Vmod tools

[antipop]

I'll have some free time in july so i wanted to start looking at Vmods. But until now, i've no soldering skills nor any tool. So i'd like to know what i need to buy to succeed a Vmod.
I've some vid cards that i don't use so i'll first try the mod on them.
Any advice will be appreciated
I'll also look a bit more into the forum but there's a lot of information

ps : i've some electronic and electric knowledge (at least school will be useful )

[Tekime]

Soldering iron, solder, flux, desoldering braid, helping hands, needle-nose pliers, wire cutters, variety of wires, resistors and pots, and old motherboards/NICs/cards to practice on... to name a few

[antipop]

Thank you but can you be a bit more specific, i mean what to look for precisely

[Tekime]

Well I'm fairly new to soldering and vmodding myself but I'll try and be a little more precise if I can.

For a soldering iron I suggest you don't cheap out, but I don't think you need anything incredibly fancy. You can get one at Radio Shack for fairly cheap. Be sure to get a fine tip though since you will be doing precision work. You don't want anything over 40 watts for this kind of work, you can get an iron that lets you choose wattage (20/40) for cheap. Stick to 20W for soldering IC's and such. You can get rosin-core silver bearing solder at RS too. The desoldering braid is for removing old solder, and flux is for cleaning and preparing the surface.

Here is some info MrIcee sent to Pyro who showed it to me and I will now show it to you!

My best advice would be what I did...I'm not from an electronics background either: I found some old dead radios and boomboxes..ripped them apart and found some IC's that were approximately the same size as those we needed to solder on the MB. I practiced soldering wires to legs of IC's until I had the technique down perfect...here are some pointers.

1) Strip only enough off the end of the wire necessary...and apply soldering flux to the wire : have the soldering iron hot and tinned with solder...then touch the wire end until its tinned with solder

2) next dip the tinned wire end once again in the soldering flux paste....now bend and adjust the wire so that lays so that the wire lays over the OC leg you are attaching it to perfectly...this is very important

3) Once its laying on the IC leg...hold it there with a finger(on top of the IC)..then carefully take the pencil tip soldering iron and touch the prepped wire end....it should just instantly melt and attach to the IC leg...if not..tin it again..flux it and try again

You'll see after a few tries..this becomes a very easy operation

Here's a link that describes soldering a little better in detail:

http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/solder.htm

Also, another way to start vmodding is to use DM grabbers or mini-clips. This way you can use a small clip instead of soldering the resistor onto the IC. You've probably seen 'em but here's a vmem mod I did this way and it was super easy, clean and removeable:

http://www.fury-tech.com/showimage.p...ime/vmem02.jpg

Good luck I hope that's a little more helpful for you

[antipop]

Originally posted by Tekime
Also, another way to start vmodding is to use DM grabbers or mini-clips. This way you can use a small clip instead of soldering the resistor onto the IC. You've probably seen 'em but here's a vmem mod I did this way and it was super easy, clean and removeable:

Thanks for your help, i think i'll go that route, but i don't know where to find them in france (or a place that ships to france). I'll be looking for electronics shops.

[CCW]

for vmodding boards you will want a sodlering iron with a realt thin tip bewcause the chips will be very small.

also, if you get a good multimetre now, it could last you for ywars, about £70 should get you a real good one

Craig

[antipop]

What would be the difference between a cheap one and a £70 one? i find it quite expensive

[CCW]

a £70 will last you years, prodcue betetr as in more accurate readings,m be able to measure more things etc

Craig

[jtommyj]

Also, you can buy 15 watt grounded soldering irons that work fine. I use one for all my mods.

[blubbo]

I used glue when i vmodded my mother board.

[uwackme]

I have a spare Weller EC3001 soldering station... new they are $250, but I'd take a reasonable offer from a fellow modd'r. It's a micro point adjustable temp soldering iron.

let me know- Jim "uwackme@hotmail.com"

OOPS mispelled the email

[uwackme]

Email is uwackme@hotmail.com for the EC3001, typo'd

let me know -Jim

[CCW]

soldering iron is worth spending moeny on, get something with a fin tip,2mm chisel tips ideally and spare tips

uwackme and blubbo, WELCOME TO THE XTREME!

Craig

[antipop]

Would that be a good grabber? If it ok for vmod?

http://www.radiospares.fr/cgi-bin/bv...rodoid=7139489

[CCW]

that looks like RS that site

[PMM]

P.S. Radios Spares is RS Electronics

What I would get....

• 15-40Watt soldering Iron or Gas Powered. search for Weller brand.
• Low temp solder 60%Tin 40% lead 0.8mm dia.
• Multimeter check out Fluke www.fluke.com

If needed get yourself a solder pad to work on or solder mat.

[LikwidKool]

I like those tips from Mr. Icee . I never knew you needed flux. I just did the vmem for the IC7 today and was having a §§§§§ of a time getting the solder to adhere to the wire before I tried to solder it to the pad. This was only my second vmod though so I am no pro anyway.

Also as far as tips, I will say that on my 8RDA+ I used a 30watt soldering iron from Radio Shack and that thing was just too hot. I fuggered up the vmod the first time by melting too much solder on the IC leg. For the IC7 vmem mod you need a weaker iron so I picked up a 15/30 iron and used the 15 watt. It made it a bit easy as the solder didn't flow quite as quick. Worked great! It just takes practice and a steady hand. 2 beers and a deep breath a long with the wife and kid down at the in laws also helps!

[Pita^Norf]

Originally posted by CCW
a £70 will last you years, prodcue betetr as in more accurate readings,m be able to measure more things etc

Craig

I think before investing £70 in a mutimeter one would need to consider how often you would use it and the accuracy you would be expecting out of it. If you need tighter tolerances then spend more if not then a cheapo one will do (also theres nothing to say a cheap one won't last years either )

My MM cost £5 and it is quite versatile in that it measures AC: 200 - 600V, DC: 200mV - 600V, A: 200 micro - 10A, ohms: 0 - 2 M ohms, and a few other things that I have'nt a clue about. The mods I carry out I'm only ever needing to measure voltages to within 0.1v so my MM does the job.

I only ever use the MM when moding or measuring voltages and thats not very often so certainly not enough to justify me spending £70, however if electronics is a hobby then £70 on the right MM is definately a sound investment.

Oh BTW I got 2 of the same MM due to Maplin running a buy one get one free offer at the time.

[NickK]

Give you an idea, I use the following:
* 70W Butane soldering iron,
* Multimeter about 40quid will take a burst of 10A,
* Set of small pliers (normal, long nose, bent nose, cutters) and small jewler's screwdrivers used for precision work,
* heavy duty wire cutters,
* Dremmel

Just remember that there is quite a bit of current flowing on the motherboard (the onboard CPU psu) which if your going to measure current will be about 30-50 Amps. However unless your going to cut tracks and put your multimeter in series you'll not need that.

If the multimeter has 20V DC range (ie can measure 12V, 5V and 3.3V DC rails), can withstand 10 Amp, measure resistances and possibly check contacts (beeps) then it'll be fine.

Personally I like a high power soldering iron (in this case it can be adjusted from 30-70watts) the joint is soldered in a split second rather than having the metals conduct heat through prolonged contact.