how to solder correctly

[Guest]

i got this soldering iron for work http://www.microcenter.com/product/424087/therma-boost-heat-tool

 

and i want to know how to solder correctly. im working on resoldering a few wires back to a old PCB.  my soldering wire http://www.microcenter.com/product/391335/lead-free-solder

 

 

 

*please let me know if this should be in this sub forum* 

[zombienerd]

This is hard to do in a text post. I recommend you search YouTube for some good tutorials.

 

The best advice I can give is don't cheap out on the flux.  Buy good flux, and use it a LOT.

[Unimportant]

1 hour ago, James Evens said:

just use lead solder

Period.

 

The lead-free kind is crap for hand-soldering.

Of course, use solder meant for electronics with a flux core.

[Hackentosher]

If you need to solder for work, I strongly suggest you invest in a nice iron. By nice or buy twice. Something like a Hakko FX88D or a nice Weller. Get a couple different tips, my favorite is the Knife tip, a flux pen, solder sucker, and a nice, fine, roll of 60/40 solder. Practice by soldering ends of  wires together and maybe soldering pins to a board. I think you might be able to get a DIY arduino kit somewhere, that would be a good way to practice.

[Guest]

19 hours ago, zombienerd said:

This is hard to do in a text post. I recommend you search YouTube for some good tutorials.

 

The best advice I can give is don't cheap out on the flux.  Buy good flux, and use it a LOT.

what brand do you recommend? (from micro center)

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Hackentosher said:

If you need to solder for work, I strongly suggest you invest in a nice iron. By nice or buy twice. Something like a Hakko FX88D or a nice Weller. Get a couple different tips, my favorite is the Knife tip, a flux pen, solder sucker, and a nice, fine, roll of 60/40 solder. Practice by soldering ends of  wires together and maybe soldering pins to a board. I think you might be able to get a DIY arduino kit somewhere, that would be a good way to practice.

what iron do you recommend? (from micro center)

[mariushm]

That soldering iron isn't that great, as it does't have any way to adjust the temperature and you have to use it in small bursts of time otherwise it will overheat (hold the trigger for 15-30s, maybe a bit more, then let it cool down for a bit)

 

Try to buy some liquid flux and some quality leaded solder, either 60/40 or 63/37, they'll make your life way easier.

 

i can't stress enough how important is to use extra flux with that iron. Because it basically has no temperature control and such soldering irons typically have the tip at really high temperatures, like 400-500 degrees Celsius,  Due to this high temperature, the flux inside the solder wire you use has practically no time to turn into liquid and flow over the area you want to solder and do its work (clean the area, make it ready for the actual solder to work and "glue" the two metals together)

By pre-applying some liquid flux on the leads and pad or whatever the part is soldered to, your iron tip will heat both the flux inside the solder wire and the flux you applied and the flux will have more time to work and clean the area.

The first video I link to explains all this stuff about flux.

 

The solder wire you use is ok, but it's lead free, which means it requires higher temperatures to become liquid (217c) compared to leaded solders (180-183c) and it's also worse for beginners since you have no visual indication that you did the job right (with leaded solders, if you soldered part correctly, the solder on board is shiny, if it's bad then it looks ugly.... lead free solders don't shine so you can't tell anything)

Leaded solders are safe to use, don't avoid them ... maybe you think you'll get lead poisoning or that you'll breathe lead or something... no, you really don't. in fact, lead free solders are worse for you in general, since the fluxes inside them have to be stronger so they fumes of lead free solders can affect your lungs more than leaded solder fluxes.

 

STAY AWAY from organic or water soluble fluxes, or solder wires with these types of fluxes.Water soluble fluxes are very hard to clean off the boards and if they're not removed properly, in time the can corrode the circuit board traces.  Organic fluxes are often more toxic, the fumes can be worse than regular "rosin" or no-clean fluxes and also must be often clean with solvents.

 

 

While the tools in the video look outdated the advice in this series of videos is still very valid (and honestly the iron you bought isn't more advanced than what's in videos). Please watch at least these two videos below:

 

 

and this one , with the mention that you don't really have to clean the leads with abrasive material (modern components are cleaner and have tinned leads so less need to clean leads before soldering)

 

 

 

and here's some other good and proper tutorials about soldering :

 

what solder wires are recommended, fluxes , soldering stations with proper temperature adjustment, other tools etc and overall good advice.

 

 

and actual soldering examples:

 

 

if you want to buy a soldering iron for yourself,  Hakko FX 888 is relatively cheap and does the job very well, you can buy it from various sellers in US. Fry's often have them on sale, but try otherwise Amazon, Sparkfun , Adafruit and other resellers.

Here's an Amazon link : https://amzn.to/2Opafiw

 

If you want something cheaper, Newark (farnell in Europe) rebrands some Atten and other Chinese soldering stations under their Tenma brand.

 

At 50$ , this one is basically a Chinese clone of Hakko 936 soldering station, the model that was sold by hakko for decades and replaced recently by Hakko FX  888 series : https://www.newark.com/tenma/21-19800/temperature-controlled-soldering/dp/84Y9255

you can find tips for this one on ebay, something like 10 tips for 5-10$ or something like that, they're basically the old Hakko 936 tips, they cloned everything.

It's half the price of the Hakko 888 and it works, but the downside is that it's only 35w (compared to ~70w for genuine hakko), which means it may take a bit longer for the tip to reach the desired temperature (a few seconds more) and if you're into soldering really thick wires this may not handle it.

 

Another good option is this one, an Atten rebrand : https://www.newark.com/tenma/21-10115/soldering-station-esd-safe-60w/dp/56T2208

But at 88$ .... make an effort and add 10-15$ and buy a genuine Hakko

 

 

 

 

[Hackentosher]

On 9/28/2018 at 10:55 AM, Nolanrulesroblox said:

what iron do you recommend? (from micro center)

 

On 9/28/2018 at 8:56 AM, Hackentosher said:

If you need to solder for work, I strongly suggest you invest in a nice iron. By nice or buy twice. Something like a Hakko FX88D or a nice Weller. Get a couple different tips, my favorite is the Knife tip, a flux pen, solder sucker, and a nice, fine, roll of 60/40 solder. Practice by soldering ends of  wires together and maybe soldering pins to a board. I think you might be able to get a DIY arduino kit somewhere, that would be a good way to practice.

 

[markr54632]

Honestly practice. Go to a local pawn, gaming, or electronics repair shop and see if you can buy some non repairable consoles. They make for great practice and they will usually give them or sell them for a couple bucks.

 

That iron is super hard to learn on. Just go to microcenter and get a budget 40-60 watt iron that feels comfortable. Honestly your not going to be doing anything small enough to warrant a super nice iron or stand at first anyway.

[Razor Blade]

The biggest mistakes people make when learning to solder is either putting way too much heat into the work or not putting enough heat into the work. Solder needs to flow into the work piece and not "coat" it. Cold solder joints are worse than twist and tape connections. On the other side, you don't want to burn up the traces. Putting too much heat into the work can cause traces to come off a board, insulation of the wire melting up the wire where you don't want, and if you're trying to solder a connector that can melt too. The other big thing you have to make sure you do is to make sure the work pieces are clean. solder doesn't flow in dirt.

 

Don't feed the solder just to the tip of the iron. You may need a little bit to get heat to start transferring but ideally you feed the solder into the work while the iron concentrates on heating up the work.

 

I learned to solder the hard way... But there are a lot of solder projects you can buy from Ebay and Amazon most under $10. They're not the be all and end all but between those kits and just a simple spool of stranded wire you cut and splice over and over to get practice will help to  hone soldering skills.