Question about 1980s Soldering tutorial

[DuckAmuck]

Hey Guys,

So I found this old Pace Presentation about soldering. I've watched some of it and it still retains the fundamentals of soldering. It also explains the "how and why" of soldering which I find helps since that the tutorials I found only explain the "How" of it.

Here's my Question:

Is the information that is in this Presentation still viable when compared to todays standards for soldering and Hobby Electronics in general? If not, what would I be missing out if not provided in the Presentation?

Here's the link to the Video

 

[You_are_a_cunt]

I can't really watch the presentation right now, but here's some insight and background:

 

I've started dabbling with electronics in the late 90s and have continued on an off up till now, both as a hobbyist and as a professional (of sorts)

 

When it comes to manual soldering, nothing much has changed. The only difference on an "industial" side would be the use of low (or no) lead solder, which has some issues when you factor in thermals over time. Remember the RROD fix where you'd intentionally overheat the Xbox? That's because they stopped using lead-based solder on the chips.

For hobby electronics that shouldn't be much of an issue, but it's highly recommended that you use 60/40 (tin-lead) or 63/37 solder, with thickness according to what you're doing. I generally use .03 rosin (flux) cored. Back in the late 90s and early 00s we couldn't really find rosin cored solder so we'd just get normal solder and a tin of rosin (I think you can still find those at electronics stores). The rosin strengthens the joint making it less likely to crack, which is generally what you'd want..

 

When it comes to soldering irons, you'll want to source a good one, since it might be the first and last one you ever buy. I've used everything from $3 ones to high-end $400+ ones. A decent one should be roughly $70 new, if you can find one. Don't bother with copies of Hakko ones from eBay, since they're horrible. You're better off with the $3 one. The FX-888 is a small, general purpose soldering station that is pretty much perfect for hobbyists and is about $75. Digital adjustment ones are obviously a bit more expensive, but the temperature control is far more precise.

 

If there's anything else you'd like to know, don't hesitate to ask

[rhyseyness]

What he said ^

[Huntsman]

Yo ain't need no fancy stinkin presentation when ya have @revsilverspine

[You_are_a_cunt]

32 minutes ago, Huntsman said:

Yo ain't need no fancy stinkin presentation when ya have @revsilverspine

Everything I've been taught was free, so I'm going to pass on the knowledge to whoever is interested. Information should be freely available. Services, on the other hand, are going to be paid for.

[Huntsman]

5 minutes ago, revsilverspine said:

Everything I've been taught was free, so I'm going to pass on the knowledge to whoever is interested. Information should be freely available. Services, on the other hand, are going to be paid for.

Couldn't say what I've been taught was free... Paid good(obscene) money for Internet LOL!

 

But yea.. I would share whatever I know with anyone who asks. Services, depends if it is worth my time.

[You_are_a_cunt]

1 minute ago, Huntsman said:

Couldn't say what I've been taught was free... Paid good(obscene) money for Internet LOL!

 

But yea.. I would share whatever I know with anyone who asks. Services, depends if it is worth my time.

I charge by the hour and my minimum fee is for a full 60 minutes. If it's a 5 minute job, even better!

[DuckAmuck]

Thanks @revsilverspine

 

Okay, I just have one more question.

 

I really don't want to drop ten bucks for a chunk of brass wire along with dropping 6 bucks for a cleaning soldering sponge . Is there a cheaper option or could I easily source it somewhere else for free? 

[You_are_a_cunt]

29 minutes ago, sweatybanana said:

Thanks @revsilverspine

 

Okay, I just have one more question.

 

I really don't want to drop ten bucks for a chunk of brass wire along with dropping 6 bucks for a cleaning soldering sponge . Is there a cheaper option or could I easily source it somewhere else for free? 

What's the brass for?

I use a dish sponge (kind that doesn't melt) for light cleaning and a metal dish brush for hard to remove gunk (mostly plastic or hotsnot)

[DuckAmuck]

@revsilverspine

The brass is for cleaning the tip of your soldering iron.

I learned that you suppose to use a combination of both the brass and the sponge. You know, two dabs on the brass and a tap on the wet sponge.

 

Here's a link to the brass "doohickey" on amazon, lol:

https://amzn.com/B00FZPGDLA

 

[You_are_a_cunt]

7 minutes ago, sweatybanana said:

@revsilverspine

The brass is for cleaning the tip of your soldering iron.

I learned that you suppose to use a combination of both the brass and the sponge. You know, two dabs on the brass and a tap on the wet sponge.

 

Here's a link to the brass "doohickey" on amazon, lol:

https://amzn.com/B00FZPGDLA

 

Oh, THAT. I use the metal brush for that.

Not mandatory to have, but when you need it, you need it.

[DuckAmuck]

1 minute ago, revsilverspine said:

Oh, THAT. I use the metal brush for that.

Not mandatory to have, but when you need it, you need it.

Yeah those lol.

 

So, I think I'm going to use these things for cleaning my "tip".  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

Links are to the Dollar Store Website: (Yes, The Dollar Store has its own website. I was surprised too)

https://goo.gl/OvyAnX

 

https://goo.gl/qFZ70L

 

[You_are_a_cunt]

11 minutes ago, sweatybanana said:

Yeah those lol.

 

So, I think I'm going to use these things for cleaning my "tip".  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

Links are to the Dollar Store Website: (Yes, The Dollar Store has its own website. I was surprised too)

https://goo.gl/OvyAnX

 

https://goo.gl/qFZ70L

 

links are broken. You can get one of these. Should be dirt cheap and pretty much do the same job. Stick it in a pill bottle or something and you're golden.

[DuckAmuck]

https://www.dollartree.com/household/cleaning/cleaning-tools/Brillo-Basics-Copper-Scour-Pads-3-ct-Packs/500c501c508p359008/index.pro#details

 

https://www.dollartree.com/household/cleaning/cleaning-tools/Scrub-Buddies-Cellulose-Sponges-2-ct-Packs/500c501c508p336389/index.pro

 

Alright, thanks @revsilverspine

I can not thank you enough.

 

I'll put the un-shorten links here so if anyone wants to look at it, they could.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Just now, sweatybanana said:

https://www.dollartree.com/household/cleaning/cleaning-tools/Brillo-Basics-Copper-Scour-Pads-3-ct-Packs/500c501c508p359008/index.pro#details

 

https://www.dollartree.com/household/cleaning/cleaning-tools/Scrub-Buddies-Cellulose-Sponges-2-ct-Packs/500c501c508p336389/index.pro

 

Alright, thanks @revsilverspine

I can not thank you enough.

 

I'll put the un-shorten links here so if anyone wants to look at it, they could.

Links still broken. Must be country locking or something.

Cellulose doesn't melt at high (enough) temperature so they should be fine.

[mariushm]

You should never clean the tip of the iron directly on the wet sponge.

Heat the tip, add some solder to the tip if needed, and now you need to get rid of that solder. "Flick" the tip so that the solder from the tip will fall in the trash can or somewhere safe. Another option would be to get a chemwipe ("paper" towel with isopropyl alcohol) or just plain paper towel and quickly wipe the tip on the towel to get rid of the solder. A nicer simpler option would be to get one of those steel wool balls which have steel or copper wires covered in a layer of flux (cheapest ones don't have any flux on them) and you punch through those wires with the tip, the action removes the solder from the tip.

Now you can wipe the tip on the wet sponge in a fast motion so that whatever oxides are still there on the tip will be "Shocked" off by the temperature difference. Now you can reapply a fresh layer of solder.

After you're done with the soldering, add a bit of solder on the tip and leave it there, the solder will protect the tip from oxidizing while not in use.

 

Here's a video that shows what I mean (it's part of a series of soldering tutorials for avionics grade repairs, paranoid, excessive downright ridiculously strict soldering in some cases) :

 

 

As for answers to your questions in the first post : yes, the information in those videos still applies. More modern solders just made soldering a bit more difficult with basic tools (because lead free solder requires higher temperatures and lead free solders don't have visual indicators to tell you the job was done right, you have to rely on your experience to know you did a good job - with leaded solder if you did it right the solder will shine, if it's bad the solder will be matte and ugly on the board)

 

As for solder wires, flux and other useful information, I made a long post a few months ago, if you have time please check it out,I'm linking it below. The post also has links to some soldering tutorial videos made by EEVBlog which are very informative and made with more modern equipment than the one used in Pace videos. 

 

I'm re-embedding the EEVblog videos here in case someone's too lazy to click on my post above to read (or browse through) it all :
 

 

There's also a part 3 (you'll find it on the sidebar in Youtube when watching the videos above or at the end of the videos), it's less informative and it's mostly about soldering surface mounted components... so i don't see the need to embed it in the post.