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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

#31

Post by ravenstine »

This makes so much sense. By doing it this way, the iron isn't fighting the thermal conductivity of the rest of the solder feed. It just has to heat a small bit of solder.

I know there are aficionados who can point out possible disadvantages of this approach, but honestly, I can see this technique being really handy when you just want to prototype something out and you want to get things done efficiently. Not every solder joint needs to be perfect, just as not every PCB needs to be factory quality and is going to a customer. As someone who only occasionally needs to solder a custom circuit, this looks like a time saver. If I was frequently making PCBs by hand, maybe I'd think otherwise.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#33

Post by sottol »

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…

Or get a $25 Pinecil that comes with IronOS pre-installed and is by all accounts almost as good as the TS-100 [1] (it's $40 on Amazon now :/). I got one, was so impressed that I got another. One big upside over the TS-100 for me is that it can be driven by both a beefier USB-C (which I always have around anyway) and DC-plug PSU.

Plus, it's running Risc-V, and they even sell an breakout to use the "logic board" as a RISC-V dev-board!

[1] https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#34

Post by genmud »

amelius wrote: post #24
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.

Only if you spend too much time on it.

You do have to wet your tip more frequently when you are using high temp with flux core. However, I end up with shiny, well made joints 99% of the time. If I burn off the flux, I typically will wick it up and re-apply, or just swipe the solder off the joint and add more solder (depending on what I am working on).

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#35

Post by austinjp »

duped wrote: post #16

This looks like a recipe for cold solder joints and solder bridges and doesn't seem like it saves time. What you really want to do when you have dozens of jumper wires is to do an array-of-struct to struct-of-array transform on the steps. Instead of cutting, stripping, tinning, and soldering one wire at a time, cut all your wires, then strip them all, then tin them all, then solder them one by one. Here's a pro tip:…

> do an array-of-struct to struct-of-array transform on the steps

I call this "pin-making" after Adam Smith's famous/apocryphal account of the division of labour in a pin factory [0] and do it in pretty much every area of my life :)

[0] https://www.econlib.org/library/topics/highschool/divisionof...

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#36

Post by Whitespace »

duped wrote: post #16

This looks like a recipe for cold solder joints and solder bridges and doesn't seem like it saves time. What you really want to do when you have dozens of jumper wires is to do an array-of-struct to struct-of-array transform on the steps. Instead of cutting, stripping, tinning, and soldering one wire at a time, cut all your wires, then strip them all, then tin them all, then solder them one by one. Here's a pro tip:…

If you have that many stripped wires to tin, you can use a tub of flux and a solder pot. Dip the wires into the flux, then quickly dip it into the solder pot. Perfectly tinned end with no plastic melting. Really hard to mess up vs a soldering iron, a wire, and solder wire.

You can even dip multiple wires into the flux and solder bath at the same time, as well as use the flux tub again before you solder the tinned wire to the contact.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#38

Post by accrual »

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…

As someone aspiring to solder more, thanks for this list! Do you have any thoughts on the TS 100 vs the Pinecil? I thought the Pinecil was a slightly newer and more refined iron but curious if you have an opinion.

https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#39

Post by WalterBright »

munificent wrote: post #21
skybrian wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 litt…

Yes, flux is necessary. I use Kester solder, too :-)

P.S. I worked my way through college being an electronics assembly technician, so I spent a lot of time soldering. I enjoyed making the boards look perfect.

It turns out, this skill is transferable to soldering copper water pipes. Never had a leak! (Using a torch not an iron.)

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#40

Post by pclmulqdq »

akiselev wrote: post #26
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).

The temperature you need is very dependent on the PCB. I have heard of macbook repair techs using 850-900C irons because of the amount of metal in that PCB and its heat dissipation capabilities. I usually end up around 700-750 for hobby projects with 2-4 layer PCBs because I like to do the joints fast.
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