How to NOT destroy your board with a solder pot

[notneb]

Um... don't ya hate it when people make things look soooo simple... Bought a solder pot, dipped my newly populated board in the flux, then floated on the solder bath for about 3 seconds, just like the guy on youtube, and came out with every square mm of copper coated with silver chewing gum. Re-floated, thinking maybe this might help, for another 3 seconds and the copper traces peeled off and the board is now blank. grrr I turned up the heat a bit (so I thought) on the second pass which would explain the traces pulling off, but why the thick solder on all the traces?
   So, any clues?

[bloxstompboxes]

I believe you need a solder mask to avoid all the copper from being coated with solder. Either way, if the copper is covered in solder, what's the problem? It's protected then. Unless you have bridging every where or did not etch the board yet?

We need a picture or more information to go on.

[amptramp]

Wherever I have seen a solder pot, it has been used to tin component leads before soldering.  I have never seen it used to float a board.  There are wave solder machines to do that but they are generally used with FR-4 fibreglass boards that can tolerate the heat and the time in the wave is strictly limited.  It would be interesting to see if you could glue the traces back on the board where they are supposed to go once you get the excess solder off.

[bloxstompboxes]

The rework team here has an airvac or solder pot that they use to remove boards that are soldered to each other but not to solder them together. I have heard that it is possible to do such a thing though. Otherwise, we have solderwaves and select solders depending on the product.

[deadastronaut]

just like the guy on youtube,

ive got to see this...wheres the vid?

[PRR]

Solder pots are very dangerous.

Solder pots are NOT "fine craftsmanship".

And as you found, you can burn-up a lot of material while tuning-up the process.

[LightSoundGeometry]

I had my 1st breadboard fire today in lab ..nothing like the smell of carbon in the morning

[J0K3RX]

Solder pots are not meant to be used as a WAVE solder system... They don't employ convection preheat or anything.  If you want to make matters worse use a DIY etched board with no masking and watch your copper slide off into the bath. Wave systems are meticulously controlled every step of the way by very accurate computer systems that are programmed specifically for each job/pcb type etc.. Solder pots are used primarily to tin wires and remove large through hole parts form PCB's and normally that is done in a few seconds with the operator wearing eye protection, heavy clothing and a pair of heat resistant thermal gloves. This ain't your mama's fondue pot man! 

[J0K3RX]

I had my 1st breadboard fire today in lab ..nothing like the smell of carbon in the morning

Yer funny!! LMAO

[notneb]

Here'sone.  This isn't the original I watched and the traces are huge but same idea.
https://youtu.be/YkC_Oc1Wpq8

[LightSoundGeometry]

I had my 1st breadboard fire today in lab ..nothing like the smell of carbon in the morning

Yer funny!! LMAO

I wasnt the only one though, another kid had his resistor pop/blow up, I got mine little fire put out right away haah!!  ..I am not used to the larger voltages above 9vdc lol

[Keppy]

Here'sone.  This isn't the original I watched and the traces are huge but same idea.
https://youtu.be/YkC_Oc1Wpq8

1. The guy in this video is barehanded.
2. His PCB is indeed masked.
3. He appears to have solder paste on his pads (or at least pre-tinned pads).
4. He ends up with a few sketchy-looking joints anyway.
5. Even the good joints will suffer strain when the leads are clipped off.

Not trying to discourage the OP, but I don't find this guy's process or results encouraging for the way most of us here build things (no mask, has to hold up to repeated stomping).

For the OP, since you're already on this path, I think the solder mask and tinned (or pasted) pads will be key to this process. I'm not speaking from experience, though, just my thoughts from watching the video.

[hymenoptera]

I'm wondering how much of the "chewing gum" was cruddy oxides or other contaminates.

Clean, well melted solder should not clump up.

Speaking of unusual techniques, check this guy out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS62rik7eWA

I might have to try that out sometime, haha!

[cloudscapes]

Here'sone.  This isn't the original I watched and the traces are huge but same idea.
https://youtu.be/YkC_Oc1Wpq8

The PCBs in the video also have solder masks, which you kind of need for wave soldering, or any kind of soldering that isn't hand-done.

Prefabbed PCBs usually come with solder masks. This is not really something you can do with home-etched PCBs. At least not without tons of headaches.

[notneb]

Yeah, I noticed the guy was taking his life (or at least his appendages) in his hands by not taking some safety precautions. I can't find the friggin video I was looking for but again, it was the same idea. I've been soldering normally but just thought to give this a try... not thinking it's going very far.
   How does the solder mask you guys are talking about work?

[bloxstompboxes]

It's a professionally done process done by fab houses. I don't know that it's something that can be easily done by the diy'er. I would suspect it is not since no one here does it. You can order boards of your own design and have them fabricated with a mask if you want. There are numerous threads here about it.

[petey twofinger]

http://tinyurl.com/o7teanu

sorry .

[hymenoptera]

Well, I know what I'm making for dinner tonight.

I just have to remember to use the fondue pot, and not the solder pot.

[notneb]

So wait... if I use cheese...

[hymenoptera]

Doesn't stick as much as chewing gum.