The Essentials

Personal Note: 4.5 hours of online instruction on how to get started with microsoldering. We spent quite a bit of time developing this course. Learn everything from tools and equipment setup, no touch, no power, no backlight, and iphone X logic board separation. Unlimited viewings.

Personal Note: This is an essential schematics tool used for troubleshooting logic board repair. Buy it if you are serious about microsoldering.

Personal Note: This is the original tristar chip tester. I’ve been using this thing for a year or two now and I can tell you that this thing is essential for micro soldering. It saves so much time testing to see if your iphone or ipad has a charging port or charging chip problem. The tristar tester is especially great for ipads because this thing allows you to test whether there is a charging port fault or charging chip fault without disassembling the ipad first. The time save is well worth the money. We label this tool as an essential tool for micro soldering work. The device comes with a rechargeable micro usb port.

Personal Note: This is the latest version of the IX5 Pro, which supports the iPhone X, Xs, Xs Max, 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max. This little mini heater works well. It is used to separate the top logic board from the middle layer, so that you can work on the inside of the sandwiched logic boards. It’s a cheaper alternative to the PPD-120, but it does the job well.

Personal Note: This thing is amazing. Before, we were buying and using multiple Drok usb ammeters, which cost about $10 each. In addition, we’d need to buy a multi-port usb charger. With this thing, you have six usb ammeters all bundled into one unit. The cables are all located on the right side and the lcd is easily readable on the left side. Amp draw goes up to 3A, I think. Throw away the Droks and get this thing.

Personal Note: This dc power supply cable will boot the iPhone logic boards by itself, without the need for a battery and/or charge port. Just plug in one of the ends to your iPhone 6 6P 6S 6SP 7 7P 8 8P X, XS, Xs Max and then push the left button to turn the device on and the right button to boot the logic board. This is a must for iPhone logic board troubleshooting!

Personal Note: Wow, I’ve been looking for a great locking logic board holder and this is it! Before this one, I was using a red FindX pcb holder that is actually very similar to this one, but this Mijing one is just as heavy duty, but it includes two locking mechanisms and it definitely holds an iPhone logic board much sturdier than the FindX one. This will be the only logic board holder that you’ll ever need for micro soldering.

Personal Note: This is the 2uul screwdriver set for iphone repair. These screwdrivers are pretty much the only ones that you’ll need for logic board repair. These 2uul brand screwdrivers are high quality and they have replaced my expensive Wiha drivers. You’ll receive 4 screwdrivers with this order, including pentalobe (black), convex cross (green), philips (red), and tri-wing (blue) screwdrivers.

Personal Note: These are the tweezers that we use every day. I bend them to more of a right angle. These tweezers are thin enough to squeeze into between chips and strong enough to grab a chip without compromise. If I had to choose one tweezer to get, then this would be it. I have about 10 of these that I just swap in and out.

Personal Note: These are strong, but thicker than the 5B-SA curved tweezers. I like them when I need some strength with my tweezers, like grabbing a bigger chip. They're not super thick, so you can really use these in place of the 5B-SA.

Personal Note: These are the best straight tweezers that I’ve used for the price. Even the super expensive Dumont’s don’t hold anything on these because these are super strong. One pair will last a long time. You won’t be disappointed.

Personal Note: VS-213A-TF is the most recent and the most up-to-date no-clean tacky flux formulation by AMTECH. NC-559-TF should no longer be used because it is an outdated flux with old technology.

Personal Note: This is the stuff that we use. It melts at 138°C. You won’t need it very often, so one vial of these and you should be set for a while. This stuff allows you to remove components and connectors without using the super high heat required to melt lead-free solder.

Personal Note: This is the solder paste that we use for all of our reballing. It melts at 183°C. It comes in a 42g plastic container. One container should last you a long time.

Personal Note: We use this solder paste for middle layer reballing on the iPhone X, Xs, and Xs Max. It’s a little stronger than the 138°C low melt solder, but doesn’t require as much heat to melt as the 183°C solder paste. It’s perfect for middle layer reballing. You really just need a dabble of this stuff on the end of your soldering tip to touch up any corroded pads. This stuff is perfect for that.

Personal Note: This is the solder that we use for everything. One roll of this should last you a while if you’re just a hobbyist. The solder is comprised of 63% tin and 37% lead. It has a high activity rosin RA core flux. This is the best solder for microsoldering. 1/2 ounce tube with a 0.031″ diameter.

Personal Note: Best wick that I’ve ever used for microsoldering. One 5′ roll should last a while.

Personal Note: This is the green stuff that I use to cover exposed traces on the logic board. It comes in a tube as a liquid, but once UV light is applied to the liquid, it turns solid. One tube of this stuff should last you long, long time. No need for a plunger or needle because all you really need is a little bit of this stuff on the end of a needle.

Personal Note: This stuff is great for running low voltage/current jumpers. We use this every day for everything from iPhone touch IC disease to running thin long jumpers for pads in the middle of a BGA chip. You won’t be disappointed. One roll should last forever.

Personal Note: This is a slightly bigger diameter jumper wire which we use for longer jumpers and jumpers that have pads missing. It’s sturdier, so you don’t have to worry about it breaking off easily. You should use this for high voltage/current jumper lines, like backlight jumpers.

Personal Note: This is the smallest jumper wire that we’ve been able to find. It’s from Mechanic, so you know that it’s good stuff. We use this thin jumper wire for audio ic repairs, touch ic repairs and fixing torn pads. The wire is uncoated, so it's best for fixing torn pads or running jumpers of short distance. If you run this wire a longer distance, then it’s possible that it’ll short out due to it be uncoated, so it's best not to use this uncoated wire for long distance jumpers.

Personal Note: This is the best wire/shield cutter for micro soldering. I use this to cut the shields away from the newer model iPhones (X, XS, XS Max, XR, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max). With these newer models, you have to cut away the shields because using heating will disturb the the chips below the shields and then you will have other problems. I was using one of those Hakko CHP Micro Cutters for a long time, but these new wire cutters blow them away. Trust me, get one of these and you won’t regret it.

Personal Note: This is a bga stencil for the XS, XS max, and XR. Please note that these stencils do not have every chip for all three versions of the phones on them. They just have the most commonly used chips, so please look at the stencil picture before purchasing.

Personal Note: These are the multimeter probes that we use with our multimeter. The tips are super fine and can fit between the small components. To sharpen them even further, I’d recommend buying a diamond sharpener from Amazon.