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Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

instructables.com

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Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#21

Post by munificent »

skybrian wrote: post #11
WalterBright wrote: post #6

For me, the breakthrough was getting a thermostat controlled soldering iron. Suddenly I could make perfect joints every time.

I have one, but I don’t know what temperature to set it to and there are probably other flaws in my technique, so it’s still trial and error.

Electronics was my pandemic hobby. Even with a temperature controlled solder station, my technique was really hit or miss. Part of that is obviously experience, but the real lightbulb moment for me was good solder.

Once I switched to Kester solder, I had a much better more consistent experience. My hypothesis is that cheaper solder doesn't have the flux as evenly distributed, so you get spans of solder with too little flux and then everything gets worse, then you hit a good patch and it gets better.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#22

Post by johnwalkr »

gw99 wrote: post #7

You shouldn't really lap solder wires to boards. They tend to pull the pads off the boards or crack. Better to use wire to board connectors or solder terminals.

Those just starting out tend to think of solder as more direct than using a connector so therefore more secure.

But it’s surprising how poor the reliability can be. Aside from your points, solder can wick up a cable, and then the cable often breaks just at the point where the solder ends since it has no strain relief and may be right in the middle of a bend. This is especially true for adding solder to a crimped connector “for good measure”. It does more harm than good.

That being said it’s convenient many times especially if you don’t have connectors on hand or need to place wires in a specific orientation. Hot glue or better yet, RTV silicone can be used to make strain relief to increase the reliability. Or, when using perf board like in the post, a good technique is to drill a hole for a snug fit of the cable including insulation, then pass the cable through the hole before soldering to an adjacent hole.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#24

Post by amelius »

genmud wrote: post #14

My trick for soldering wires to PCBs is to put a large blob of solder on the pcb, tin the wire (with a bit more than you normally would) and then just heat the joint/wire and am done. I run my iron really hot (750F/400c) and just get in and out. I use a curved conical tip and have never have had issues with this technique.

Well, they say that you lose the flux too early using that method.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#25

Post by pachico »

Surely unrelated but I remember being 15 (30 years ago) and being an electric guitar player with modest or no economic resources.

I'm not saying that I celebrated the moment when one of my wires or jacks broke, but it felt great fixing it with a little patience and some soldering.

I am close now to many musicians that never fixed any of their wires/cables.

I kinda like to belong to those older times.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#26

Post by akiselev »

WalterBright wrote: post #6

For me, the breakthrough was getting a thermostat controlled soldering iron. Suddenly I could make perfect joints every time.

It's not the thermostat but the power output that matters and a slightly more expensive soldering iron will generally have a slightly better power supply. For example, the best soldering iron I've ever used is the Metcal fixed temperature inductive soldering station which require changing out the tip alloy to change the temperature (and I've never had to change tips for temp, only shape).

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#27

Post by FpUser »

akiselev wrote: post #17
jasonpeacock wrote: post #8

I was taught to heat the wire and touch the solder to it. This looks like they are laying the wire on the solder, then heating the solder - not the wire. Won't this result in a cold solder on the wire?

The OP uses single stranded wire but the solder blob on the PCB creates far more surface area contact for heat transfer from the iron which makes a large difference with stranded wire. When you're soldering hundreds of connections, the time savings from not having to pin the wire against a solid surface or clip it in place is substantial. The bigger problem is that all the rosin flux in the solder will have evaporate…

>"The bigger problem is that all the rosin flux in the solder will have evaporated"

But the OP specifically adds short pieces of solder to the pads before soldering wires. When they finally lay the wire and start heating that solder piece might have just enough flux in it. Alternatively one could just smear some flux on the pad before laying wire.

Still I am not convinced this particular way is of any practical advantage.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#28

Post by Ao7bei3s »

exmadscientist wrote: post #10
gw99 wrote: post #7

You shouldn't really lap solder wires to boards. They tend to pull the pads off the boards or crack. Better to use wire to board connectors or solder terminals.

No, you shouldn't lap join wires to surface-mount pads. But sometimes you have to. Just don't deliberately design something this way and we'll call it good. (Through holes are fine. Mostly.)

Yes, but if you do have to design a PCB for soldering wires to pads, you can increase the strength of the pad by making the pad much larger in the copper layer. You can still keep it the original smaller size in the solder resist layer; keeping the soldering area away from the pad edge and fragile traces there increases the strength further, and gives it a tidy look and a nice soldering experience.

For quick one offs, simply place a normal pad, place a copper fill polygon connected to the same net around the pad, and turn off thermal reliefs / set pad connection to solid for the polygon. Obviously if you need it a lot, draw a new footprint.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#29

Post by lapetitejort »

sandreas wrote: post #20

Oh boy, nice idea, but this looks complicated and time consuming. I recommend to get some good equipment first: - solder fume extractor (see below) - extra thin high quality tin - a desoldering pump AND desoldering wire - high quality flux - a TS 100 soldering Iron with KU tip from ali express for 50 bucks - optional: USB-C Power Adapter for your existing power supply (so you don't have to buy one) - optional: a sold…

> Now flash IronOS[1] on your soldering Iron

I got to here and thought this was some elaborate joke, and expected the github page to continue on with the joke. An operating system for a soldering iron?? But no, it seems 100% serious. Somehow soldering iron tech passed me by.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#30

Post by akiselev »

FpUser wrote: post #27
akiselev wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP uses single stranded wire but the solder blob on the PCB creates far more surface area contact for heat transfer from the iron which makes a large difference with stranded wire. When you're soldering hundreds of connections, the time savings from not having to pin the wire against a solid surface or clip it in place is substantial. The bigger problem is that all the rosin flux in the solder will have evaporate…

>"The bigger problem is that all the rosin flux in the solder will have evaporated" But the OP specifically adds short pieces of solder to the pads before soldering wires. When they finally lay the wire and start heating that solder piece might have just enough flux in it. Alternatively one could just smear some flux on the pad before laying wire. Still I am not convinced this particular way is of any practical advan…

Flux helps break the surface tension between solder blob and wire so I really doubt the flux in the unmelted solder would have a path to flow to the wire.

But yeah, my solution is to just dip the wire in a jar of flux as I’m stripping and twisting them

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