Soldering small touch connector

You’ll have to solder it back using hot air. This, of course, presents its own challenges ;>).

The trick to soldering plastic connectors with hot air is to:

• insure the board is properly cleaned and the pads tinned
• then pre-heat the area of the connector, apply some flux paste and align the connector so that the metal legs are sitting on the tinned pads.
• then apply heat but not too close as you don’t want the air flow to blow the connector off the board
• keep your eye on the plastic, if it starts melting then you are too close, too hot or the airflow is too high (this is the part that takes the most practice)
• once the pre-tinned solder flows, the connector should fall into place…adjust it slightly with tweezers but don’t apply any pressure on the plastic itself as it is very soft at this point.
• expect to go through a few connectors at first, the slightest mistake will cause the connector to melt or warp.

Good luck!