Share your Soldering Tips Here

[seminolewind]

Rejoice, thanks for reminding me to load up on spare parts-just in case.

Tone, thanks for the tinning both parts first tip, it's great

kinbaloo, thanks for the tip about using sandpaper

Stormynights, Thanks for the reminder not to touch the soldering iron, Sheesh, I was just trying to see if it was hot enough!

 

[.308]

Don't even bother with rosin core solder, (IMO) it's too large and clumsy for small projects like this. Just get small gauge solder and separate flux. I build global marine distress signal systems all day and I can tell you that having a wet sponge on the deck of your soldering iron holder is the most efficient way to keep the tip clean and do a pretty job.

Don't scrimp on a cheapo soldering iron, you'll be sorry. Get one that has an external controller box and on\off switch. DO NOT get a soldering "gun" with the "pistol grip", precision soldering requires you to hold the iron like a pencil. I like small tips.

Stereoscopes are a good investment if you plan on soldering alot, you know, the magnified goggles? I use them for everything, not just surface mount soldering.

More heat and less contact time is better than less heat and more contact time. The latter is a good way to melt switches, chips, etc. or send a hot plasma wave through you whole circuit melting everything non-metallic.

As stated previously, tinning is the most efficient way to quickly solder components, use flux on bare wire first before tinning.

 

[jrlp]

^Don't listen to that.

You always heat the work. You need the work hot enough that the flux in the solder etches and cleans the material being soldered. When it's hot enough, the solder will flow to it. All electronic components are designed to tolerate the heat of soldering. That's what they are made to do. Be soldered.

Electronics don't like someone holding a 45watt iron to them for 30 seconds to solder one 20 gauge wire. That's bad form. Of course electronics can handle the heat of soldering, that's how they are connected...

Getting the heat in and out as fast as possible is the proper way to solder. Always heat the work, and touch the solder to the item your soldering, not the iron. Although having a fresh shiny dot of solder on the iron helps heat transfer immensely.

Buying a bottle of rosin flux should be on everyone's list. A tiny dot has more flux than 1" of .060" solder, and even more of electronics grade .03* size. For plated/coated items, SOP is to add a small dot of flux and heat the area with an iron until the flux melts and flows. Once that's done, it can be tinned with solder, then wire attached. I recently soldered my vivi nova as well as a boge cartomizer. The pins/casings on both were chrome plated. As you know, it's nigh-impossible to solder to chrome. I brushed a small section with a SS brush to break up oxides, fluxed and heated, and the solder flowed instantly. Took less than 3 seconds with the iron to solder a 16 gauge wire.

Technique and experience is far more important than quality of tools. In college for electronics engineering, we were forced to build solder LADDERS out of .030" solder. Now that's FUN!

 

[philderbeest]

This is very very low tech but I use a diesel engine glow plug for soldering. It is modded somewhat (relay, microswitch etc) and resembles a tattoo gun. I will upload pictures when I get to my toolbox next. It's obviously 12V so you need to clip it on a vehicle battery but it gets extremely hot extremely quickly. I came up with it when trying to solder switches into vehicles when outside and it's windy/cold/raining.

 

[Zanderist]

Just some tips;

• I've found from a US Navy manual from the 1950's you can reduce the heat coming off the soldering tip just by wrapping a coil of exposed copper wire and then stretch the rest to desired length and centered above existing tip. When I get access to the book again I will hopefully post exact details on this

• You can get some chore boy copper pot scrubber from a local super market. Just take an empty soda can, cut about a quarter way up from the bottom, place the pad in and then bend the edges in towards the center

 

[K3nn0Q]

Get a brass "sponge" for cleaning the hot tip before soldering a joint. Looks a bit like steel wool and won't cool the tip as much as a normal wet sponge or paper towel.
Sanding should only be done on a heavily oxidized tip, while cold, and very lightly!

 

[rob33]

First off don't buy flux at lowe's you need stuff from a electronics source not home improvement.
https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals...=1496445859&sr=8-1&keywords=mg+chemicals+flux
Solder for most our needs Radio Shack 60/40 0.32 will work.
The biggest tip I can give you is most new guys try to solder at way to low of temp on my hakko I'm at 650 to 700F, the idea is heat it quick and get out of there.
Sponges yea just replace them I just use one from the grocery store

 

[KTMRider]

Flux is used to remove surface corrosion that prevents proper solder flow. Usually, the corrosion is invisible to the naked eye and can occur within mins of contacting air/oxygen. There are different kinds of flux. I would strongly suggest no-clean flux that doesn't leave a harmful residue on electronics, otherwise, you need to scrub off the residue or it will corrode the joint and pcb.

I use Kester 951. They're normally sold in gallon bottles and over $100 but there's a guy on eBay that sells them in small 1.25oz bottles for under $5 shipped.
KESTER 951 NO CLEAN FLUX FOR PS3 XBOX REFLOW 1.25oz | eBay

Or Amazon (2oz for under $10)
https://www.amazon.com/Kester-951-S...TF8&qid=1496598289&sr=8-2&keywords=kester+951

I bought from the eBay guy before and can recommend him (no relation). I use a 30ml needle tip bottle like the Amazon link to dispense it and it works well. There is a bit of residue left behind but it's non-corrosive so you don't have to clean it if you don't want. You do NOT want to buy any liquid flux in those pen type dispensers. They dry out in days to weeks.

I use a brass sponge and a wet sponge to clean the tip. The solder in the brass sponge doesn't stick and just falls to the bottom of the tray/container so it's easy to dump out. You might need to shake the brass sponge to get the solder out. The wet sponge usually needs to be replaced after a while.

The temp depends on the gauge of wire you're soldering. I start around 650°F up to 800°F for 14g or thicker. I use a Hakko FX888D and it holds the tip temp better so you might need to go up 50°F or so lower end soldering irons. Depending on what I'm soldering, I use a rounded needle point tip or small chisel tip for most wire soldering.

 

[Jamesbarnhart]

While soldering put less stress on the printed circuit board. Use a heat sink to avoid damaging of the sensitive part with heat. If you drill your own boards, don't make the holes too much bigger than the component leads. If you want to get more soldering tips and solder training and certification then you must have to take Solder Certification from industry's best solder training center.

 

[Stormynights]

Keep some flux on hand. This stuff really helps me sometimes. Keep your iron clean. I use my rotary tool on it. Not a dremel but a black and decker that uses all the dremel accessories.

 

[seminolewind]

Stormy, how do you use the flux? I am a little confused about how to use my can of flux.

 

[seminolewind]

I have also read to clean the tip with a damp sponge frequently and keep the point tinned (solder on it, so it doesn't oxidize)

 

[Kewtsquirrel]

I have also read to clean the tip with a damp sponge frequently and keep the point tinned (solder on it, so it doesn't oxidize)

I use one of these:
FRYS.com | Hakko
I find it works better than a sponge as it doesn't cool the tip down.

Use your flux on connections prior to soldering them, its a weak acid that helps to clean off any oxidation.

 

[mogur]

I use one of these:
FRYS.com*|*Hakko
I find it works better than a sponge as it doesn't cool the tip down.

Use your flux on connections prior to soldering them, its a weak acid that helps to clean off any oxidation.

I second that, nerf, that brass tip cleaner is the best thing I've discovered my entire soldering life. Since using one of those, I haven't had to file down the soldering tip to get fresh copper exposed. My tips last forever now. I swipe the brass and immediately tin with rosin core solder every time I pick up the iron, even if it has only been a few minutes. Sounds like a hassle, but once it's routine, you won't even notice doing it. And it sure beats having to file the tip and replace it every month or two.

The only thing I flux is nichrome and stainless (and copper plumbing pipes). The acid in the flux will eventually corrode the metal and you are forced to use baking soda to neutralize it and then you have to rinse that off. Too much hassle, unless you have to.

 

[Kewtsquirrel]

There a number of water soluble fluxes available, and some that are labeled 'no clean', just look for one of those.

 

[mogur]

There a number of water soluble fluxes available, and some that are labeled 'no clean', just look for one of those.

Thank you, didn't know about them.

 

[Stormynights]

Stormy, how do you use the flux? I am a little confused about how to use my can of flux.

If I have a little wire that I can't get solder to stick to I dip the end of the wire in the flux then solder.

 

[seminolewind]

My Nicostick is full of shorts cause of beginner soldering, LOL. It cuts out, then I have to wiggle wires till it comes back on. It's a redo this week.

 

[kinabaloo]

A basic tip but an important one is to use a small size nib on the iron. Mains power ones that come with only one nib usually have a nib that's too big. A smaller one is much easier to use (position) and heats things better as it gets hotter.

Before a new session, sandpaper the tip and then 'tin it' with a slight coating of solder.

 

[seminolewind]

I got a little round file out, I'll use that. Haven't gotten there to do it yet, but have all the parts and equipment.