Anyone soldered before?

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Bought a few electronics kits from http://www.quasarelectronics.com as i'v always wanted to learn about it, but i'm a bit nervous about soldering as i'v never done it before. I'v read numerous guides on the net and even looked at a few movies (god bless youtube) but i was wondering if anyone has any tips they themselves could share on the subject?

Cheers.
 
I did soldering in school :p Light sensor alarm :cool: It's pretty easy though, just a bit fiddly with some bits
 
warmup the iron then add a bit of the tin/lead solder to the tip and use, sometimes you could touch the piece of metal your going to solder with the iron,heat it up then use tin/lead solder touch the metal (only do this method on cable dont use it on capacitors etc..
 
I did soldering in resistant materials for my gcse's we used to have fun making metal solder balls hehe All I can advise is dont touch the hot bits! Try and be as neat as u can with it, otherwise you end up with lots of mess and metal!
 
Trifid said:
No matter how careful you are, you always touch the hot tip. :(

My dad had left a soldering iron on a hook near the door into our garage. I walked in, having not seen it and put my forearm straight into it. What's worse is I didn't realise for a second or so what the pain was. :o.
 
I've had to solder all sorts on my car's (22 year old) electrics. It gets quite easy once you're about a third of the way around the loom.....
 
Try to work somewhere where you've got good ventilation. Last time I was fitting some pickups into a guitar I had my face very close to the area for quite a long period of time in a small kitchen, I felt very dizzy and ill for the rest of that day :o
 
I solder quite frequently. Always wipe the tip before joints, you'll want a stand with the wet sponge on to do this with. If your doing a row of IC pins, then I just do them very quickly one after the other, but on a lot of parts I will wipe the tip before soldering them (basically any solder left on the tip for more than a few seconds goes "dull" and will make a poor joint). Also tin the tip before use by wetting it with solder then wiping on the sponge. Those kits are usually nice and simple as they are masked & tinned PCB's. Don't accumulate solder on the tip then apply it either. Touch the solder to the tip right on the component to be fixed (stick the component in from the other side with selotape or similar, or use the handy holder things). Good luck, and what iron is it btw?

Andelusion makes a good point too. The flux fumes can make you feel ill (though supposedly do no long-term harm). I use an old pc fan to suck the fumes out of my immediate area.
 
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Make sure that the area to solder is clean
Clean the tip of a soldering iron with a wet sponge. For PCB work an 11W iron would be sufficient
Apply the soldering iron to the leg of the component to be soldered FIRST. Leave it for a second or two to heat up
Apply the solder to the component leg, NOT the iron
Remove the solder FIRST, then remove the iron
 
soldering is really easy... just go for it!

I just started myself on my guitar mainly but I do a load of other electonics projects (god bless you high street electronics retailer!!)... mainly LED pimp things but it's all fun :)
 
As the advice so far has been for small scale electronic stuff, I thought I'd mention soldering copper pipes etc.

Use a gas blowtorch ........ (copy and paste) ...This is soldered with acid free flux (soldering paste) and solid core solder (available at your local hardware store. Put flux on the inside of the fitting to be soldered. Push the pipe in the fitting and heat the two together with a gas torch. When hot enough touch the join with the solder. Do not put flux on the pipe as the solder will adhere to any place that has flux on it. This can cause very untidy joints.

Should the pipe be attached to the water supply and there is any chance that there might be water in the pipe put a piece of dry bread about 20cm into the pipe before soldering. This will absorb any moisture in the pipe which may form steam near your join which will blow out the solder.

And ...... as with almost everything, practice makes perfect.
 
dont breath the flux fumes in, gives me a bad cougth now and i now have mild asma.

I didnt alays use the vacume at work which was silly, tho the odd bit of soldering shouldnt be a problem.

A clean tip, wet sponge and a steady hand is all you need, after that the rest is just practise.
 
I once made a thread asking how to solder and one member (I have rudely forgotten who made a little video and posted it up)

It was extremely good and my soldering skills now rock. I sometimes have to solder and heatshrink cables together for my work so the video was dead handy!
 
just remember a clean solder is a strong solder

as said if you take your time and practice with some spare wire etc you should pick up the basics fairly quick. just be careful


and soldering copper pipe....pfft yorkshire fittings are the way forward
 
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