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

How To Get Started In Soldering

popularmechanics.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 281 posts

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#271

Post by dotancohen »

CarVac wrote: post #73
dotancohen wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I recommend a Weller WE1010. My budget is more in the $20 - $25 range. Cheap adjustable-temp soldering irons are available for under $4 [0], surely there is some middle ground between those irons and the $115 unit you suggest? [0] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005058271470.html ?

Those cheap "adjustable temperature" irons are "adjustable power" with no actual temperature feedback control. The middle ground is the Pinecil, which is $25 but needs a laptop power supply. It's… okay. It has less than half the heat transfer rate compared to the Weller, but it at least won't burn pads off your PCB.

Yes, I actually do have an iron similar to the one I posted. I like it, but I typically leave it at its highest temperature (which, as you state, just means full power).

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#272

Post by buescher »

CarVac wrote: post #180
buescher wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could be so, and it can depend on the flux and the processing, but it's almost never the flux. From a 10,000 ft look at your project, I wouldn't expect it to need the high isolation or high impedances that would drive a serious cleanliness spec. You could have other issues that a temperature and humidity test would uncover with no-clean, for example. We can discuss them if you'd like. Depends on what you mean by "yes…

The "yes-clean" flux I'm talking about is high-solids rosin flux that leaves a conductive residue. The conductivity can definitely cause a circuit to fail. Makers come to our discord chat, asking why their builds aren't working and post a pictures. I suggest cleaning the flux off, and they start functioning. As an aside: My current solder brand (Chip Quik) has a "no-clean water-soluble" flux that I'm curious about. S…

Without answering how much conductivity you had, how it caused the circuit to fail, what part of your circuit failed, and in what way, you haven't really narrowed it down to the flux, even if cleaning helped. There are a number of more likely root causes of the kind of issue you describe. I can make time for going into that if you're interested.

"No-clean water soluble" is news to me. Don't know if I'd trust that in a humid environment.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#273

Post by agumonkey »

joshspankit wrote: post #210
agumonkey wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, "too cheap" is bad for newbies. You need something at least average or you'll struggle progressing. Same thing happened when I learned bass. I was unable to achieve anything after 2 years on a shovel. I then tried a squier special edition.. suddenly everything was getting out. Still a newb but the tool gave me direction on where to work to improve with a lot less effort. I was shocked.

I’ve been steering parents on this for years: for beginners (especially kids) the difference between a lifetime passion and another hobby on the pile is usually down to the quality of the instrument + the ability to have early wins (and it’s almost impossible to have early wins on a poorly-made instrument)

Quite true. Once again, balance is key.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#274

Post by nibbleshifter »

toss1 wrote: post #265
nibbleshifter wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an exception, IMO, for safety critical items in sports. I've seen so many people show up at climbing walls with cheap carabiners from amazon/etc that aren't rated for climbing, but when you view the listing all the images show climbing.

OMG YES! I wasn't thinking of that aspect. Absolutely, for safety gear, get only top notch equipment!!! Safety gear turns many incidents from something like notifying your family or waking up wondering "why can't I remember or see anything" to something like "damn, that's a huge dent in that helmet" or "so much for those goggles". I've heard participating in a number of sports: "If you only have a $10 head, then sure…

With helmets, I won't even buy them online - because I can't fit check them, and reputable retailers won't take returns of helmets.

Its cheaper to buy a helmet online, but it is generally better to pay the extra 10-15% and try the fucking thing on in a shop, ensure it fits, etc.

Some manufacturers (Mammut, for example) only really offer one or two sizes, others offer a variety.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#275

Post by brianpan »

dboreham wrote: post #249
atahanacar wrote: post #45

I used to "suck" at soldering, until one day I was recommended a Louis Rossmann video by Youtube and decided to watch it. Once I saw how much flux he used, I started to use more flux and as it turns out, that was my problem. That is my problem with this article. Flux is only superficially in a sentence. So my tip to beginners: Cleaning flux is way easier than struggling to solder with little/no flux.

Hmm. Soldering since before I could talk, then professionally for a couple decades, and I never used flux once. It's in the solder.

You can solder carefully without adding flux. Or you add flux and it erases all mistakes before you make them. There's no need to make it more challenging when flux is available.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#276

Post by LegitShady »

crimsontech wrote: post #262
LegitShady wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...all the professional kitchens I've seen use very nice professional kitchen equipment. They don't use damascus steel knives because that doesn't offer any advantage in function, but they aren't using cheap anything. Pots, pans, and knives work for a very long time and it doesn't make sense spending little to not get good ones. You can't get heavy guage stainless pots and pans for cheap, ply or no ply. The knives ar…

When you sharpen a knife several times a day it’s going to wear out fast, even if it’s expensive. Pots and pans get bashed about and dropped, which damages even expensive pans. Maybe it’s different in the UK but we never used fancy knives or cookware in the kitchens I’ve worked.

thats why you use quality knives that need sharpening less often. You still sharpen them because that makes the work take less time and effort. They're not fancy they're just high end. They're not damascus steel because that doesn't offer any actual advantages. Thats why you can get a shitty henkels knife for $50 anywhere you look, but the actual zwilling pro chef's knife is 3x the price - because you don't need to sharpen it as often - it keeps the edge for longer.

It's not a question of fancy. Regular looking pans and pots made from ultra thick gauge stainless steel dont look fancy, but they survive being dropped on the ground without issue.

You have a big miscomprehension if you think expensive = fancy. Not fancy, rather ultra utilitarian but high quality.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#277

Post by hakfoo »

diablerouge wrote: post #130
Steltek wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are pretty good cheap soldering irons these days too. My $35 Pinecil is pretty fun to use.

I've had a $100 Weller and a $25 Yihua soldering station and found them pretty comparable to each-other. What's most important is that you get an electronics soldering _station_ of some type and not a basic plumbing/electricians iron that is just a pen on a cord. Those are extremely frustrating for working on a PCB.

Yeah. I went from various cheap irons to an equally cheap Yihua station, and it's such a quality of life improvement. You don't have to try to fight a too-short cord that's about to pop out of the socket, and the station is a good place to stick a durable rest for the iron that's much heavier than the stupid little stands they sell with pencil irons.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#278

Post by [deleted] »

puredata wrote: post #154

Some tips for soldering beginners that helped me when I first started building FPV drones. -Get good solder. Kester 63/37 is my favorite. Stay away from lead-free solder, it's harder to work with. Soldering temperatures are too low to vaporize lead, just wash your hands after handling leaded solder. -Buy good flux. If you have a problem soldering, flux will probably fix it. No, the flux inside the solder wire is not…

[deleted]

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#279

Post by fsckboy »

krapht wrote: post #207
fsckboy wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In practice? Some tools are just worth spending the money on upfront, inferior tools will often lead to frustration and failure early on. no, you can't undermine the idea with this trick. For example (grabbing examples from other comments in this thread), while an expensive soldering iron might be much better than a cheap one, there is no way you know before you start whether you're going to be soldering a lot. I k…

I know so many people who get frustrated with hobby tools and then quit the hobby, when if they would've bought something decent to start off with, might've kept interest. The price differential is a lot less if you buy used, but quality tooling. This tooling is fully depreciated, and you can turn around and sell it for what you paid for it as long as it's still in working order. To bring it around to programming, im…

far far more people quit hobbies period, and all those people would have wasted a lot of money gearing up.

Re: How To Get Started In Soldering

#280

Post by i_am_a_peasant »

spiderxxxx wrote: post #172
i_am_a_peasant wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no such thing as too much flux :) I would also recommend wearing protective glasses not to splash stuff on your eyes.

Oh, there definitely is such a thing as too much flux. I have some active flux that works really well on old and oxidized boards, but it's a pain to clean. I try to use only the amount necessary to do the job. No-clean flux still needs to be cleaned, but it's a lot easier to clean up, and with that I will say that I agree with your statement, conditionally. Having a swimming pool of flux or more flux than solder is n…

Will it affect the connection in any way from a signal integrity perspective?
Post reply on HN