Board Level Soldering of the Atari

I have preformed many board level soldering. First thing you should know is the tools you should never use on a Atari System Board. If you have never soldered DO NOT LET Your Atari to be your first project. If you want to learn how to solder get someone in your local community to teach you.

Never Use:

Solder Gun!

Solder Wick

Soldering Irons 25 watt or larger.

Tools to Use

Soldering Iron 15 to 25 watts with temperature control.

Temperature Controlled Soldering Iron with small tip.

Temperature Controlled Desoldering Station

The right size and type of soldering equipment makes working on Atari Computer Equipment a lot easier.

Using the wrong soldering tools can cause damage to your system board that can not be repaired. Building Ramdisks, and other hardware modifications is one thing we can do to our Atari Equipment. I have lost count of all the really cool hardware upgrades that have come out in the last 15 years. Through software and hardware we are able to do things that could not have been done in the 1990's because the chips did not even exist. But if you do not take real care in upgrading the Atari Equipment you may not be able to recover from damage done. If you do not have the skills to do board level soldering take the time to learn or do a little research in finding a qualified Technician.

Over the years I have gathered a large tool box of Micro equipment. I will give one tip when working on Atari Mother boards. Have someone who works on Atari Equipment teach you how to solder.

Here is a picture of my Micro Tools!

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