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Where’s the “Neither is difficult with a little practice and patience” option?
Just curious if I am the only one who finds soldering impossible, I can easily reflow LEDs though. (As evidenced by this)
Notice the horrible soldering.
Added an option just for you. ;)
Two votes for the newly added option already! Going to guess it’s texaspyro 
Is it about putting an emitter on the MCPCB or SinkPAD?
I want to know myself what is the recommended way for moving a Cree from one board to another.
As I see it, the emitter needs to get attached on both sides and even below it so soldering it is not an option, plus the board takes tons of heat so it’s hard to solder to.
The only way IMHO is to heat up the board and let the emitter drop into place when the solder melts.
Soldering is easy, just need a soldering iron.
Reflowing? Need a machine for it, or a home made oven, etc.
Or go ghetto and heat up the board by other means, soldering iron underneath, torch, hot air, cooker, …
Well, I have to say that I can do both pretty well with the right equipment. But soldering can be harder without the proper tools while reflowing is much more trivial. For reflowing you can use ceramic cooktop, butane torch, soldering iron.. for soldering, you need a soldering iron/station. And those can be too weak sometimes.
@JackCY: Soldering is an option. PilotPTK has made a great video on that, just wait for him to post it. :P
I just place the board on top of my stove, let it heat up, put a dab of solder on the pads (until the thermal vias are full) and then plop it down with tweezers.
It isn’t?
PilotPTK has gotten so good at this, that he no longer needs an iron or solder.
Some of us can only solder copper water pipes, LOL.
I've been soldering for 40 + years. Most of that time professionally, it's part of my job..Just started reflowing though and I have it pretty much down, but I wouldn't call myself a pro at it just yet
Not tried reflowing yet, but I don’t think I’m too bad at soldering, I certainly found I worried about stacking/adding 7135’s far more than necessary, and I just use a cheapo 40w iron that has to be unplugged every once in a while to let the handle cool down….
I just watched the vid in that link on reflowing/soldering and have to say wow very nice! almost makes me not want to even try to do it. btw is this decent solder ?
’Twasn’t me then… but it is now… I’m perfect. Everything I do is perfect. I never mess up. Never have, never will. No way. Trust me. J)
BTW, I have this rather pretty bridge for sale. Any takers?
Yep, it’s actually very decent if it’s really ALPHA. Alpha is a premium solder brand, and 63/37 No-Clean is the perfect alloy and flux-core for what we do…
PPtk
Bridge? Yeah? I Love Bridges. How Much? Where?
I couldn’t solder wires to save my life, but at least I could manage that. Lol
I was having a hard time reflow soldering with SnAg solder paste. The high thermal conductivity made it appealing, but either the traces/components would get burnt from too much heat, or the solder paste wouldn’t flow out all the way.
A simple Arduino controlled toaster oven makes it so much easier. I can’t say either one is more difficult. Just gotta have the right equipment.
I’m semi-ok at soldering. I do have a pretty okay weller soldering station with multiple tips, but I’ve never tried reflowing yet.
I’ve got one in Brooklyn and and hum-doozey in San Francisco. If you have to ask how much, you can’t afford them.