How To Get Started In Soldering • Hacker News Board

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#101

Post by JKCalhoun » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 4:19 PM UTC

MrBuxley wrote: post #97

bambax wrote: post #24

> just be careful not to overspend on your first iron. I first learned how to solder on an ultra-cheap hardware-store unit, and you should, too I beg to differ. I used to suck at soldering, and while I'm still no expert, swapping my €20 basic soldering iron for a serious Weller unit (starting at €150) changed everything. The Weller heats up almost instantly, goes up as high as you want, and stays at a constant temper…

I wish I'd known this years ago. When I was about 16, I tried my hand at soldering. I had little idea of what I was doing but really tried for several weeks. Nothing worked. I thought all this time it was just me. I mean, it could just be me, but I haven't picked up a soldering iron for many years because of that experience. I might invest good iron and give it a shot again.

You ought to. A HAKKO (and decent, thin solder) made all the difference in the world when I started back into the hobby.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#102

Post by JKCalhoun » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 4:23 PM UTC

fullstop wrote: post #61

bambax wrote: post #24

> just be careful not to overspend on your first iron. I first learned how to solder on an ultra-cheap hardware-store unit, and you should, too I beg to differ. I used to suck at soldering, and while I'm still no expert, swapping my €20 basic soldering iron for a serious Weller unit (starting at €150) changed everything. The Weller heats up almost instantly, goes up as high as you want, and stays at a constant temper…

Similar story, I went from a $20 no-name iron to a Hakko FX unit and it's night and day.

Same, but I'll name drop: it was from a shitty Radio Shack pencil iron to the HAKKO.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#103

Post by DwnVoteHoneyPot » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 4:38 PM UTC

csydas wrote: post #64

nocman wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I can see why you might take that as "talking down the youngest generation of adults", I don't think that is necessarily the author's intention. All three of those examples are things that many people from Gen Z often don't ever do. They are also all still valuable skills that I believe are still worth knowing. I agree that it is bad to talk down to people just because they are young. It is also bad to dismiss…

I don’t quite get the thrust of most of your post beyond that you have a more generous understanding on the quote. As I get your post based on the amount spent on why it’s bad to dismiss older persons, I don’t think this is really what the article or GP suggested. similarly, I am not sure that it’s fair to say genz often doesn’t do a lot of the mentioned things. GenZ is full of individuals specializing in niche or ol…

In your third paragraph, you point out a few things: 1) the emotional anxiety of doing the repairs, 2) putting the liability on someone else, 3) disposibility or products. You mention these as reasons of why not to do the repair yourself.

All of those reasons are the main critisms of gen Z and millenials! I'm not a boomer, but:

1) Emotions are preventing repairs?? A bit of stoicism is needed. If you have the habit of repairing things, there is no anxiety. In the old hacker culture you'd think it would be a fun opportunity to disassemble and see how it works and repair it.

2) Takes some reponsibility and risks instead of putting the liability on someone else. The end result is people who are less reliant on others, less finger pointing.

3) The article is trying to promote repairing skills instead of consumer culture. Repairing and better built products instead of filling landfills.

You also mention "i'd need to invest into the repair kit"... it's cheaper to repair than buy new! As you collect tools and experience, there's more and more opportunity to repair, which adds more tools and experiences... a great positive feedback loop.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#104

Post by squarefoot » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 4:38 PM UTC

If I may, I would complete a few points in the article.

Soldering iron:

Get a decent one. That doesn't mean you must throw a boatload of money, just avoid the crappy ones, which almost always are the cheaper ones. A notable exception is the Pinecil by Pine64.org, which is truly a great iron despite being cheap. Pinecil aside, you can snatch a used Weller or Hakko on ebay without spending too much, but beware of the many fakes. I had for a while a Hakko clone, and although well built, it was garbage: the heater-tip contact makes all the difference, and that was its weak point.

Solder:

Get leaded solder when possible. It's easier to use and joints are a lot less subject to tin whiskers.

Sponge:

Very useful, but don't forget to buy one that is suitable for soldering. A kitchen/bathroom one made of synthetic material will melt as soon as you put the heated tip on it. In the meantime, a damp strip of cotton cloth rolled into a coffee cup can be similarly effective.

Work surface:

I don't use a specific one, so don't have direct experience, however I doubt one could use a rubber doormat with heated tips. A oven silicone mat would probably be safer, but again, I never used them.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#105

Post by myself248 » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 4:39 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #24

> just be careful not to overspend on your first iron. I first learned how to solder on an ultra-cheap hardware-store unit, and you should, too I beg to differ. I used to suck at soldering, and while I'm still no expert, swapping my €20 basic soldering iron for a serious Weller unit (starting at €150) changed everything. The Weller heats up almost instantly, goes up as high as you want, and stays at a constant temper…

Agreed. Now that the Pinecil exists, the logic of using anything cheaper/worse is absolutely daft. It's $25, there's no excuse for the open-loop garbage anymore.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#106

Post by jjoonathan » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 4:50 PM UTC

whstl wrote: post #28

bambax wrote: post #24

> just be careful not to overspend on your first iron. I first learned how to solder on an ultra-cheap hardware-store unit, and you should, too I beg to differ. I used to suck at soldering, and while I'm still no expert, swapping my €20 basic soldering iron for a serious Weller unit (starting at €150) changed everything. The Weller heats up almost instantly, goes up as high as you want, and stays at a constant temper…

I agree. I don't personally think it's necessary to go up to €150, but a low-quality entry-level soldering iron will cause a lot of problems, and you'll be blaming yourself for the lack of progress. I learned on a crappy one and always thought I sucked. On university I used one that was alright and it was night and day. It is important that the soldering iron provides the correct amount of heat, and with entry-level…

Those $130-$150 Aixun branded JBC clones on aliexpress make a compelling argument for the price point IMO.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#107

Post by WalterBright » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 4:52 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #24

> just be careful not to overspend on your first iron. I first learned how to solder on an ultra-cheap hardware-store unit, and you should, too I beg to differ. I used to suck at soldering, and while I'm still no expert, swapping my €20 basic soldering iron for a serious Weller unit (starting at €150) changed everything. The Weller heats up almost instantly, goes up as high as you want, and stays at a constant temper…

Same here. I failed at soldering with my cheap iron, and there was nobody to show me what was going wrong. When I got a job assembling circuit boards, they provided a Weller, and suddenly I was able to make perfect joints every time.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#108

Post by jjoonathan » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 4:59 PM UTC

leviathant wrote: post #58

bambax wrote: post #24

> just be careful not to overspend on your first iron. I first learned how to solder on an ultra-cheap hardware-store unit, and you should, too I beg to differ. I used to suck at soldering, and while I'm still no expert, swapping my €20 basic soldering iron for a serious Weller unit (starting at €150) changed everything. The Weller heats up almost instantly, goes up as high as you want, and stays at a constant temper…

Adding to the chorus - I spent $100 on a Hakko in my 30s and upon using it, immediately felt a sizable pang of regret at how much time I'd wasted with my $20 iron over the years. It felt like I must have been doing something wrong, but as soon as I had a decent iron, it's like all the videos I'd watched suddenly made sense.

Yep, ditto, except my realization came from a JBC encounter at work. I had to learn this meta lesson several times the hard way, because media portrayals lie and I had nobody to tell me different.

    Learn Good Tools -> Learn Bad Tools

is easy

    Learn Bad Tools -> Learn Good Tools

is hard. Learning has nonlinear difficulty in the number of variables and bad tools introduce distraction variables. Unless you literally can't afford the good tools, "survey professionals and then buy once cry once" is almost always the right approach.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#109

Post by snapetom » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:03 PM UTC

TylerE wrote: post #48

CarVac wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 100% agree. They say "a good craftsman doesn't blame his tools" but when you start out you need good tools. A non-temperature-controlled soldering iron is a huge impediment to learning because the temperature varies with usage and so its behavior is hard to predict for a new solderer. Even between temperature-controlled ones there can be a large difference in ability to conduct heat into a part: my Pinecil takes fa…

Don't blame tools, but it's okay to blame tool shaped objects.

Kinda of like the old Chris Berman commercial, "There's no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people asking questions."

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#110

Post by zahma » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

was_a_dev wrote: post #6

> Much like the ability to drive a car with a manual transmission, read a map, or write a check, Gen Z is learning less and less about how to work with their hands—and it’s time for that to change. Ugh. Let's talk down the youngest generation of adults to justify a basic tutorial article. Ironically no one of Gen Z, that I know of, is unable to do any of those examples.

The point of the article is to propose it as a fun thing to do on the side. But who solders as a hobby? I’m a millenial, and I have broken out my dad’s soldering equipment a handful of times because I wanted to try fixing something myself. (I’d hazard a guess that’s cultural more than generational, but maybe not.)

I don’t know that this article did such a good job making the case for soldering as a hobby in so much as it lays the groundwork for someone who might need to use this tool to fix something his/herself. And that should be the emphasis.

I can drive a manual car, swim, and perform CPR — supposedly the three things an adult should know, but damn it if I spend more time in my workshop hunched over molten metal. I got other things to enjoy, as I’m sure many people younger than myself do too.