way more stable for those close ups.