Hoping to get some tips and tricks on soldering drivers into pills. Mostly been working with McGizmo pills for now and a couple Convoys. H17FX and MTN15dd drivers. I’ve fried a few drivers from overheating trying to get the solder to bond to the pill. Been using a good iron, good Kester rosin wire, tried different types of flux. My success rate is definitely lower than it should be. So any help or tips appreciated. Seems my biggest issue is getting the solder bonding to the pill and getting a good ground.
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I’ve had great luck soldering/desoldering drivers from S2+ pills with a crap iron, so it is somewhat surprising to hear such issues.
- What’s the material of the pill? Brass or copper or a metal that doesn’t bond well to solder?
- Did you pre-tin the driver contact and the pill site separately, before attempting to solder them together?
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Following as im about to try it for the first time when my bits arrive.
Cpmfused because i didnt realise the driver itself is soldered to the pill/shelf?
I though it was held by retaining ring and only the mcpcb only uses thermal paste for heat conduction.
Obviously i need to dl more learning…
I’ve used copper and brass and have some aluminum pills I haven’t messed with yet. I have not pre tinned the pill.
Copper and brass pills are great, but you won’t be able to solder to aluminum at all.
The advantage of pre-tinning the pill is that you do it separately and therefore don’t overheat the driver. Once your soldering surfaces are pre-tinned, you can spend a lot less time soldering them together.
Most mcpcbs are held in place with just the thermal pastes. Some have tiny screws like Reylights. Some drivers like the S2 I just built do have a retaining ring to hold the driver in but with my H17fx it didn’t work properly to give good ground and I had to solder it.
If the stock S2+ retaining ring should work but doesn’t, try the extra-thin retaining rings, which are designed specifically for drivers that are overcrowded with components and don’t work with the usual rings.
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Ahh… i see. Its the dr jones thats the issue. Less clearance for the ring… thus the solder. 
I was thinking for my case with the convoy driver. A tiny drop of CA glue on the retaining ring woukd be able to prevent it coming loose. Extrra insurance. Maybe even some thermal paste on the pill threads.
I’ve never had a driver retaining ring come loose, once I tightened it appropriately. They tend to be stuck rather than loose!
The only instance of a loose retaining ring I encountered was a tailcap retaining ring, which came loose because the plastic washer underneath (for the lighted switch) cracked and gave in. With a metal washer and non-lighted switch (or laser-cut acrylic washers I made), this does not happen.
In any case, if the issue is truly a clearance issue, the thin ring linked above should solve it.
No idea those existed. Thank you!
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Pre-tin both the pill and driver ground ring separately before joining - makes a huge difference. Sand the pill contact area until shiny first.
Use more heat, not less. The pill mass sinks heat like crazy, so you need high wattage to get in/out fast. Heat the pill itself, not the driver.
Flux liberally. Solder just 2-3 spots around the ground ring instead of trying to flow all the way around.
If you keep frying drivers, try thermal adhesive for ground and only solder the positive wire. Not ideal but it works.
The trick is really just getting good tinning on both surfaces first, then quick hot joining beats slow low-temp attempts every time.
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What temp on the pill?
Not the intended recipient, but whatever temp that allows solder to stick nicely to it (assuming copper or brass pill). There’s no single fixed number and it depends on stuff like quality of iron, quality of thermal path, ambient temperature, etc.
Ok be gentle please I’m learning. I pre-tinned an E series pill for practice and it was not easy but finally made it work. The pill got really hot. I tried to get in and out as quick as possible with my iron at 400c but the pill just absorbs so much of the heat it was hard to get a solid bond. I’m also wondering how others pre tin their pills because obviously I’m not getting a 15mm driver in place on the shelf with my solder blocking it like that.
Tips?
The purpose of pre-tinning a part is not to deposit enough tin for the soldering, but to just wet/coat the surface to enable easy bonding to tin in the future. Tin melts very well onto a surface coated with tin.
My tip would be less tin, more flux; the latter might also lower the temp needed to get it done. I don’t have a temperature-controlled iron, but suspect that you can get away with higher than 400C.
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So I bet once I soak this up with wick it would be good to go.
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I remembered this thread by @Lexel from a few years and thought you might find some tips in there.
Check out this particular **post from one of BLF’s best modders, @Tom_E.
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Thanx!
Glad you’re alive Tom 
Hope you’re well and Happy Holidays! 
Thank you for this! I just skimmed the whole thread and will read it more thoroughly when I have more time and not on my phone. Good stuff! I’ve been getting a lot of conflicting information on heat. Go hotter. You’re going to hot. 300c. No 450c. It’s so confusing. Really the only trouble I’m having is getting my drivers safely soldered to my pills (e-series McGizmo type) so they have good ground and aren’t loose. The pill just won’t take the solder well. Pre tinning one is my next step. In fact it’s already pre tinned. Just waiting for my new batch of drivers to arrive. I fried like 4 or 5 already from to much heat trying to get them secured.
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