Anyone soldered before?

basmic · 30 Jul 2006 at 19:08

Tesla said:
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!

Do you have a link, to the mentioned video?

Tesla · 30 Jul 2006 at 19:38

basmic said:
Do you have a link, to the mentioned video?

Nope sorry, thread is about a year old- probably pruned

Adam_151 · 30 Jul 2006 at 19:45

basmic said:
Do you have a link, to the mentioned video?

I might make a vid later*

(or tomorrow), what do you want to see, joining wires together, or putting components on a board

*I'm feeling helpful today

@ Tesla, what size wires are we talking, ever considered crimping as a less time consuming alternative?

@ OP, you have been given the basic advice, as long as you have a decent soldering iron, such as an antec (no need for a expensive soldering station though, just a basic soldering iron of good make- think mine cost me about £12), then practice will make perfect

Tesla · 30 Jul 2006 at 19:50

Adam_151 said:
@ Tesla, what size wires are we talking, ever considered crimping as a less time consuming alternative?

Usually it's soldering phono plugs onto coax cable.

Chronos-X · 30 Jul 2006 at 19:52

Trifid said:
No matter how careful you are, you always touch the hot tip.

I was recently using an ironing board as a surface to solder on - great when working on guitar electronics. I had to pick something up off the floor, and leant over the ironing board (with soldering iron on it) - making contact with my right nipple.

james.miller · 30 Jul 2006 at 19:52

i used to do it for a living. i was a surface mount inspector as well. I am by all accounts, very good at it. It's the only thing i really boast about lol

if you guys think flux fumes are bad, you should try hanging around when a flow-solder machine is going full tilt, with just under a tonne of molten solder. we had good extraction though - we used to build the extraction units as well lol

SexyGreyFox · 30 Jul 2006 at 20:46

Nobody has mentioned 'tinning' yet.

Basically if you're soldering a wire onto a plug/pcb board etc then put solder on the wire and the plug/pcb before you join them together and that way it will solder together easily.

Andr3w · 30 Jul 2006 at 20:48

MasterMike said:
Just takes a little bit of practice. And no matter how much you try to resist, you will always take your solder and make it into one big blob.

rofl, you have no idea how much solder i did that to at high school

Kell_ee001 · 30 Jul 2006 at 20:55

MasterMike said:
And no matter how much you try to resist, you will always take your solder and make it into one big blob.

True, and it had to have a smooth rounded top

Guru · 30 Jul 2006 at 21:28

The more u spend on your soldering iron the easier it is lol

If you buy a cheap crap iron you can really struggle and its such a pain in the arse especially for doing really small things that dont need as much heat as u might think.

"andy" · 30 Jul 2006 at 21:40

dmpoole said:
Nobody has mentioned 'tinning' yet.

Basically if you're soldering a wire onto a plug/pcb board etc then put solder on the wire and the plug/pcb before you join them together and that way it will solder together easily.

is there a downside to tinning ?

never did it much at college but i know it makes a joint between two wires amazingly strong

BenST · 30 Jul 2006 at 21:53

No downside as far as I know, I always tin my wires. Past experience has taught me not to let too much solder flow when tinning - especially on thin guage wires - as it can travel down the wire under the insulation potentially making the wire brittle.

Also, solder sold today is lead free, solder sold 10+ years ago wasn't so trying to solder on to connections containing lead can sometimes prove troublesome. The best thing to do in my experience is remove the lead solder with a 'solder sucker' or wick and re-tin using your lead free solder.

SexyGreyFox · 30 Jul 2006 at 21:54

andy8271 said:
is there a downside to tinning ?

never did it much at college but i know it makes a joint between two wires amazingly strong

Now that amazes me that you never did it at college. I would say its basics and something i've done for at least 32 years.
There is only one downside to tinning I've come across. I used to 'tin' my hifi speaker wires at work because they are the type that you just put the bare wire into a clip on the back of the hifi. I found that tinning wires actually makes them weaker when you are inserting them in and out every day. I no longer tin these speaker wires but just twist them tight.

"andy" · 30 Jul 2006 at 22:08

we only touched electronics briefly as it was more of an industrial electrician course and we didnt do much of that either tbh

i can just remember me betting the instructor wed be able to pull apart too soldered wires.........he tinned them.........i lost....

so gambling does teach you things after all kids.....

Mr Joshua · 30 Jul 2006 at 22:09

splitz said:
Also, solder sold today is lead free, solder sold 10+ years ago wasn't

Not quite, I believe the EU regulations for using lead free solder only came into action in June(?) this year. Solder bought from the highstreet (at least the one place I'm thinking of) has been lead free for a year or so as far as I know.

You can still buy 60/40 tin/lead solder today, I use it quite a bit in kit building. The lead offers a good strong joint so I recently stocked up with 6 x 500g reels, that should see me out!

RobH · 30 Jul 2006 at 22:15

Mr Joshua said:
Not quite, I believe the EU regulations for using lead free solder only came into action in June(?)

1st July actually, it is the RoHS legislation. If your soldering PCB's then a flux pen is very useful, it ensure that your solder makes good contact between the components and tracks and is also useful for clearing shorts off components that have close contact points such as IC's.

Behemoth · 30 Jul 2006 at 22:22

My Dad is ace at Soldering, I'm not so good, mainly because of the fumes that the solder gives off, gives me a head ache

The last time I used a soldering iron was at school I think and someone put glue on my iron, super glue at that, I had a weird trippy moment and a really bad head ache for hours after

Mr Joshua · 31 Jul 2006 at 00:06

Behemoth said:
The last time I used a soldering iron was at school I think and someone put glue on my iron, super glue at that, I had a weird trippy moment and a really bad head ache for hours after

Super glue gives off cyanide when it's heated (I think!).

Le_Petit_Lapin · 31 Jul 2006 at 00:12

Last time I soldered I ended up with a hole on my graphics card.

Haven't tried again since.

Mark A · 31 Jul 2006 at 00:56

I did it at school and found it very easy to do. We made a water tester :rolleyes:

, it was in an old toothpaste dispenser with 2 prongs sticking out of one end. You put the prongs into the soil of a plant pot and an LED comes on if there is water in the soil, genius i hear you cry

. Ive also done a bit since when i dropped my PS1 and changed a few LED's in my optical drives.
Good luck

Mark