Xbox 360 soldering

[fishkake]

Hello people.

Along with so many other people, I'm interested in building a portable Xbox. Unlike most of the others, I don't want something that looks sexy or fits in the smallest possible enclosure, I just want something that works, so I can take it to hotel rooms!

I've messed about with stuff before, modded various laptops, and fixed my Xbox DVD drive when it first broke - this is to say I'm not scared of getting inside a console. But when it comes to soldering, it has to be said I'm one of the least gifted people in the world.

On another site, I was told I had to preheat the Xbox board to 350 degrees before I could use a soldering iron - I've looked at the kit to do this, and it aint cheap! Can anybody advise? Would a high-wattage soldering iron do a better job without wrecking the board? The only parts I want to solder/desolder are the connectors (i.e. power, USB etc), I don't want to move chips around or anything.

I know this is a difficult project, and I accept that I will break at least one xbox trying to do it (I think I have already, to be honest! ) but I'd like to try anyway, even if all I learn is that I shouldn't do such things. I have a LCD monitor (VGA input only, d'oh!) and an amplifier, and I'm comfortable with everything I have to do, I just need to improve my soldering skills.

Since I'm here, massiver credit to Ben, some very impressive stuff on this site.

[Aguiluz]

You could heat the board with a heatgun.

[collinE]

You know, it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy a broken 360 off eBay for like 20 or 30 bucks to practice with. and you shouldn't need to heat the entire board. I've never heard of that before. Just get a good soldering iron and make sure you mix normal solder in with the 360's solder when removing parts.

[samjc3]

the biggest thing is flux. it will make it infinently easier.

[64M320N3]

What you can also do is add solder that has lead in it. Once it mixes it lowers the melting point so you can heat it up and melt it off with a regular soldering iron.

[fishkake]

GREAT responses guys, thanks a lot for your help.

I've since discovered that my butane powered soldering iron (which gets hotter than the sun), if freshly cleaned, is just about hot enough to melt the solder. It doesn't work well, so desoldering with a pump is a bit messy (thinking of trying that braid stuff), and I'll have to be VERY careful not to fry components, but at least I'm on the way.

As for the topic about a spare xbox to practise on, I have a couple of other PCBs which use the same solder, so I'm messing about with those.

I'll put some pics up as soon as I have something more interesting than a disassembled Xbox, really appreciate your help here!

[hackmodford]

I was told I had to preheat the Xbox board to 350 degrees before I could use a soldering iron

What? That's ludicrous!

[fishkake]

I was told I had to preheat the Xbox board to 350 degrees before I could use a soldering iron

What? That's ludicrous!

I hope its not against the rules to post links to "rival" forums, but for the record: http://www.360mods.net/index.php?name=F ... ic&t=19375" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've hit a stumbling block, but this topic is a little too specific, going to start my own project thread somewhere and put some pics up

[karanisback]

the solder on the 360 is uber easy to melt with a weller
i have some old 15 watt weller that does the trick
but remember to mix in a little lead solder!