Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 170 posts

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#151

Post by elcritch »

genxy wrote: post #105
sandreas wrote: post #11

While soldering is not that hard, different tasks require different tools. Most of them can be from very cheap to very expensive. As a beginner I'd recommend the following: A small USB-C soldering iron supported by IronOS[1], e.g. Pinecil vor TS100 A solid stand with brass wool A KU soldering tip (looks a bit like a knife) for good heat transfer, too small tips are not good Thin ( No clean flux (not a pen) Isopropyl…

The second most important thing is a microscope so you can see and analyze your work!

They’re really not too expensive on Amazon either.

Even for soldering larger 0.1” headers a microscope lets you inspect the joints for cold joints or micro cracks. Those will happen, especially when starting out!

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#152

Post by elcritch »

sdcfgy wrote: post #66

Find some trash and practice removing parts and soldering them back on first. Not mentioned here yet but the majority of early soldering attempt failures mostly come from crap irons and crap solder not human issues. You need a decent quality temperature controlled iron and decent quality solder, preferably flux cored if you're doing repairs. Here, I have a second hand Metcal iron which cost less than the much recomme…

Metcal’s are amazing!

They use a high mghz signal to measure the tip temperature using impedance measurements IIRC. Then they control the tip temperature using a feedback control loop. Humans suck in comparison for heat control.

Trying to use a Hakko afterwards will make you want to curse in my humble opinion.

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#153

Post by throwaway219450 »

xandrius wrote: post #142
MalbertKerman wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. Use a soldering iron that can hit 400, and use a needle tip I have to disagree with that. Almost every time I've been called in to rescue a frustrated novice at the soldering bench (which has happened a lot), I've found them using the thinnest tip they could find with the temperature cranked to 400°C or higher because nothing was melting. It's fine to have an iron that can exceed 400°C (and I can't think of any…

Just FYI, the general suggested temperature for 60/40 is 375C. So 400 is not too far off.

Do you mean 375 F? 60/40 is liquid at that temp (374 F). 375 C is way overkill for lead unless your iron is terrible.

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#154

Post by wildzzz »

xandrius wrote: post #139
sandreas wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FNIRSI 2C53T for more serious work ZEEWEII DSO154Pro to go as cheap as possible for something that is roughly useful

And in between? Also what would I really need it for? I mainly do ESP circuits and stuff like that, would I ever need anything other than a multimeter if your opinion?

Unless you're actually designing new circuits versus just connecting modules together, you probably don't need an oscilloscope. Maybe if you're debugging some faulty module but you're more likely to just buy a new one. A multimeter is an absolute must though, especially if anything in your design is adjustable/tuneable in any way.

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#155

Post by drpixie »

jimnotgym wrote: post #75

Like all practical skills, practice! Soldering new is easier than repair. Get some dirt cheap ali express electronic kits and solder them up. Or get a load of components and some strip boards. Lead solder is much easier to use. Basic antex iron. Stand with sponge...dab of solder on the iron, wipe on sponge, push iron against both board and component, feed in solder, admire. For repair work, you want scrap boards real…

And be your own critic. Aim for great, not just ok. Find out what dry-joints look like. And too much solder. Then aim for a really nice job :)

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#156

Post by nosolace »

not a resource per se, but i recommend getting a pair of machinist's indicator holders. they make the best helping hands i've ever used when retrofitted with alligator clips, because once tightened they have zero springback so they permit holding parts far more precisely than the usual blue plastic affair. i have a pair of these (https://a.co/d/0dyGqDEh) clockwise tools ones and they're fine, but there are definitely cheaper ones out there that'll work.

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#157

Post by nerdsniper »

As others have mentioned, the NASA soldering standards / workmanship standards (which I can no longer find an easy link to) were the most helpful for me. I was really bad at soldering before finding those. Now I'm merely mediocre, but that's fine because I can do everything I personally need to do on a PCB.

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#158

Post by nxobject »

Speaking of learning by practice, here's two things I got a lot from:

- Take apart scrap hardware, and learn to both de-solder, re-solder, and test that you haven't pulled any pads in the process!

- Get an SMD soldering practice kit as well -- one where you have to put little bird-seed resistors flush to surfaces. It taught me a lot about how liquid solder works!

I made the mistake of thinking I'll learn while I work on the hardware I actually cared about. Big mistake.

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#159

Post by sandreas »

abeyer wrote: post #150
sandreas wrote: post #11

While soldering is not that hard, different tasks require different tools. Most of them can be from very cheap to very expensive. As a beginner I'd recommend the following: A small USB-C soldering iron supported by IronOS[1], e.g. Pinecil vor TS100 A solid stand with brass wool A KU soldering tip (looks a bit like a knife) for good heat transfer, too small tips are not good Thin ( No clean flux (not a pen) Isopropyl…

Mostly a good complete list... One thing I'd take issue with though is no clean flux for hand soldering. "No clean" formulations are almost universally designed for reflow oven temperature profiles and may not actually meet their specifications for electrical/chemical safety to leave on the board without cleaning when hand soldered. They are also commonly _more_ difficult to clean if you want/need to. Given that non-…

Did not know that. Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: Resources to get good at soldering?

#160

Post by sandreas »

allenbina wrote: post #145
sandreas wrote: post #11

While soldering is not that hard, different tasks require different tools. Most of them can be from very cheap to very expensive. As a beginner I'd recommend the following: A small USB-C soldering iron supported by IronOS[1], e.g. Pinecil vor TS100 A solid stand with brass wool A KU soldering tip (looks a bit like a knife) for good heat transfer, too small tips are not good Thin ( No clean flux (not a pen) Isopropyl…

I prefer solder wick over the pump most of the time. Plus it’s cheap.

Yeah I forgot solder wick. It's better to have both. However, if you'd always used cheap pumps you'd maybe like to try the Engineer SS03. It's a whole different ballpark, although it is pretty expensive. The clones are not as good, but way better than the normal 2$ ones.
Post reply on HN