Soldering to tiny pads?

Ok, you got your soldering iron and nothing is going to hold you back, but you have no clue where to start or what to build. There were others before you with the same questions... read them first.
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Hides-His-Eyes
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Post by Hides-His-Eyes »

Had my first ever boards fabbed, wasn't expecting them to be perfect but one mistake I did make was to make the pads too small. The hole sizes are pretty much exactly the lead diameter (fair enough) but the pads for soldering to are so small I don't think I have any tips that can even touch them with the leg in there.

Which is worse: heating the leg as much as I can and hoping it heads through to the pad (they're plated through), or using molten solder to heat the pad and removing the excess when necessary?
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blackbunny
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Post by blackbunny »

You could try soldering a resistor from the pad / bottom side first, then flip it over and solder the other leg of that resistor from the top side. I would then go for whichever way is faster for the other resistors, and just try to keep it as neat as possible.

Melting a little solder onto a clean tip just before it contacts the component leg should help the joint flow well and quickly.

You don't want to keep the heat on the component leg for too long - you want the sloder to flow almost instantly.

Good luck!
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