Soldering

Hey, Im wondering if any of you guys know anything about soldering or any good websites explaining what to do.

This is what I kinda think your suppose to do but im not exactly sure;
1.) Clean your Ironer with Sponge
2.) Tin it by putting a bit of solder on the tip of your Ironer
3.) Place the Ironer on the chip for about 2-3 seconds and if their is a pin get it to touch it as well to heat them both.
4.) Add the solder wire right around where you have the iron and wait till it melts but do not melt it by touching the Ironer itself.
5.) Pull away the solder wire, than pull away the iron
6.) Your done?

 

cleaning is good
tinning is also good... in a way.
2-3 seconds is a bit long....
i do an instantaneous solder-drop and back thing. this way, the components won't heat up and the solder is in place. but then, you can do it your way too, which is more normal than my way (i've been soldering stuff for ages and found ways to cheat with what i got)

also, make sure you clean the solder tip AFTER you apply each joint. this way, the tip will last longer. another thing to do is to tin whatever you're soldering first. this way, soldering each joint will be "faster" and neater.

 

The first most important thing I learned about soldering was to practice on something that's already trashed before you work on the expensive thing you're trying to fix or build.

 

Yes, I agree(learned the hard way )

 

For electronic/circuit board soldering...

1. Use the right tools. A low power soldering iron, 25 watt maximum. More is NOT better. Use THIN 60/40 rosin core solder (the rosin cleans the surface as you solder, making for a better connection). Solder comes in different diameters, the thinner the better for small work.

For cleaning, a damp sponge works great. a damp folded up paper towel works about as well.

2. Proper procedure. Heat the iron until the solder melts & flows instantly when you touch it to the iron. Tin the tip (coat it with solder) when it's new, and remove any excess. Use that sponge/paper towel to wipe off as much as possible. You want a shiny surface, but nothing sagging/dripping from it.

Position the chip/component in the proper holes on the board. When you're ready, touch the tip of the iron to the joint where the component meets the trace on the board, heating both. Immediately touch the solder to that joint, next to the iron. With a hot iron, the solder should flow instantly against both surfaces, forming a smooth arc between them. If it doesn't flow smoothly around the joint, hold the iron there for a second until it does. A "cold" solder joint that doesn't melt properly at the joint will have high resistance and can mess up operation of the circuit. You should not need to hold it there for more than a second, and you don't want to be heating it for more than a couple seconds. Most electrical components can be destroyed by too much heat from the iron. Touch the iron down, touch the solder to the joint, and get off of it. If the joint doesn't look good, let it cool... thoroughly... then try again. Use the minimum amount of solder that you can, and watch for any solder overflowing the trace you're soldering to and shorting out any other traces that are close to it. Excess solder can be removed with either "solder wick", which acts almost like a sponge; heat the solder with the iron, touch the solder wick to the joint, and the solder will flow up into the wick. There are also small suction bulbs with a pointy nozzle that can suck the hot solder off the board. Again, heat, remove, and get off. Don't overheat the joint.

Clean the iron's tip on the damp sponge/towel/whatever after you're done.

And as Sarge noted, practice on something worthless until you're confident you can do it right on the real project.

Have fun. It's not all that difficult.

 

oh yeah, forgot to mention a practice board. anyway, it's not difficult at all. all it takes is practice. just don't do what i did one time and burn out a $10 opamp!!

on a side note, i just replaced all the resistors and film capacitors (20 total) on a pcboard just now, along with adding 7 more caps. the process took me 2 hours. it would have been half as long if it wasn't for me soldering on the bottomside of the board which was still facing down on a slant. that was weird.

oh yeah, another adendum:
if by some chance you are populating a board, do the following: keep the components organized in order. if they aren't, then mistakes are more bound to occur. also, don't ever go in order of r1, r2, r3, etc. always go on the order of left-right from up-down so you don't go skipping all over the place. and when looking up the components, make sure you double check that r1 is really a xxx ohm resistor. i've always used this system and it never fails.