Picked a hot air station over an iron for a stubborn iPhone flex cable repair.

Went with the hot air after the iron kept lifting pads on the second try, got the flex seated in under 90 seconds and the phone booted perfectly first time - has anyone else found hot air works better for micro-soldering on those thin iPhone cables?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph_adams662mo ago

Hot air is the way to go for those tiny iPhone flex cables. Iron just torches the pads too easy. Learned that the hard way after killing a charge port flex. Hot air lets you work the cable into place without direct contact. Way less chance of lifting pads.

anthonymurray2mo ago

Joseph, you might be onto something. I was dead set on using my iron for those tiny flex cables, thought hot air was just for bigger stuff. But after trashing a few pads on a lightning port connector last week, I'm starting to see your point. Getting the cable seated with hot air before it cools sounds way gentler than poking at it with a hot tip. You using any specific temp or just low and slow?

murray.spencer1mo ago

Man I feel you on that. I trashed a whole bunch of pads on a screen flex cable last month with my iron and it made me want to throw my whole setup out the window. @anthonymurray is right, hot air is the only way for those tiny cables. I was using 280C on low flow and just gently waving it over the joint while nudging the cable into place with a tweezers. The iron just pushes too hard and those pads are basically glued on with hopes and dreams. I'm never going back to the iron for that kind of work, it's too risky.