Tried hot-air rework on a stubborn HDMI port, ended up melting a nearby capacitor

I was fixing a PS4 with a loose HDMI port last night, figured I'd use hot air at 350C for 10 seconds to remove it. Problem is, I didn't mask off a row of tiny capacitors near the port, and one of them just popped off the board. Has anyone else ruined a board component doing this and found a good way to protect those small parts?

3 comments

3 Comments

olivermason10d ago

Ouch, that capacitor pop is painful. We've all been there with hot air.

quinn1619d ago

I read a writeup somewhere that said hot air rework is basically controlled destruction and that stuck with me. You're just one wrong angle away from lifting a pad or turning a component into slag. I had a buddy who tried to fix an old GPU and ended up melting the plastic on the PCIe slot next to it because he wasn't paying attention. The smell alone is enough to make you reconsider your life choices.

emmaking9d ago

That controlled chaos thing applies to way more than just soldering honestly.