Thursday, July 2, 2009

My Glamorous Job

I know the picture isn’t very clear. I took it with my cell phone. This is a circuit board out of one of the cameras the reporters use here at work. It has some problems I am trying to fix. One of the problems is an IC s has about 6 legs that lifted. The legs are so tiny and close together that I have a heck of a time re-soldering them down. This picture doesn’t really show how small everything is. But all the components on the board are surface mounted. I don’t have the proper equipment to do surface mount soldering. I sure wish I did. I use my smallest tip, and it is still too big.


Another problem is seeing the tiny things clearly. The leads on the ICs are less than a millimeter apart. My eyes just don’t go that small. So I have been trying to repair this board wearing 2 pairs of reading glasses at once, plus using my light that has a magnifying glass in the center at the same time. It is still not good enough, partly because I have to use one hand to hold the magnifying glass where I need it, and that only leaves one hand for soldering. It just wasn’t working.


I finally gave up and borrowed a co-workers weird glasses thing that straps to your head. They sure look silly! But at least I could see fairly well, and I still had my hands free. Besides, I’m sure I looked silly wearing 2 pairs of reading glasses anyway. One of my co-workers thought I looked pretty funny, so he graciously took a picture of me so I could share it with the world. Don't look too closly at the glass on the head thing. From this angle, it shows my nose extra wide, with a huge nostril. Nice.
If you are interested in seeing how surface mounted soldering is supposed to be done, Here is a link to someone who has the know how and the equipment to do the job right. I wish I had the equipment and the experience he has for this repair. I think my head might hurt less. Surface Mount Soldering

6 comments:

Traci said...

so that is what you do! interesting for sure!!!

Tracy Beckett said...

Katrina, I'm impressed! My husband has been working on a circuit board for our air conditioner that went out the other night; I knew NOTHING to help him. Now you're making me look bad...

You are a smart lady! Good job working hard.

erika said...

Thanks for sharing~
It is so fun to so what you do.

Tiff Alaine said...

Hehe, Aunt Katrina that is a pretty funny picture of you, sorry. :D
Love you!

Sondra said...

Ha ha ha! I love it! You are a big nerd! So that proves that you are my sister!

But you are obviously a smart, talented, and wonderful nerd. I'm glad that you got a picture. I wouldn't have noticed your big nostril so thanks for pointing that out.

val said...

I love the pictures! And, wow, you are a smarty! Hey, did I hear you had a special visitor at work the other day?????