I want to start soldering. I have questions

[airborne spoon]

2 hours ago, ColinLTT said:

Louis Rossman has entered the chat 

Never heard of him, had to Google and still never heard of him

[H713]

My suggestion would be to buy some Kester 63/37 of the appropriate size for your work. Do NOT buy the no-clean stuff unless you have to- the flux in it is much weaker and burns away quickly. That makes it much harder to use. When in doubt, go smaller in diameter. Unless you're doing a lot of big connectors (XLR, SpeakON, TRS, mil-spec multipins, etc), the .031" is too thick. Don't buy lead-free solder- it's much more difficult to get a good joint, and even then it's often less reliable. I go through a 1 pound spool about once a year, but I solder lots of XLR connectors, and the solder cups on the female XLR connectors take a lot of solder.

 

The temperatures used in soldering are too low to vaporize the lead. The fumes from the flux are a much bigger concern than using leaded solder. The fumes from the flux is rather nasty, so I do recommend at least having a fan blowing across your work if you're going to solder of hours on end. If it's just an occasional joint it's less of an issue.

 

 I want to reiterate the fact that using good-quality 63/37 leaded solder will help a lot if you're a beginner.

 

I had a Hakko FX-888 for a long time, and it's okay. If you're able to step up and get something that uses the newer tip technology, do so. The FX-951 is better, but the Metcal is the gold standard. The Thermaltronics stations are almost the same (but less expensive), and the tips are interchangeable.

 

The first time I used an MX-500 at work I was so impressed that I went out and bought one for myself- the difference is that big. I can solder a TO-220 down to heavy ground plane, yet the temperatures are still low enough to avoid boiling all the flux off or burning parts. This is because the Metcal uses an induction heater, and the temperature regulation is based on the curie point of the tip material. You have to change tips to change the temperature, but the beauty of the Metcal is that the temperature regulation is so good that you almost never have to. I find that I lift far fewer traces with the Metcal than I did with the Hakko. The extra cost of the Metcal is worth it to me for that reason alone, especially when you find yourself working on boards worth many thousands of dollars.

The biggest improvement in the Metcal over the FX888, however, is the grip-to-tip distance. It's really short, which gives you more fine control, and the grip is really pretty thin- I'm a relatively small person with small hands, so I find this to be more ergonomic.

 

Because the temperature regulation is so good (it's instant, and it heats up in literally about 5 seconds), it's very easy to solder to ground planes. With the FX888, I'd often find myself soldering the tip to a ground plane, which is very annoying.

 

Lastly, get some liquid flux. I use Kester 186, and I don't know that I'd recommend it. It's insanely sticky and VERY difficult to clean. I've heard good things about the Amtech flux, so it might be a better option.

 

 

[H713]

As another note, some thoughts on desoldering:

 

Braid is good for SMD and some through hole. If you are doing a LOT of through-hole desoldering on potentially fragile boards, invest in a vacuum desoldering tool. So for most people these days, braid is fine, but if you're going to rebuild an old Neve or Trident console, for the love of PCBs get a vacuum desoldering tool. That said, so few people do through-hole stuff these days that it's a waste of money for most people.

 

If you find yourself having to desolder a lot of SMD chips or very large (48 pin) DIP chips, then a hot air station is well worth the $150 it costs these days. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by H713
Formatting