Reballing with a modified alogen stove for preheating and a hot-hair station. Reballing kit from china ;)
Жүктеу.....
Пікірлер: 922
@abello4f19 жыл бұрын
Great job. With whole computers and laptops being seen as replaceable field units nowadays, its cool when someone goes back to basics and does the tech work themselves. Great effort. I was kinda nervous that it wasn't gonna work with all that effort you put in.
@zviki68
9 жыл бұрын
Do you think that he will put the video on KZread if that thing will not work?
@Thatoneblackguy258
9 жыл бұрын
Zviki Would be a lesson in what not to do. Plus he already went through the trouble of getting the footage might as well.
@esplonky6502
9 жыл бұрын
Thatoneblackguy258 Zviki Also, he seems to know what he's doing
@zviki68
9 жыл бұрын
***** That's what I mean.
@needparalegal
7 жыл бұрын
considering solder balls are put on by precise machines I wouldn't be surprised if this was not the first attempt and it took many redos to get it to work. Especially considering the way he drops the chip onto the mobo, nothing precise there.
@SouthCoastMudlarks9 жыл бұрын
Good job. Ignore the haters. They do not realise an infrared BGA reworkstation costs thousands and the little men can't afford that. Improvisation as shown here is excellent.
@thingshappen9199
5 жыл бұрын
What is the big metal piece on top of the ship? I'm guessing is to melt the solder and remove the ship? But how is it transmitting heat to the ship?
@2ndrunraidshadowlegends631
5 жыл бұрын
Actually you can get the ir elements extremely cheap from Ali around £30 for a full set. Add a thermocouple or get a pid and hey presto bga rework for less then £100
@said-ge6bl
5 жыл бұрын
@@2ndrunraidshadowlegends631 Yeah, but years ago they have been more expensive.
@krnlg
3 жыл бұрын
@@thingshappen9199 Its a hot air gun :)
@mcac-youtube
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, the prices are lower, bur the work still is too hard to do.
@ARamseyGuy9 жыл бұрын
Bonus points for the Unreal soundtrack
@Project737NGX10 жыл бұрын
I have been in electronics a long long time but never attempted to reball. You are an expert to say the least, great video!!! I normally comment about people that don't talk during the videos but no words were needed in this one.
@ovalwingnut8 жыл бұрын
Holy BGA Batman! This is the most "ballsie", "hardcore" board level repair I've ever seen. More balls than a pachinko machine. I get stressed inserting a 48 pin DIP. I would have never believed it unless I saw it for myself. I'm not familiar with BGA's.. but I"m assuming (hoping) that there are little divots or half round impressions that the solder balls roll into. Otherwise I would have not clue how the balls were aligned. And then to visually place the chip onto the board, no guid.. Wow.. Good job. I wouldn't worry about cost vs time. IMHO just being able to do it brings its own rewards. This would certainly make any other rework seem like child's play. Have no fear comes to mind. I do wonder why it was replaced. The real magic may be in the fact you knew it was defective :O) Cheers! And keep it up!
@solidkarma9003
8 жыл бұрын
+OvalWingNut these dell models are legendary for it. i have the same right here. found it trashed full of thermal paste. it was literally everywhere. no joke. cleaned it though I thought about doing the reballing with a heatgun. ive seen vids where it worked. though I totally understand why these methods arent liked. how much does that professional kit cost anyway?
@dialupdavid
8 жыл бұрын
+Solid Karma For a full Professional Reballing station you're looking at well over ~$1000. Then tack on ESD safe / professional grade Irons and such and you're probably looking at the ~$1500 range. Of course, a single reball is in the neighborhood of ~$80 so it could repay itself in a month of work.
@Slixious
7 жыл бұрын
You use something called a stencil. I just bought a cheap set of them from China to hopefully cover most (if not all) possible sizes). Not an expert myself, but I've seen you can also use solder paste to do the job (they should ball up when heating up), although I'm go for the balls if possible. As for the guide (aligning the GPU to the board properly), I'd be very worried about getting that right.
@wn_djogja9 жыл бұрын
OK, now lets declare BGA as crime against humanity... >.
@tjones998 жыл бұрын
Wow, Emanuele, I thought I was hard core doing basic SMD work at home... I bow to you... well done and I learned a lot...
@cjoe4211 жыл бұрын
Great work making this look easy. What no one has ever shown is how to remove the epoxy that holds the chip on a HP motherboard. I spent an hour digging it off then realize it got soft when it was heated. No one ever tells you that if you knock off any component from the laptop while the solder is heated, will kill the motherboard for sure. This job is not for impatient people My total equipment cost was around $200US for the SMD Rework Station, balls, stencil, flux and copper wick. No vice tho
@RobThePlumber10 жыл бұрын
Super mad skills. I personally would have scraped the laptop.
@LawrenceDuffy47710 жыл бұрын
Great technique. But what exactly is homemade???? The store bought jig??? The store bought reballs them self??? Home made Vacuum pen???? Homemade no clean flux??? The make shift heater for pre heating I guess, But that's store bought as well. A hack, but still store bought. Kapton tape must be homemade then?????
@TehHijack
9 жыл бұрын
Don't be a wise ass. I think he meant DIY instead of home-made. Some people lack common sense.
@Gunchulis
9 жыл бұрын
I really hope you don't do any homemade projects... as based on your logic you would want to grow trees in your living room, mine ores and smelt them into bars, do some smithing to craft ur tools so u can say the project is 100% homemade.
@LALXLSKC
9 жыл бұрын
Your ugliness is homemade 100%
@HeywaitAsec12 жыл бұрын
Man just wanna pay my deepest respect to you for taking the intuitive to do this shit. Realy man respect from Holland.
@Potatofarmer18985 жыл бұрын
That is almost the entire Unreal Tournament 2000 soundtrack. Love that game!!! Fantastic job reballing.
@PabloDiaz-pm5kz9 жыл бұрын
unreal tournament music! great video!
@edwinrj
9 жыл бұрын
+Pablo Diaz yees !! haha me di cuenta tambien
@DudidumMusic
6 жыл бұрын
That's the best part of the video!
@asimpleson10 жыл бұрын
Thumbs up if Nvidia was the first thing that came to your mind.
@JackBandicootsBunker
6 жыл бұрын
More like HP laptops...
@marcobho747
6 жыл бұрын
Aspr aah the fucking geforce 8 series
@RoxGYT
3 жыл бұрын
@@marcobho747 I have litterally 3 motherboards with faulty 8400M GTs
@danriley9036 жыл бұрын
DON'T KID YOURSELF. THERE IS NOTHING AMATEUR ABOUT THIS. GREAT VIDEO AND MUSIC!
@reaper57abvbg10 жыл бұрын
Over 30 years and you still don't know why a reball is done! Wow you must be a real pro!
@audisam8 жыл бұрын
you call that homemade equipment .. maybe if you live in CHINA lmao
@AmethystSpeaks
8 жыл бұрын
+2012TheAndromeda "Common home" is not "low cost" or "home made".
@CodeAsm
8 жыл бұрын
+audisam You can get most of that for china prices if you look at Alixpress :P
@victorius2006
8 жыл бұрын
The only "home made" is the heater XDDDD
@randynewmanwillkilly
6 жыл бұрын
some of the commercial re-flowing equipment is like 15 grand or more dude.
@ncdave4life
6 жыл бұрын
I have all that stuff in my kitchen, don't you? E.g., the stencil is for cake decorating. Well, except the Q-tip. I don't keep that in the kitchen. That's in the bathroom. 😉
@beickus8 жыл бұрын
by noo means homemade - quite professional
@kglefo8 жыл бұрын
This man has the patience of Job. I just don't think I have it in me to do such meticulous work. It's fun watching someone else do it, though (I feel similarly about household chores). :)
@71dembonesTV8 жыл бұрын
Very impressive! I'm just learning about BGA chips and they seem like a pain to work with. Wouldn't have thought so if I watched this first! I guess this is the "next level" in ICs after SMT ICs with the external legs.
@jasonnets40367 жыл бұрын
Why didn't you put thermal paste on the GPU before reassembling?
@Slixious
7 жыл бұрын
It did say preliminary testing, so nothing is to say it wasn't done later on or even off camera.
@Schule048 жыл бұрын
The music is from unreal tournament 99.
@AbuGuroza
7 жыл бұрын
i was thought it from ace combat 3
@AndyLo79
7 жыл бұрын
They don't make memorable soundtracks like this any more. I recognized it right away!
@george787793 жыл бұрын
Great skill to have, thank you for the video. Unfortunately we are living in a throw away society everything is broken we most throw away and buy a new one.
@harryholley7 жыл бұрын
I have reflowed many of those. The first time I ever had that issue I found out about it. Reflowed it, then sold it. How much it would cost to have someone do this, vs selling the parts and buying a new system, doesn't make sense to me. But this video also helps show how to replace a by a chip, like say replacing that crappy AMD E-300 APU that's in my laptop. But for my time and money, another laptop is cheaper. Great video and and you have great patience.
@michaelhansen6987 жыл бұрын
reballing a dead chip is like installing windows without a windows key every month
@localit2890
7 жыл бұрын
But that's just it. the chip isn't always the problem, the problem is micro-fractures in the solder. Leadfree solder is more prone to get the fractures than lead based solder.
@randynewmanwillkilly
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah, we should fuck his shit up and make things like spare tires and fix-o-flat illegal.
@I-am-superor10 жыл бұрын
Unreal music is good theme
@HCL99110 жыл бұрын
Cant believe i watched someone really reball his graphics IC... Unbelievable!! Great work!
@xRenethx11 жыл бұрын
He's only dragging it over the CPU/GPU pads. It's not like he's dragging it all over the motherboard where the traces and such are. This is a must for cleaning pads like that anyway.
@HansVanIngelgom7 жыл бұрын
And then you discover you placed the IC backwards :-)
@edmprime84159 жыл бұрын
SINOVI, KAD OVO BUDETE ZNALI ONDA KAZITE DA ZNATE O KOMPIJUTERIMA
@ShakalJC
9 жыл бұрын
A neko ne zna da ocisti lap top od prasine xD
@zmuk3727
9 жыл бұрын
Ja znam. Na eBay-u ima tih kitova
@gustavovispo39159 жыл бұрын
I can't believe that great job, only for patient people. I'd like to have this skill.
@andisadler166811 жыл бұрын
Of course it works!, no reason why it wont last years. Just exactly same as the xbox RROD fix. Just ensure you have suitable cooling!. Excellent video,very thorough.
@eastcoastcomputer10 жыл бұрын
Considering this is so labor intensive, is there an advantage over just replacing the board?
@LizzyDaWizzy
10 жыл бұрын
Cost, once you have a little base of equipment, exchanging single parts becomes easier from day to day. Theres Laptops with everything on one single board, replacing this is fairly cost intensive. Imagine a broken video card in the 1000USD price range with no warranty left, what would you do? Replace it or repair an IC thats obviously broken. This is just alot more cost effective.
@eastcoastcomputer
10 жыл бұрын
LizzyDaWizzy I replace about 3 - 5 laptop motherboards a year. Considering the cost of around $100-200 on the low end laptops, and I have to go through the effort of removing them, I see no point in reballing.
@ShinIkari
10 жыл бұрын
eastcoastcomputer And what about mid to hi end ones? Around 500$ for a board, while reballing is 50-80. A bit over 100$ if you replace the chip
@eastcoastcomputer
10 жыл бұрын
I would think that a $500 board would be better constructed.
@LizzyDaWizzy
10 жыл бұрын
eastcoastcomputer Anything can break obviously.
@dimitriostryfonopoylos619710 жыл бұрын
Balls are leaded or leaded free?
@EmanueleVedovati
10 жыл бұрын
leaded ;)
@frankymanky322
8 жыл бұрын
+Emanuele Vedovati Here due to MS just loving lead free! Wrrryyyyyy!?
@yuhongliu9099
8 жыл бұрын
Must be leaded, reflowing at 200C.
@kevingarren51987 жыл бұрын
That's some good clean work! Most hacks just put the board in a stove we call them shake and bakes there garbage. Your system is very nice the only thing is for all that work I think I'd have put a new chip in instead of just cleaning the old one. That way if you use a good thermal paste you know it's gonna last atleast two years before you have to crack the case again.
@jayburns280310 жыл бұрын
thanks for helping me confirm that there is a lot more to this that a hair dryer, tapping on the top of the gpu, and a little patience
@extazacollective9 жыл бұрын
Cile
@mihajlomirkovic7658
9 жыл бұрын
Hahah da :D
@mihajlomirkovic7658
9 жыл бұрын
Hahaha :D
@cls9705
9 жыл бұрын
Juhu!!!Nista bez Cika Cileta :D XD
@user-jk9ho8ol9i
9 жыл бұрын
Cile mu nabio preglede haha :D
@DirExxVM
9 жыл бұрын
Veljko Markovic Nabio mu preglede a cile ima 19.224 gledaoca ,a pola od njih nisu usli na link.. znaci max gledaoca sto mu je Cile "nabio" 10.000 do 15.000
@rosewebber71148 жыл бұрын
this vidio is boring but my dad likes it
@BlaineMurphy11 жыл бұрын
Right, I was mainly pointing out that reflowing isn't always reliable; reballing will work for a considerable while longer if not indefinitely. Package replacement to a better revision (in the case of the notorious NVidia 8500M) can also be a solution. Some failures doe to the ball flexing that you mentioned are due to poor internal package layout and material choices on the manufacturer's part. Sometimes newer revisions of the package address the underlying issues that lead to failure.
@DudesBigBelow11 жыл бұрын
I was very impressed; being a former game repair center manager, the company I worked for would've never sprung for the equiptment that I needed to do a great job like you did. Thinking of investing in my own tools, I already have an infra-red toaster oven that I do minor repairs in, but going that extra mile seems to be the route that I have to take and why not do it properly.
@AJRestoration10 жыл бұрын
All this hassle, id buy a new laptop!
@healthpointmauritius2619
9 жыл бұрын
It's worth the effort. What would you chose ? Spend 80 to 160 used for a kit or get same problems with a new laptop after 5 years? Most laptops get same problem with time as heat wears out the platine conductor on the board so it's a good investment as all laptops come with that tech so kit is useful for all laptops and less money wasting
@josefaschwanden1502
4 жыл бұрын
@@healthpointmauritius2619 never had a laptop wich needed reballing
@JihadPowell9 жыл бұрын
thats skill
@magalimoreno20844 жыл бұрын
You could repair all of the OKYO/INTEGRA home theater receivers around the world by doing this on their HDMI defective boards... God bless you!
@jeffroden111 жыл бұрын
Reball is the way to go guys and girls. and NO reflow doesnt do the same thing. See what your missing is when you reball the NEW type solder can handle MUCH geater temps. Allowing the system to be ok running at the hotter temp. (Just like they should have done from the Manufacturer) nice work for home made.
@victorius20068 жыл бұрын
"low cost & home made"??... quien no tiene en casa un soldador de aire caliente y un porta plantillas para colocar las bolitas de estaño?, jajajaja... Lo único casero de todo el vídeo es lo de la estufa, el resto de casero y bajo costo no tiene NADA (que tampoco es que digamos que es caro, pero tampoco es lowcost)
@abrahamreyes861
3 жыл бұрын
Es que no sé si pidió un reballing kit de China la verdad no se en cuánto le salió digo si te vas a dedicar a eso vale la pena la inversión pero para un solo dispositivo a menos de que haya sido super costoso no vale la pena y luego qué tal si no era el chip y era un capacitor o qué se yo, con piezas tan diminutas.
@vanjaruzin42639 жыл бұрын
Ajmo like ko je ovde zbog cileta :D
@ShottyOtty111 жыл бұрын
i have no idea what you're doing but i can't stop watching
@theforeverpuddle87548 жыл бұрын
Really phenomenal job. Cannot deny the skills.
@Miducuast10 жыл бұрын
Even tough the technician is very skillful and its repair successful is not in a home enviroment or home workshop. He uses tools that I guess are not even home tools. Like the plastic vise to work on the IC. Also the tape is special since it has that copper color. Neither he does explain what elements he uses on the IC like the "balls" that I clearly deduct that are soldering metal in tiny balls presentation. And finally one can see clearly that that is sophisticated repair place. It's not a home environment and doesn't even say why the laptop needs the repair.
@fretl3ss
10 жыл бұрын
The vise is not neccessary, it makes your life easier but not neccesary. The yellow tape is kapton (heat resistant tape) and for any electronics hobbyist its a must-have. The balls are solder metal that you can purchase in any shop that sells electronics hobby stuff. The hot air station can be purchased of ebay for as low as $60. Surely this isn't stuff for the average joe, rather an average electronics hobbyist.
@Project737NGX
10 жыл бұрын
Everything he is using is what electronic hobbyist have in their shop except the IC holder and I am sure you could get one of those on eBay, yep, here is one for $62 www.ebay.com/itm/like/121256139411?lpid=82. As for the reason the machine needed repair, does not matter because the demo was to show his MAD SKILLS at reballing not troubleshooting. Regards, Electronic Tech for 28 years
@Miducuast
10 жыл бұрын
fretl3ss I agree man. For what I can see at the video he's a computer repair shop. Most likely a service place where one sends laptops to be repaired on warranty.
@Miducuast
10 жыл бұрын
***** Awsome info, man!!! Yet what I critized is that he posted it as home video when it's made at computer repair shop. At least I know where to get the IC holder!!! Again thanks fro the info!!!
@Miducuast
10 жыл бұрын
fretl3ss And before I forget, thanks for the info. I might get that tape!! :)
@Ben333bacc7 жыл бұрын
Unreal Tournament music lol
@jorgeder72029 жыл бұрын
Wow that is beyond amazing, anybody who has successfully ever reballed one motherboard will buy this guy happily several Beers/coffee/whatever :) If you ever come to Melbourne mate feel free to reply here and I will keep up on that promise. What is your success rate and how many have you re-balled?
@jimstratton57939 жыл бұрын
once you do a few reballs you can get them done in under 20 mins with a fully automated rework station. Five to remove the chip 10 preparing the board and chip for it. Also would recommend a new tip something flat like a chisel and go row by row. dont drag the desoldering wick as you can damage the board. Also save yourself so much time get a stencilthat fits without taping and you just dump extra solder balls off back into the jar, i felt sorry for you pick all those .6mm by hand at least they looked about that size based on the chip. Good luck your doing alot of extra work that one five dollar piece would save you hours.
@chrekgoole40648 жыл бұрын
reballing to fix the gpu, is pure, fucking, bullshit
7 жыл бұрын
YEah, it worked that week, but just that week.
@randynewmanwillkilly
6 жыл бұрын
yeah but reballing to fix fucked up solder balls isn't.
@Oitucrem11 жыл бұрын
This does work, a couple of things you got to keep in mind though. What you did was remelt the soldier points, but probably improperly. The soldier points will get crystallized if you partially melt them. This causes 2 things: 1. Early failure of the soldier (which means it will fail again sooner rather then later) 2. Will cause soldier to require HIGHER temps to melt. Eventually too hot for the components to survive. Take steps before it gets like that. DID my PS3 too. :)
@dennisdelfino11 жыл бұрын
Wow, impressive. Some real precision work. Very cool music too, made the video even better.
@BlaineMurphy11 жыл бұрын
*Reflowing only works for a short period of time. Replacing the balls sometimes helps because the solder that is already on the unit becomes brittle and cracks when the boards flex. Just heating the board will help, but it's not a sure fix, not even a reball is sometimes as the underlying problem is a poorly designed package for heat dispersion. Both reballing and reflowing will reconnect those lost connections (reballing for a longer period usually) but neither will fix a bad package design.
@mohamedatef23837 жыл бұрын
The most amazing and professional video i had ever seen
@killarmy2208 жыл бұрын
Unreal Tournament soundtrack ! :)) old good times...
@jocelinmeza57827 жыл бұрын
Hermoso video, he visto varios de reballing pero este, es como dicen en mi pueblo lo hiciste de manera artesanal.
@h.thoreau924010 жыл бұрын
In reality the work is not difficult, it is tedious without proper tools, but manageable. I'd consider this more of a temporary solution, alleviating issues that a full re-ball would fix.
@azatiku9 жыл бұрын
I HAD A FEELING THAT THE MUSIC IS FROM UNREAL TOURNAMENT , I WAS RIGHT
@OneCoolDude0811 жыл бұрын
Right, that is why I put alogen in quotes. It's an obvious typo for halogen. On the Chinese import sites they sell a halogen bbq that looks almost identical to this one, and it sells for $96. He called it a stove not a room heater, but sometimes things get lost in translation, so I guess it could be either. I would like to try this, and need to keep costs down so I will look for a $25 room heater. Thanks for the tip!
@booyah14396 жыл бұрын
thank you for sharing this clearly not for the average pc enthusiast still a very good alternative .
@PyromancerRift8 жыл бұрын
Woooow you have big balls to do that !
@SianaGearz
7 жыл бұрын
Tiny balls. Hundreds, sometimes more than a thousand tiny balls per chip.
@12345openi10 жыл бұрын
no metter what tools he use,with knowlege and chines hands he show perfect work,its art
@MathiasTenge11 жыл бұрын
So the computer is running again, so you can install windows 7 and disable the timelapse Thanks for this,good job!
@rjnash261010 жыл бұрын
Ahh the music! Such wonderful memories...
@matthewsykes481410 жыл бұрын
The tape is Kapton, a high temp resistant material. Iwould do this to my PS3 as it's got the flashing red LOD but the cost of kit is fairly high for a one off job, it's okay of your doing this as a business or something similar
@BlaineMurphy11 жыл бұрын
It's cool to see this done with low cost stuff, it's definitely not a procedure for the feint of heart.
@digitalPimple12 жыл бұрын
what temp do you use to flow the balls to the chip when it's still in the blue bga tool?
@valveman1210 жыл бұрын
No just asked a question. Seems like a lot of work to change a processor. I only commented because I have never had a reason to do this. Just wanted to know why and why someone would take the time to do this. Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
@Tubesofthenorth12 жыл бұрын
Nice work pal... its defo the "Brain Surgery" of the laptop repair world!
@MrAmiga57 жыл бұрын
Pretty fancy process but not necessary. The heating up to a flow point is all that is required.
@CorporateEvolution11 жыл бұрын
I can't imagine myself attempting this these days. Maybe 10 years ago I would be up for it.
@blazetownsend878511 жыл бұрын
Those units have built in shut offs for when the unit's get tipped. Also they have limits on how hot they get. Those are likely disabled.
@valveman1210 жыл бұрын
Thank you for the response Henry. I hope I never have to do this cause it looks like a lot of work. I suspect most people probably throw the board away and get a new one since they may not have the experience (like me) to do this.
@Oitucrem11 жыл бұрын
The thermometer with the meter is actually a component that is purchasable for the model in question. For example, I use a FLUTE multimeter and have a temperature component like the one the Mr. Vedovati uses in his video.
@Kalvinjj12 жыл бұрын
You would be surprized to see how PCBs are made, even more how processors are made! Sure tou can damage a lot of things without care, but if you are experient (I am, but neither I ever tried this) you can make the repair without damaging other components. Being carefull and experient is the key, of course experience you get with time...
@JahanZeb197610 жыл бұрын
You are simply awesome. Great work. I wish, I must be smart enough like you and upload videos like you to my channel!
@ManosR3412 жыл бұрын
Unbeliveable !!!!! I 'm sure your are a doctor.Amazing!!!!
@TheStevenWhiting12 жыл бұрын
Should give the clients the video of the repair as well to show them how complicated it is so they'll stop moaning about the cost of repairs :)
@davemckiernan12 жыл бұрын
I've just set up my station and I tried this on an old motherboard. When I heat up the solder balls, with the stencil in place, the stencil warps by about 4mm and the solder balls can move out-of-place. How did you prevent the stencil from warping under heat from the air device?
@ZxRx712 жыл бұрын
Your patience makes me impatient!
@optmius9912 жыл бұрын
Wow this is crazy. I loved it, you must have steady hands and huge knowledge to do this. Its like brain surgery :)
@Kalvinjj12 жыл бұрын
Did that! Working! BTW, the computer I'm using right now! Can be temporary, but I realy don't have the stuff for reballing, neither the money... So, let's go for the oven.
@reaper57abvbg10 жыл бұрын
I am talking about theory! Practice is what matters! In school they don't teach you how to do things like this, they only teach you how things work, not how they break, or how to fix them, especially with homemade equipment!
@d3v201112 жыл бұрын
I found another just like that, a little bit cheaper actually, and it came with the solder balls, some flux, etc. everything needed besides the heat source.
@xxxkris4412 жыл бұрын
OMG...Amazing! Fascinating! I envy you dude, you have some crazy skills. Super cool stuff.
@ravi161712 жыл бұрын
Good removal ,for direct heat bg stencil 1st solder at least 3-4 corner balls with paste and blower then place the tencil
@crazycrak4127812 жыл бұрын
Mad props man. I always wanted to try doing this to a 360 or the HP DV series laptops. I replaced a few mobos in some HP's, but don't know if I would ever try this. Good Job.
@GedersonZeferinodaSilva11 жыл бұрын
Emanuele, un belissimo lavvoro, felicitacione, graccie per la tua idea. Perdonadme por mi mal hablado italiano,mis idiomas son Portugues y Español, saludos desde Brasil
@AMindInOverdrive10 жыл бұрын
Wow. That's some precision work there!
@Burnitnow56711 жыл бұрын
OMG that's an enormous amount of work..
@paulobarbosa85911 жыл бұрын
gostei muito desse vidio,isso nos mostra que quando temos vontade da para conserta qualquer coisa sem muitos equipamentos modernos que o mercado nos obriga o compra,com um simples soprador e um ferro de solda improvisado da sim para fazer um retrabalho na bga. obrigado
@tartarugagg6 жыл бұрын
Mi hai aperto un mondo amico :) bravissimo!!!
@rejakamal563711 жыл бұрын
very nice and useful post..plz keep it continue
@BeSushkin11 жыл бұрын
Nice UNREAL TOURNAMENT theme there on the background!
@sheltonation12 жыл бұрын
That's an awful lot of work but I'm itching to have that new equipment on hand. The other day I worked on one that the cpu was the cause of the problem and not the graphics chip. hp dv6000. I used some can aluminum and covered the seat that holds the chip, squirted some no-clean flux under from each side and hit it with a pen torch for a few and it worked like a charm!
@spbstan12 жыл бұрын
The stencil should be of a metal like stainless steel where the solder will not hold. So if the balls are sticking to the stencil, you did not get the chip itself hot enough to reflow the solder through the stencil and bond with the pads of the chip. The chip pad temperature needs to be high enough to melt the solder itself.
@gregham33087 жыл бұрын
Amazing ...very high-tech factory SMT soldering methods are mind-blowing. Repairing them is almost unthinkable. Nice to see when VLSI SMT is redone and saved. Usually, buying factory refurnished has me running away... this makes me think it could be OK. Question: Is is better to keep the stencil in place when heating, or to remove it. If there is enough flux paste to hold the balls, do techs remove it? Depends on how many pins? I got worried seeing the stencil removed and thinking it made a mess of the re-flow underneath. (sticking, distorting it etc) I guess solder sticking to the stencil is not a problem if it's stainless etc. Comments?
Пікірлер: 922
Great job. With whole computers and laptops being seen as replaceable field units nowadays, its cool when someone goes back to basics and does the tech work themselves. Great effort. I was kinda nervous that it wasn't gonna work with all that effort you put in.
@zviki68
9 жыл бұрын
Do you think that he will put the video on KZread if that thing will not work?
@Thatoneblackguy258
9 жыл бұрын
Zviki Would be a lesson in what not to do. Plus he already went through the trouble of getting the footage might as well.
@esplonky6502
9 жыл бұрын
Thatoneblackguy258 Zviki Also, he seems to know what he's doing
@zviki68
9 жыл бұрын
***** That's what I mean.
@needparalegal
7 жыл бұрын
considering solder balls are put on by precise machines I wouldn't be surprised if this was not the first attempt and it took many redos to get it to work. Especially considering the way he drops the chip onto the mobo, nothing precise there.
Good job. Ignore the haters. They do not realise an infrared BGA reworkstation costs thousands and the little men can't afford that. Improvisation as shown here is excellent.
@thingshappen9199
5 жыл бұрын
What is the big metal piece on top of the ship? I'm guessing is to melt the solder and remove the ship? But how is it transmitting heat to the ship?
@2ndrunraidshadowlegends631
5 жыл бұрын
Actually you can get the ir elements extremely cheap from Ali around £30 for a full set. Add a thermocouple or get a pid and hey presto bga rework for less then £100
@said-ge6bl
5 жыл бұрын
@@2ndrunraidshadowlegends631 Yeah, but years ago they have been more expensive.
@krnlg
3 жыл бұрын
@@thingshappen9199 Its a hot air gun :)
@mcac-youtube
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, the prices are lower, bur the work still is too hard to do.
Bonus points for the Unreal soundtrack
I have been in electronics a long long time but never attempted to reball. You are an expert to say the least, great video!!! I normally comment about people that don't talk during the videos but no words were needed in this one.
Holy BGA Batman! This is the most "ballsie", "hardcore" board level repair I've ever seen. More balls than a pachinko machine. I get stressed inserting a 48 pin DIP. I would have never believed it unless I saw it for myself. I'm not familiar with BGA's.. but I"m assuming (hoping) that there are little divots or half round impressions that the solder balls roll into. Otherwise I would have not clue how the balls were aligned. And then to visually place the chip onto the board, no guid.. Wow.. Good job. I wouldn't worry about cost vs time. IMHO just being able to do it brings its own rewards. This would certainly make any other rework seem like child's play. Have no fear comes to mind. I do wonder why it was replaced. The real magic may be in the fact you knew it was defective :O) Cheers! And keep it up!
@solidkarma9003
8 жыл бұрын
+OvalWingNut these dell models are legendary for it. i have the same right here. found it trashed full of thermal paste. it was literally everywhere. no joke. cleaned it though I thought about doing the reballing with a heatgun. ive seen vids where it worked. though I totally understand why these methods arent liked. how much does that professional kit cost anyway?
@dialupdavid
8 жыл бұрын
+Solid Karma For a full Professional Reballing station you're looking at well over ~$1000. Then tack on ESD safe / professional grade Irons and such and you're probably looking at the ~$1500 range. Of course, a single reball is in the neighborhood of ~$80 so it could repay itself in a month of work.
@Slixious
7 жыл бұрын
You use something called a stencil. I just bought a cheap set of them from China to hopefully cover most (if not all) possible sizes). Not an expert myself, but I've seen you can also use solder paste to do the job (they should ball up when heating up), although I'm go for the balls if possible. As for the guide (aligning the GPU to the board properly), I'd be very worried about getting that right.
OK, now lets declare BGA as crime against humanity... >.
Wow, Emanuele, I thought I was hard core doing basic SMD work at home... I bow to you... well done and I learned a lot...
Great work making this look easy. What no one has ever shown is how to remove the epoxy that holds the chip on a HP motherboard. I spent an hour digging it off then realize it got soft when it was heated. No one ever tells you that if you knock off any component from the laptop while the solder is heated, will kill the motherboard for sure. This job is not for impatient people My total equipment cost was around $200US for the SMD Rework Station, balls, stencil, flux and copper wick. No vice tho
Super mad skills. I personally would have scraped the laptop.
Great technique. But what exactly is homemade???? The store bought jig??? The store bought reballs them self??? Home made Vacuum pen???? Homemade no clean flux??? The make shift heater for pre heating I guess, But that's store bought as well. A hack, but still store bought. Kapton tape must be homemade then?????
@TehHijack
9 жыл бұрын
Don't be a wise ass. I think he meant DIY instead of home-made. Some people lack common sense.
@Gunchulis
9 жыл бұрын
I really hope you don't do any homemade projects... as based on your logic you would want to grow trees in your living room, mine ores and smelt them into bars, do some smithing to craft ur tools so u can say the project is 100% homemade.
@LALXLSKC
9 жыл бұрын
Your ugliness is homemade 100%
Man just wanna pay my deepest respect to you for taking the intuitive to do this shit. Realy man respect from Holland.
That is almost the entire Unreal Tournament 2000 soundtrack. Love that game!!! Fantastic job reballing.
unreal tournament music! great video!
@edwinrj
9 жыл бұрын
+Pablo Diaz yees !! haha me di cuenta tambien
@DudidumMusic
6 жыл бұрын
That's the best part of the video!
Thumbs up if Nvidia was the first thing that came to your mind.
@JackBandicootsBunker
6 жыл бұрын
More like HP laptops...
@marcobho747
6 жыл бұрын
Aspr aah the fucking geforce 8 series
@RoxGYT
3 жыл бұрын
@@marcobho747 I have litterally 3 motherboards with faulty 8400M GTs
DON'T KID YOURSELF. THERE IS NOTHING AMATEUR ABOUT THIS. GREAT VIDEO AND MUSIC!
Over 30 years and you still don't know why a reball is done! Wow you must be a real pro!
you call that homemade equipment .. maybe if you live in CHINA lmao
@AmethystSpeaks
8 жыл бұрын
+2012TheAndromeda "Common home" is not "low cost" or "home made".
@CodeAsm
8 жыл бұрын
+audisam You can get most of that for china prices if you look at Alixpress :P
@victorius2006
8 жыл бұрын
The only "home made" is the heater XDDDD
@randynewmanwillkilly
6 жыл бұрын
some of the commercial re-flowing equipment is like 15 grand or more dude.
@ncdave4life
6 жыл бұрын
I have all that stuff in my kitchen, don't you? E.g., the stencil is for cake decorating. Well, except the Q-tip. I don't keep that in the kitchen. That's in the bathroom. 😉
by noo means homemade - quite professional
This man has the patience of Job. I just don't think I have it in me to do such meticulous work. It's fun watching someone else do it, though (I feel similarly about household chores). :)
Very impressive! I'm just learning about BGA chips and they seem like a pain to work with. Wouldn't have thought so if I watched this first! I guess this is the "next level" in ICs after SMT ICs with the external legs.
Why didn't you put thermal paste on the GPU before reassembling?
@Slixious
7 жыл бұрын
It did say preliminary testing, so nothing is to say it wasn't done later on or even off camera.
The music is from unreal tournament 99.
@AbuGuroza
7 жыл бұрын
i was thought it from ace combat 3
@AndyLo79
7 жыл бұрын
They don't make memorable soundtracks like this any more. I recognized it right away!
Great skill to have, thank you for the video. Unfortunately we are living in a throw away society everything is broken we most throw away and buy a new one.
I have reflowed many of those. The first time I ever had that issue I found out about it. Reflowed it, then sold it. How much it would cost to have someone do this, vs selling the parts and buying a new system, doesn't make sense to me. But this video also helps show how to replace a by a chip, like say replacing that crappy AMD E-300 APU that's in my laptop. But for my time and money, another laptop is cheaper. Great video and and you have great patience.
reballing a dead chip is like installing windows without a windows key every month
@localit2890
7 жыл бұрын
But that's just it. the chip isn't always the problem, the problem is micro-fractures in the solder. Leadfree solder is more prone to get the fractures than lead based solder.
@randynewmanwillkilly
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah, we should fuck his shit up and make things like spare tires and fix-o-flat illegal.
Unreal music is good theme
Cant believe i watched someone really reball his graphics IC... Unbelievable!! Great work!
He's only dragging it over the CPU/GPU pads. It's not like he's dragging it all over the motherboard where the traces and such are. This is a must for cleaning pads like that anyway.
And then you discover you placed the IC backwards :-)
SINOVI, KAD OVO BUDETE ZNALI ONDA KAZITE DA ZNATE O KOMPIJUTERIMA
@ShakalJC
9 жыл бұрын
A neko ne zna da ocisti lap top od prasine xD
@zmuk3727
9 жыл бұрын
Ja znam. Na eBay-u ima tih kitova
I can't believe that great job, only for patient people. I'd like to have this skill.
Of course it works!, no reason why it wont last years. Just exactly same as the xbox RROD fix. Just ensure you have suitable cooling!. Excellent video,very thorough.
Considering this is so labor intensive, is there an advantage over just replacing the board?
@LizzyDaWizzy
10 жыл бұрын
Cost, once you have a little base of equipment, exchanging single parts becomes easier from day to day. Theres Laptops with everything on one single board, replacing this is fairly cost intensive. Imagine a broken video card in the 1000USD price range with no warranty left, what would you do? Replace it or repair an IC thats obviously broken. This is just alot more cost effective.
@eastcoastcomputer
10 жыл бұрын
LizzyDaWizzy I replace about 3 - 5 laptop motherboards a year. Considering the cost of around $100-200 on the low end laptops, and I have to go through the effort of removing them, I see no point in reballing.
@ShinIkari
10 жыл бұрын
eastcoastcomputer And what about mid to hi end ones? Around 500$ for a board, while reballing is 50-80. A bit over 100$ if you replace the chip
@eastcoastcomputer
10 жыл бұрын
I would think that a $500 board would be better constructed.
@LizzyDaWizzy
10 жыл бұрын
eastcoastcomputer Anything can break obviously.
Balls are leaded or leaded free?
@EmanueleVedovati
10 жыл бұрын
leaded ;)
@frankymanky322
8 жыл бұрын
+Emanuele Vedovati Here due to MS just loving lead free! Wrrryyyyyy!?
@yuhongliu9099
8 жыл бұрын
Must be leaded, reflowing at 200C.
That's some good clean work! Most hacks just put the board in a stove we call them shake and bakes there garbage. Your system is very nice the only thing is for all that work I think I'd have put a new chip in instead of just cleaning the old one. That way if you use a good thermal paste you know it's gonna last atleast two years before you have to crack the case again.
thanks for helping me confirm that there is a lot more to this that a hair dryer, tapping on the top of the gpu, and a little patience
Cile
@mihajlomirkovic7658
9 жыл бұрын
Hahah da :D
@mihajlomirkovic7658
9 жыл бұрын
Hahaha :D
@cls9705
9 жыл бұрын
Juhu!!!Nista bez Cika Cileta :D XD
@user-jk9ho8ol9i
9 жыл бұрын
Cile mu nabio preglede haha :D
@DirExxVM
9 жыл бұрын
Veljko Markovic Nabio mu preglede a cile ima 19.224 gledaoca ,a pola od njih nisu usli na link.. znaci max gledaoca sto mu je Cile "nabio" 10.000 do 15.000
this vidio is boring but my dad likes it
Right, I was mainly pointing out that reflowing isn't always reliable; reballing will work for a considerable while longer if not indefinitely. Package replacement to a better revision (in the case of the notorious NVidia 8500M) can also be a solution. Some failures doe to the ball flexing that you mentioned are due to poor internal package layout and material choices on the manufacturer's part. Sometimes newer revisions of the package address the underlying issues that lead to failure.
I was very impressed; being a former game repair center manager, the company I worked for would've never sprung for the equiptment that I needed to do a great job like you did. Thinking of investing in my own tools, I already have an infra-red toaster oven that I do minor repairs in, but going that extra mile seems to be the route that I have to take and why not do it properly.
All this hassle, id buy a new laptop!
@healthpointmauritius2619
9 жыл бұрын
It's worth the effort. What would you chose ? Spend 80 to 160 used for a kit or get same problems with a new laptop after 5 years? Most laptops get same problem with time as heat wears out the platine conductor on the board so it's a good investment as all laptops come with that tech so kit is useful for all laptops and less money wasting
@josefaschwanden1502
4 жыл бұрын
@@healthpointmauritius2619 never had a laptop wich needed reballing
thats skill
You could repair all of the OKYO/INTEGRA home theater receivers around the world by doing this on their HDMI defective boards... God bless you!
Reball is the way to go guys and girls. and NO reflow doesnt do the same thing. See what your missing is when you reball the NEW type solder can handle MUCH geater temps. Allowing the system to be ok running at the hotter temp. (Just like they should have done from the Manufacturer) nice work for home made.
"low cost & home made"??... quien no tiene en casa un soldador de aire caliente y un porta plantillas para colocar las bolitas de estaño?, jajajaja... Lo único casero de todo el vídeo es lo de la estufa, el resto de casero y bajo costo no tiene NADA (que tampoco es que digamos que es caro, pero tampoco es lowcost)
@abrahamreyes861
3 жыл бұрын
Es que no sé si pidió un reballing kit de China la verdad no se en cuánto le salió digo si te vas a dedicar a eso vale la pena la inversión pero para un solo dispositivo a menos de que haya sido super costoso no vale la pena y luego qué tal si no era el chip y era un capacitor o qué se yo, con piezas tan diminutas.
Ajmo like ko je ovde zbog cileta :D
i have no idea what you're doing but i can't stop watching
Really phenomenal job. Cannot deny the skills.
Even tough the technician is very skillful and its repair successful is not in a home enviroment or home workshop. He uses tools that I guess are not even home tools. Like the plastic vise to work on the IC. Also the tape is special since it has that copper color. Neither he does explain what elements he uses on the IC like the "balls" that I clearly deduct that are soldering metal in tiny balls presentation. And finally one can see clearly that that is sophisticated repair place. It's not a home environment and doesn't even say why the laptop needs the repair.
@fretl3ss
10 жыл бұрын
The vise is not neccessary, it makes your life easier but not neccesary. The yellow tape is kapton (heat resistant tape) and for any electronics hobbyist its a must-have. The balls are solder metal that you can purchase in any shop that sells electronics hobby stuff. The hot air station can be purchased of ebay for as low as $60. Surely this isn't stuff for the average joe, rather an average electronics hobbyist.
@Project737NGX
10 жыл бұрын
Everything he is using is what electronic hobbyist have in their shop except the IC holder and I am sure you could get one of those on eBay, yep, here is one for $62 www.ebay.com/itm/like/121256139411?lpid=82. As for the reason the machine needed repair, does not matter because the demo was to show his MAD SKILLS at reballing not troubleshooting. Regards, Electronic Tech for 28 years
@Miducuast
10 жыл бұрын
fretl3ss I agree man. For what I can see at the video he's a computer repair shop. Most likely a service place where one sends laptops to be repaired on warranty.
@Miducuast
10 жыл бұрын
***** Awsome info, man!!! Yet what I critized is that he posted it as home video when it's made at computer repair shop. At least I know where to get the IC holder!!! Again thanks fro the info!!!
@Miducuast
10 жыл бұрын
fretl3ss And before I forget, thanks for the info. I might get that tape!! :)
Unreal Tournament music lol
Wow that is beyond amazing, anybody who has successfully ever reballed one motherboard will buy this guy happily several Beers/coffee/whatever :) If you ever come to Melbourne mate feel free to reply here and I will keep up on that promise. What is your success rate and how many have you re-balled?
once you do a few reballs you can get them done in under 20 mins with a fully automated rework station. Five to remove the chip 10 preparing the board and chip for it. Also would recommend a new tip something flat like a chisel and go row by row. dont drag the desoldering wick as you can damage the board. Also save yourself so much time get a stencilthat fits without taping and you just dump extra solder balls off back into the jar, i felt sorry for you pick all those .6mm by hand at least they looked about that size based on the chip. Good luck your doing alot of extra work that one five dollar piece would save you hours.
reballing to fix the gpu, is pure, fucking, bullshit
7 жыл бұрын
YEah, it worked that week, but just that week.
@randynewmanwillkilly
6 жыл бұрын
yeah but reballing to fix fucked up solder balls isn't.
This does work, a couple of things you got to keep in mind though. What you did was remelt the soldier points, but probably improperly. The soldier points will get crystallized if you partially melt them. This causes 2 things: 1. Early failure of the soldier (which means it will fail again sooner rather then later) 2. Will cause soldier to require HIGHER temps to melt. Eventually too hot for the components to survive. Take steps before it gets like that. DID my PS3 too. :)
Wow, impressive. Some real precision work. Very cool music too, made the video even better.
*Reflowing only works for a short period of time. Replacing the balls sometimes helps because the solder that is already on the unit becomes brittle and cracks when the boards flex. Just heating the board will help, but it's not a sure fix, not even a reball is sometimes as the underlying problem is a poorly designed package for heat dispersion. Both reballing and reflowing will reconnect those lost connections (reballing for a longer period usually) but neither will fix a bad package design.
The most amazing and professional video i had ever seen
Unreal Tournament soundtrack ! :)) old good times...
Hermoso video, he visto varios de reballing pero este, es como dicen en mi pueblo lo hiciste de manera artesanal.
In reality the work is not difficult, it is tedious without proper tools, but manageable. I'd consider this more of a temporary solution, alleviating issues that a full re-ball would fix.
I HAD A FEELING THAT THE MUSIC IS FROM UNREAL TOURNAMENT , I WAS RIGHT
Right, that is why I put alogen in quotes. It's an obvious typo for halogen. On the Chinese import sites they sell a halogen bbq that looks almost identical to this one, and it sells for $96. He called it a stove not a room heater, but sometimes things get lost in translation, so I guess it could be either. I would like to try this, and need to keep costs down so I will look for a $25 room heater. Thanks for the tip!
thank you for sharing this clearly not for the average pc enthusiast still a very good alternative .
Woooow you have big balls to do that !
@SianaGearz
7 жыл бұрын
Tiny balls. Hundreds, sometimes more than a thousand tiny balls per chip.
no metter what tools he use,with knowlege and chines hands he show perfect work,its art
So the computer is running again, so you can install windows 7 and disable the timelapse Thanks for this,good job!
Ahh the music! Such wonderful memories...
The tape is Kapton, a high temp resistant material. Iwould do this to my PS3 as it's got the flashing red LOD but the cost of kit is fairly high for a one off job, it's okay of your doing this as a business or something similar
It's cool to see this done with low cost stuff, it's definitely not a procedure for the feint of heart.
what temp do you use to flow the balls to the chip when it's still in the blue bga tool?
No just asked a question. Seems like a lot of work to change a processor. I only commented because I have never had a reason to do this. Just wanted to know why and why someone would take the time to do this. Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
Nice work pal... its defo the "Brain Surgery" of the laptop repair world!
Pretty fancy process but not necessary. The heating up to a flow point is all that is required.
I can't imagine myself attempting this these days. Maybe 10 years ago I would be up for it.
Those units have built in shut offs for when the unit's get tipped. Also they have limits on how hot they get. Those are likely disabled.
Thank you for the response Henry. I hope I never have to do this cause it looks like a lot of work. I suspect most people probably throw the board away and get a new one since they may not have the experience (like me) to do this.
The thermometer with the meter is actually a component that is purchasable for the model in question. For example, I use a FLUTE multimeter and have a temperature component like the one the Mr. Vedovati uses in his video.
You would be surprized to see how PCBs are made, even more how processors are made! Sure tou can damage a lot of things without care, but if you are experient (I am, but neither I ever tried this) you can make the repair without damaging other components. Being carefull and experient is the key, of course experience you get with time...
You are simply awesome. Great work. I wish, I must be smart enough like you and upload videos like you to my channel!
Unbeliveable !!!!! I 'm sure your are a doctor.Amazing!!!!
Should give the clients the video of the repair as well to show them how complicated it is so they'll stop moaning about the cost of repairs :)
I've just set up my station and I tried this on an old motherboard. When I heat up the solder balls, with the stencil in place, the stencil warps by about 4mm and the solder balls can move out-of-place. How did you prevent the stencil from warping under heat from the air device?
Your patience makes me impatient!
Wow this is crazy. I loved it, you must have steady hands and huge knowledge to do this. Its like brain surgery :)
Did that! Working! BTW, the computer I'm using right now! Can be temporary, but I realy don't have the stuff for reballing, neither the money... So, let's go for the oven.
I am talking about theory! Practice is what matters! In school they don't teach you how to do things like this, they only teach you how things work, not how they break, or how to fix them, especially with homemade equipment!
I found another just like that, a little bit cheaper actually, and it came with the solder balls, some flux, etc. everything needed besides the heat source.
OMG...Amazing! Fascinating! I envy you dude, you have some crazy skills. Super cool stuff.
Good removal ,for direct heat bg stencil 1st solder at least 3-4 corner balls with paste and blower then place the tencil
Mad props man. I always wanted to try doing this to a 360 or the HP DV series laptops. I replaced a few mobos in some HP's, but don't know if I would ever try this. Good Job.
Emanuele, un belissimo lavvoro, felicitacione, graccie per la tua idea. Perdonadme por mi mal hablado italiano,mis idiomas son Portugues y Español, saludos desde Brasil
Wow. That's some precision work there!
OMG that's an enormous amount of work..
gostei muito desse vidio,isso nos mostra que quando temos vontade da para conserta qualquer coisa sem muitos equipamentos modernos que o mercado nos obriga o compra,com um simples soprador e um ferro de solda improvisado da sim para fazer um retrabalho na bga. obrigado
Mi hai aperto un mondo amico :) bravissimo!!!
very nice and useful post..plz keep it continue
Nice UNREAL TOURNAMENT theme there on the background!
That's an awful lot of work but I'm itching to have that new equipment on hand. The other day I worked on one that the cpu was the cause of the problem and not the graphics chip. hp dv6000. I used some can aluminum and covered the seat that holds the chip, squirted some no-clean flux under from each side and hit it with a pen torch for a few and it worked like a charm!
The stencil should be of a metal like stainless steel where the solder will not hold. So if the balls are sticking to the stencil, you did not get the chip itself hot enough to reflow the solder through the stencil and bond with the pads of the chip. The chip pad temperature needs to be high enough to melt the solder itself.
Amazing ...very high-tech factory SMT soldering methods are mind-blowing. Repairing them is almost unthinkable. Nice to see when VLSI SMT is redone and saved. Usually, buying factory refurnished has me running away... this makes me think it could be OK. Question: Is is better to keep the stencil in place when heating, or to remove it. If there is enough flux paste to hold the balls, do techs remove it? Depends on how many pins? I got worried seeing the stencil removed and thinking it made a mess of the re-flow underneath. (sticking, distorting it etc) I guess solder sticking to the stencil is not a problem if it's stainless etc. Comments?