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With some recent questions on the forum about soldering techniques, first time soldering, and basic soldering
I thought it was a good idea to post a write up on the topic.
These are real crap cell phone pictures but should be good enough to learn from.
I will update the thread with better pictures at a later date.
Introduction:
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Wattage, Application, & Iron Size:
For smaller projects such as this I prefer the type of soldering iron featured in the pictures.
The smaller and more refined your soldering work becomes (Integrated Circuits) the smaller the iron tip should be, and the less
watts you will use. Typically for a job of joining average size wires only a 30-40W iron is needed. For something small like
PCB circuits id use a 15W - 25W iron. If you are joining large gauge wire a 100W + iron is going to be needed.
The high watt irons are usually in the shape of a gun and have a trigger.
I prefer the pen shaped irons (shown in this tutorial) for working under dashboards, engine bays, and confined spaces in general.
I find the small pen shaped soldering iron easier to hold in multiple ways at various angles then the big ass 100W gun shaped irons.
When soldering components onto a PCB it is VERY easy to overheat the component you are soldering or its neighboring one.
I stress using a very fine tip and low wattage for these projects. Its also a good idea to use clip on heatsinks to draw the heat away from
the joint. However integrated circuit soldering is outside the scope of this tutorial.
*ALWAYS USE ROSIN OR ROSIN-CORE SOLDER (alot of solder today is mostly rosin-core).
Just like welding, the only way to learn is to practice. You can practice on loose strands of wire like the one I used for this write up.
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Step 1: Cut the wire you want to solder. Strip a length of casing off the end that you are comfortable
working with ( 1/16" - 1/8" is fine) to expose the copper strands underneath. Around an 1/8" joint is very strong,
it would take a lot of force to pull it apart.
Step 2: Spread the individual strands of wire apart on each side of the joint.
Step 3: Then with the strands facing each other, join the two; meshing the strands together.
Step 4: Twist the strands with both hands so you have a solid connection of intertwined copper strands from both of the wires.
This will help to give the joint some integrity of its own. You should make it good practice NOT to use solder to hold a joint together,
the joint should be able to lightly hold itself together with out the addition of the solder.
Step 5: Place the hot tip of the soldering iron under the exposed copper of the wire and heat it up. You want the wire to
melt the solder not the iron itself. Sometimes working with a lower temperature its helpful to "tin" the end of the soldering
tip to aid with the heat transfer to the copper. The wire should again always melt the solder though. It helps to have a nice
hot pre-heated iron. The goal is to heat the joint as quickly as you can so that you can solder it with out transferring excessive
heat to the surrounding wire. If you preheat your iron you should be able to touch the iron to the copper and melt solder on it in seconds.
If you watch the surrounding plastic wire casing, if it starts to melt, the surrounding wire is getting to hot - your iron isn't hot enough.
Step 6: Touch the solder to the heated wire and move it evenly across the joint. You dont have to glob it on there.
You want to add just enough solder to penetrate all the strands down to the underside. When you have enough you
shouldn't see any copper colored wire, it should be all silver from solder.
Step 7: You can blow on the joint to help cool it down more quickly. You are finished!
Now either electric tape it or I highly recommend using some heat shrink tubing. If you are soldering a wire that does not have any
loose ends, make sure you slip the tubing over the wire BEFORE you start to join the wires! The money spent on electric tape does
make a difference. All electric tapes were not created equal. Good electric tape will be VERY easy to wrap around the wire cleanly,
wont come off, and will insulate MUCH better then your average cheap dollar roll of tape from walmart.
You can get all your supplies from Radioshack!
I thought it was a good idea to post a write up on the topic.
These are real crap cell phone pictures but should be good enough to learn from.
I will update the thread with better pictures at a later date.
Introduction:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wattage, Application, & Iron Size:
For smaller projects such as this I prefer the type of soldering iron featured in the pictures.
The smaller and more refined your soldering work becomes (Integrated Circuits) the smaller the iron tip should be, and the less
watts you will use. Typically for a job of joining average size wires only a 30-40W iron is needed. For something small like
PCB circuits id use a 15W - 25W iron. If you are joining large gauge wire a 100W + iron is going to be needed.
The high watt irons are usually in the shape of a gun and have a trigger.
I prefer the pen shaped irons (shown in this tutorial) for working under dashboards, engine bays, and confined spaces in general.
I find the small pen shaped soldering iron easier to hold in multiple ways at various angles then the big ass 100W gun shaped irons.
When soldering components onto a PCB it is VERY easy to overheat the component you are soldering or its neighboring one.
I stress using a very fine tip and low wattage for these projects. Its also a good idea to use clip on heatsinks to draw the heat away from
the joint. However integrated circuit soldering is outside the scope of this tutorial.
*ALWAYS USE ROSIN OR ROSIN-CORE SOLDER (alot of solder today is mostly rosin-core).
Just like welding, the only way to learn is to practice. You can practice on loose strands of wire like the one I used for this write up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 1: Cut the wire you want to solder. Strip a length of casing off the end that you are comfortable
working with ( 1/16" - 1/8" is fine) to expose the copper strands underneath. Around an 1/8" joint is very strong,
it would take a lot of force to pull it apart.
Step 2: Spread the individual strands of wire apart on each side of the joint.
Step 3: Then with the strands facing each other, join the two; meshing the strands together.
Step 4: Twist the strands with both hands so you have a solid connection of intertwined copper strands from both of the wires.
This will help to give the joint some integrity of its own. You should make it good practice NOT to use solder to hold a joint together,
the joint should be able to lightly hold itself together with out the addition of the solder.
Step 5: Place the hot tip of the soldering iron under the exposed copper of the wire and heat it up. You want the wire to
melt the solder not the iron itself. Sometimes working with a lower temperature its helpful to "tin" the end of the soldering
tip to aid with the heat transfer to the copper. The wire should again always melt the solder though. It helps to have a nice
hot pre-heated iron. The goal is to heat the joint as quickly as you can so that you can solder it with out transferring excessive
heat to the surrounding wire. If you preheat your iron you should be able to touch the iron to the copper and melt solder on it in seconds.
If you watch the surrounding plastic wire casing, if it starts to melt, the surrounding wire is getting to hot - your iron isn't hot enough.
Step 6: Touch the solder to the heated wire and move it evenly across the joint. You dont have to glob it on there.
You want to add just enough solder to penetrate all the strands down to the underside. When you have enough you
shouldn't see any copper colored wire, it should be all silver from solder.
Step 7: You can blow on the joint to help cool it down more quickly. You are finished!
Now either electric tape it or I highly recommend using some heat shrink tubing. If you are soldering a wire that does not have any
loose ends, make sure you slip the tubing over the wire BEFORE you start to join the wires! The money spent on electric tape does
make a difference. All electric tapes were not created equal. Good electric tape will be VERY easy to wrap around the wire cleanly,
wont come off, and will insulate MUCH better then your average cheap dollar roll of tape from walmart.
You can get all your supplies from Radioshack!
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