Getting Started with soldering ?

[Jueyyy]

Hey everyone,

 

I wanna get into soldering my dad has an old soldering iron in the basement and i think some people( including me) could use some motivation or ideas what to do when starting to solder so i am making this topic to help people starting to solder in the future. I am happy to read your suggestions

[Average Nerd]

I got started by just assembling small DIY electronics kits and by making things out of scraps of solid-core wires.

Eventually I started with making my own circuits, though my knowledge about that is still very basic.

[TylerD321]

I got an analog multimeter kit and soldered it together as my first project.

 

DIY Analog Multimeter Soldering Practice Kit with Assembly Manual, Build Your Own Multitester by EX ELECTRONIX EXPRESS: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement

[Jueyyy]

5 minutes ago, Average Nerd said:

I got started by just assembling small DIY electronics kits and by making things out of scraps of solid-core wires.

Eventually I started with making my own circuits, though my knowledge about that is still very basic.

hhm ive been looking at some retro gaming console kits on amazon, just to play tetris for fun but i kinda dont wanna mess up on that 

[manikyath]

14 minutes ago, Jueyyy said:

my dad has an old soldering iron in the basement

depending on just how awful this relic is..  probably nothing too complicated.

 

you really want a decent iron to do anything more complicated than soldering some wires together.

[Jueyyy]

Just now, manikyath said:

depending on just how awful this relic is..  probably nothing too complicated.

 

you really want a decent iron to do anything more complicated than soldering some wires together.

to be honest i havent gotten to look for the soldering iron cause he doesnt really know where it is knowing him tho it should be pretty decent and not too old

[manikyath]

Just now, Jueyyy said:

to be honest i havent gotten to look for the soldering iron cause he doesnt really know where it is knowing him tho it should be pretty decent and not too old

is it a station, or is it an iron that plugs directly into the wall?

[Jueyyy]

3 minutes ago, manikyath said:

is it a station, or is it an iron that plugs directly into the wall?

thats the thing i know nothing i just told him i wanted to learn and he said he still has his soldering Iron somewhere

[manikyath]

8 minutes ago, Jueyyy said:

thats the thing i know nothing i just told him i wanted to learn and he said he still has his soldering Iron somewhere

okay, just a heads up then: if it doesnt have temperature control, it's not worth your effort.

[Jueyyy]

Just now, manikyath said:

okay, just a heads up then: if it doesnt have temperature control, it's not worth your effort.

yea i kinda guessed

[ender23]

I asked a different group this question last year, this was the iron that was recommended. No real complaints:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DGZFSNE

[OhioYJ]

53 minutes ago, TylerD321 said:

I got an analog multimeter kit and soldered it together as my first project.

 

DIY Analog Multimeter Soldering Practice Kit with Assembly Manual, Build Your Own Multitester by EX ELECTRONIX EXPRESS: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement

 

There is a digital version as well, that's pretty good kit.  M-1008K Same meter is also sold already assembled by the same company. I used this kit with my son. It was well done, the book explained the theory behind things, and had adjustments.

 

53 minutes ago, Jueyyy said:

hhm ive been looking at some retro gaming console kits on amazon, just to play tetris for fun but i kinda dont wanna mess up on that 

Many of the DIY kits they sell, are just through hole stuff. It's pretty hard to mess them up.  I would start on simple cheap stuff just get some practice. I've had my son do a bunch of the the electronic kits, I just pick up at random, games, robots, whatever looks like fun. Most are $10-20, sometimes even less.

 

Things like this. or This, clock.

 

I've also just seen kits that are just strictly practice and don't really have any functionality. I bought one of these a long time ago to practice surface mount soldering (obviously don't start with surface mount). It just had rows of components and chips to practice with on a board.

 

41 minutes ago, Jueyyy said:

yea i kinda guessed

As for temperature control, to be quite honest, I have a decent Weller adjustable soldering station, but 90% of the soldering and repair work here at the house I do with a regular non-adjustable unit. In fact even surface mount stuff, it's fine. There's just no reason for me to get a bunch of stuff out when I can just plug in something simple. I'm not saying the adjustable and soldering stations aren't nice and don't have advantages, just you can get by without something super fancy. No reason to complicate things right out of the gate.

[Jueyyy]

3 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

 

There is a digital version as well, that's pretty good kit.  M-1008K Same meter is also sold already assembled by the same company. I used this kit with my son. It was well done, the book explained the theory behind things, and had adjustments.

 

Many of the DIY kits they sell, are just through hole stuff. It's pretty hard to mess them up.  I would start on simple cheap stuff just get some practice. I've had my son do a bunch of the the electronic kits, I just pick up at random, games, robots, whatever looks like fun. Most are $10-20, sometimes even less.

 

Things like this. or This, clock.

 

I've also just seen kits that are just strictly practice and don't really have any functionality. I bought one of these a long time ago to practice surface mount soldering (obviously don't start with surface mount). It just had rows of components and chips to practice with on a board.

 

As for temperature control, to be quite honest, I have a decent Weller adjustable soldering station, but 90% of the soldering and repair work here at the house I do with a regular non-adjustable unit. In fact even surface mount stuff, it's fine. There's just no reason for me to get a bunch of stuff out when I can just plug in something simple. I'm not saying the adjustable and soldering stations aren't nice and don't have advantages, just you can get by without something super fancy. No reason to complicate things right out of the gate.

I am definetly going to go digging around tomorrow but its pretty late allready

[Heats with Nvidia]

On 3/1/2024 at 9:39 PM, ender23 said:

I asked a different group this question last year, this was the iron that was recommended. No real complaints:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DGZFSNE

At this pricepoint, get a Pinecil, TS101 or one of the others like it with the big tips. They are MUCH better than these cheap stations.

[ender23]

On 3/3/2024 at 3:35 AM, Heats with Nvidia said:

At this pricepoint, get a Pinecil, TS101 or one of the others like it with the big tips. They are MUCH better than these cheap stations.

Yeah, that's 100% fair.