Rant: a retired tech at the Seattle flea market said my solder joints were too shiny and he was right

Noah Campbell · 2026-10-17T13:20:02.89487+00:00

I spent two weekends recapping the power board on a 1989 Macintosh SE and proudly showed it off to a retired bench tech at the Seattle flea market, and he poked at one joint and said "you're running that iron too cold, they should be smooth and dull like a pebble, not shiny blobs." Turned out my 25 watt iron never got hot enough for the bigger ground pads, so I bumped to a 40 watt with a chisel tip and reflowed all 14 joints. Has anyone else had a joint that looked fine but failed a year later because the heat never sank in?

HW Forums

Loading…

Rant: a retired tech at the Seattle flea market said my solder joints were too shiny and he was right | Ancient Tech Fixers - HW Forums