# TLE5206 cold solder joint? **URL:** \ **Category:** Troubleshooting\ **Created:** [January 3, 2021, 5:48am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686 "2021-01-03T05:48:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![explorien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@explorien](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/explorien)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 5:48am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/1 "2021-01-03T05:48:32Z")
I finally assembled my Metal Maslow kit, built my wall-mounted frame, and got ready to calibrate today. I tested the motors/encoders on WebControl before beginning the process, and kept getting a failing left motor result: Testing L motor: Direction 1 - Pass Direction 2- Fail Testing R motor: Direction 1 - Pass Direction 2 - Pass … and after which, the L motor would spin CCW continuously. I sleuthed around the forums and found a mention of failed left motor tests ([Left Motor test fails - #43 by Daniel\_Papesca](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/left-motor-test-fails/5795/43)), and a possible cold solder of the driver chip. Sure enough, as suggested by @Jatt, pressing the heat sink of the M3 chip randomly got the CCW spinning to stop. Now the question is: how can we identify the cold solder joint? I snapped a pic of the solder work under my TLE5205 board. I’d like to clean up any other cold joints while I’m at it. ![PXL_20210103_053444206](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/3X/c/9/c98100481c469c83982d601d6f5d09f7e366f0b1.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Jatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@Jatt](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/Jatt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 6:41am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/2 "2021-01-03T06:41:46Z")
Generally a cold solder joint will have a dull look to it or have a visible ring that looks like a crack in the solder. A 60x jeweler’s loupe comes in handy if you’re trying to spot them, or you could just reflow all of the joints on that chip, one by one. ---
**Author:** ![explorien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@explorien](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/explorien)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 6:45am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/3 "2021-01-03T06:45:46Z")
Thanks for the tip. I can typically catch cold solder joints when there’s a pin protruding past the board (e.g., when a component’s pin leg is sticking out). I’m having trouble here figuring out where the pins are for the motor driver chips! ---
**Author:** ![Jatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@Jatt](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/Jatt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 6:48am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/4 "2021-01-03T06:48:45Z")
are they surface mount? what does the other side of the board look like? ---
**Author:** ![explorien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@explorien](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/explorien)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 6:52am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/5 "2021-01-03T06:52:27Z")
Oh, duh. I haven’t soldered any surface mount components before. Should the solder at the ends of the chip legs be checked? ![PXL_20210103_064929448](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/3X/4/4/440324c2023118eb08b67838ed0a49dba2c47f29.jpeg) ![PXL_20210103_065113648](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/3X/7/0/70afa0f7279d81075733ad626801f0cfbc2f8e3c.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Jatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@Jatt](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/Jatt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 6:59am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/6 "2021-01-03T06:59:07Z")
Without surface mount liquid/paste flux, you’re going to have a hard time soldering those, because the solder will try to bridge the gap between the legs. You might be able to reflow with a hot air gun, but it’s 50/50. if you haven’t done it before, you generally dont want to learn on something important. It might be worth contacting @Metalmaslow to see if he’s willing to send you another board, as this one is defective. ---
**Author:** ![explorien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@explorien](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/explorien)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 7:10am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/7 "2021-01-03T07:10:16Z")
Thanks for the tip and all your help so far, @Jatt! I’ll reach out to @metalmaslow. In the meantime, I did try to resolder those legs. It’s not the cleanest, but no legs were bridged (checked with an ohmmeter) and the 3 legs closest to each via are respectively connected. I’m dying to set up my maslow, but I want to be safe and avoid any disasters that might happen due to poor soldering. Is there a way to check that? ![PXL_20210103_070546847](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/3X/6/6/66e2a74e11ecf3e4e8ef53ec76dfd2e589378392.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Jatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@Jatt](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/Jatt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 7:23am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/8 "2021-01-03T07:23:45Z")
As long as they don’t have continuity to each other, they should be fine to test. Don’t put too much of a load on the chip without a heatsink on it. ---
**Author:** ![Orob](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/orob/32/16344_2.png) [@Orob](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/Orob)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/9 "2021-01-04T01:48:16Z")
Yeah, those soldered pins from the chip should be all uniformly attached to the board. That looks hand soldered to me. Does that chip have a large ground pad on the back side also? If so, I’d make sure that one is down properly., But a quick touch up of those pins should fix you up. What board version is that shield? ---
**Author:** ![explorien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@explorien](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/explorien)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 5:52am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/10 "2021-01-04T05:52:08Z")
The chip pins were very uniformly soldered before I tried to resolder them by hand. There is a large ground pad on the back side. I’ll touch that up too, just in case. There is a “v1.4” stamped on the board, so I’d assume that’s the version number. ---
**Author:** ![Metalmaslow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@Metalmaslow](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/Metalmaslow)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/11 "2021-01-05T14:02:29Z")
sorry you are having issues with the board. we can send you a new TLE5206 board. it will look a little different but function the same. we basically switched to through hole components instead of SMD. please send email since I dont know your address based on your forum user name and also dont’ check this forum every day. ---
**Author:** ![explorien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@explorien](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/explorien)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/tle5206-cold-solder-joint/15686/12 "2021-01-05T15:00:34Z")
Thank you @metalmaslow! I just emailed you. I really appreciate your support. Can’t wait to get up and running with your kit!