

Ask HN: Who can solder tiny wires to tiny devices? - DonGateley

I need to find a person or service or whatever that can solder a very fine two-conductor-plus-shield cable I have to the three pads of a batch of ten very tiny MEMS microphones and I don&#x27;t know where to begin.  Can anyone here advise me?  Even to tell me an appropriate place to ask if Ask HN isn&#x27;t.<p>The dimensions of the MEMs microphones are 2.75mm L x 1.85mm W x 1.00mm H.  It can be seen here: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.digikey.com&#x2F;product-detail&#x2F;en&#x2F;SPV0840LR5H-B&#x2F;423-1214-1-ND&#x2F;4376286<p>I don&#x27;t have a picture of the coax cable but it is flattened and isn&#x27;t as wide as is the MEMS.<p>I&#x27;m an independent inventor in retirement and don&#x27;t have deep pockets.<p>P.S. Why the hell do I get the ubiquitous &quot;link unknown or expired&quot; trying to submit this.
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jdietrich
That's not an outrageously difficult part to solder by modern standards.
Anyone with a modicum of soldering experience should be able to tackle the job
with the right technique and a little practice.

The preferred approach is simply to use a wide chisel tip soldering iron and
plenty of flux to make all the joints in one pass, and if necessary clean up
the area with desoldering wick. That's the traditional method for soldering
fine-pitch SMD ICs and works remarkably well, as it relies on the wetting
behaviour of the solder rather than any particular dexterity or skill. The
solder won't wet to the body of the package, only to the pads, so any bridges
between the pads will naturally be drawn away by capillary action. As long as
the wires are neatly tinned it should all go quite smoothly. A search for
"drag soldering" should yield lots more information, including a number of
demonstrations on YouTube.

If necessary, a basic jig to hold the part and wires could be easily
constructed using a small piece of dense hardwood and a scalpel. I'd probably
just hold the cable and part in place with Blu Tack and align the wires with
fine tweezers.

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DonGateley
I should have mentioned that I'm 70 and my hands have long been too unsteady
to attempt this myself (if in fact they ever were.)

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DonGateley
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/ub6wj1aso2mog1y/IMG_0002_.JPG](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ub6wj1aso2mog1y/IMG_0002_.JPG)

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redtexture
Google "maker groups", and see if there are opportunities to ask those
communities of people that "make" new electronics and robotic stuff as a hobby
and community of friendly collaborators.

(Report back if you're successful.)

(The expired error message is a time-out message on this particular forum. It
annoys everyone.)

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DonGateley
Good idea. That's long been a search that I felt would open a Pandora's box I
might never again climb out of. :-)

I found the Instructables which has a lot of excellent craftsmen and asked in
their forum. Fingers crossed.

FWIW I really would like to know why my question was voted down to help me
understand the ethic (esthetic) here?

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dang
I can't see any place that a question of yours was downvoted. Perhaps it just
seemed so? If you have a more specific question please send it to us at
hn@ycombinator.com.

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nutter
Check out the list of hack/maker spaces here to see if there's one close to
you - most will have people who can help you:
[http://hackspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hack_Spaces](http://hackspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hack_Spaces)

~~~
DonGateley
Thanks. There are a couple within 50 miles of me that I've looked into but
they require rather expensive memberships in order to get in and find out if
anyone inside might be able to do it.

If I come up empty I will go on over and see if there are any old fashioned
bulletin boards on which I could post a help note without paying for a
membership.

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cromulent
I would suggest looking into clamping it and using hot air soldering. There
are some videos on YouTube.

~~~
DonGateley
I just ordered a hot air soldering station and some Gold Kapton polyamide high
temp tape to hold everything in place for it and avoid my tremor problem (not
particularly bad but too bad for this.) I've got a feeling I can make this
work.

I had never thought of adding this device to my bag of tricks and now that I
have I'm thinking of many uses that have been more than difficult in the past.
Many thanks.

