Micro-Soldering: An Interview with a Certified Technician

Please meet our very own Chandler Hight, a board-level certified technician and, well, a self-proclaimed micro-soldering guru. We thought it would be cool to sit down with Chandler and talk with him about the world of micro-soldering and why it’s such a great thing.

PEDAL FORWARD BLOG:

First of all, what is micro-soldering?

CHANDLER:

Micro soldering is the soldering of things so small you can only see them with a microscope. These tiny, unseen components are what make your device work and even one bad or broken component can make your device stop working.

PEDAL FORWARD BLOG:

How did you get into micro-soldering?

CHANDLER:

I got tired of spending extra money to replace boards or paying someone else to fix them for us. I started by tinkering around on broken stuff and just went from there. I figured if the device was already broken, I wasn’t going to make it much worse. By trying things out, I’d at least learn and maybe even fix it in the process. 

PEDAL FORWARD BLOG:

Tell us more about the certification process? What did you have to do to get certified?

CHANDLER:

I’m not sure if there is official,device micro-soldering certification yet, but I have received specialized training. I recently attended a multi-day training session from some leaders in the industry and it taught me a lot. I had a good knowledge base going in to it, but the things I learned some specific techniques that really made me better. For me, the actual micro-soldering is the easy part. It’s diagnostics and deciding what needs to be replaced that is the hard part.

PEDAL FORWARD BLOG:

OK, so in the device repair world, why does micro-soldering matter to the school systems and companies you work with?

CHANDLER: 

Well, there are 4 main ways micro-soldering can help: 

1. Cut cost by fixing boards instead of replacing them.

       2. Reduces e-waste by fixing things instead of throwing away the devices.

       3. Recover important data and information from a damaged device that could be crucial to your business operation, especially if it wasn’t backed up.

       4. Micro-soldering can sometimes result in a quicker turnaround time vs. having to wait days for a specific part.

PEDAL FORWARD BLOG:

Finally, why is micro-soldering spelled the way it is? Shouldn’t it just be spelled S-O-D-D-E-R-I-N-G? What’s up with that?

CHANDLER: 

Geez, whatever. I just do the repairs. Go ask Webster or somebody (laughs).