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I hate soldering

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Re: I hate soldering

#191

Post by wrs »

ssl-3 wrote: post #59
wrs wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new breed of irons with temperature measurement built into the tip (invented by JBC, cloned by Geeboon and similar) is amazing. The tip heats to exactly the temp you want in 3 seconds, then cools down to avoid damage when you put it back in the stand. As you solder, the power is automatically controlled to keep the tip at the specified temp regardless of the load you put on it. I never thought I'd replace the Wel…

It heats to exactly the temperature I want in 3 seconds? Is there evidence to support this claim? (My bullshit detector is making some rather profound gurgling sounds.) edit: Seriously, my dudes. Links, or it never happened. Anecdotes are just anecdotes. Anecdotally, my soldering iron heats up very quickly as well and I'm very pleased with this, but I'm not making a claim that it heats to an exact, unspecified user-s…

I understand the skepticism, but it's really just a simple application of negative feedback. There's a 200W-ish variable power supply, a thermocouple right at the tip, and a software PID controller. So it's no mystery why it works so well.

Live demonstration: https://youtu.be/BepVEStPmJk

Re: I hate soldering

#193

Post by ssl-3 »

voxleone wrote: post #119
peteforde wrote: post #5

I had to click, because it turns out that I love soldering. It's relaxing and has a skill curve such that there's a trick to it but with a bit of practice, you can be someone who is really good at soldering, too. For anyone reading, the key is to invest in a proper stereo microscope and a decent fume extractor. I recommend this one: https://www.strangeparts.com/a-boy-and-his-microscope-a-love... If you're up for a bi…

What about aluminum? I haven’t been able to find a welder willing to work on my custom bike frame, so I’m considering learning to do it myself after taking a welding course. The custom car builders on TV make it look easy, but aluminum seems like an incredibly difficult material to work with.

It's difficult find a welder willing to work on an aluminum bike frame not because aluminum is hard to weld. It's not so bad to stick two pieces of aluminum together in a new-to-them way with the right tools as long as maintaining the original strength isn't important.

But strength is important for bicycles. And aluminum bike frames are already built down to a given weight -- they don't have much in the way of extra strength to lend.

The heat of welding permanently changes the way the surrounding metal works. That's not ideal for safety devices like a bike.

Heat treatment can be done later (and is done when aluminum frames are built), but that's a different process to learn and it's pretty far beyond the gamut of what most welders are willing to deal with. Most welders don't have the bike-sized oven that's needed, let alone the training and experience to get it right, and with a sample size of exactly 1 it's a risky operation. It's easy to get things like warped tubes out of this process and turn a beautiful piece of wall art into scrap metal.

Re: I hate soldering

#194

Post by Beijinger »

arionmiles wrote: post #187
Beijinger wrote: post #172

I hated it too because I had a shitty soldering iron. Could have used a ironing iron instead, so shitty was it. Use this, stop complaining: https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/07/29/pinecil-v2-soldering... Pinecil RISC-V soldering iron with the Pinecil V2 featuring a new Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V microcontroller with Bluetooth LE connectivity, optimizations for higher power levels, as well as tentative support for the…

they put RISC-V in a soldering iron?

No shit. And an Open OS. It works great.

Re: I hate soldering

#195

Post by ssl-3 »

arionmiles wrote: post #187
Beijinger wrote: post #172

I hated it too because I had a shitty soldering iron. Could have used a ironing iron instead, so shitty was it. Use this, stop complaining: https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/07/29/pinecil-v2-soldering... Pinecil RISC-V soldering iron with the Pinecil V2 featuring a new Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V microcontroller with Bluetooth LE connectivity, optimizations for higher power levels, as well as tentative support for the…

they put RISC-V in a soldering iron?

Sure, why not?

It's OK to have fun with tools.

Re: I hate soldering

#196

Post by ssl-3 »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #136
BenjiWiebe wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not use brass wool? I've used it for a long time and not noticed any problems. My soldering iron tip looks and works great.

Brass wool is often just copper plated steel, and will damage the plating. Thus, pin holes in the tips iron, nickel, or chrome plating begin to pit the copper core. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/brass-sponge-has-rui... Anecdotally, all wool seems to accumulate abrasive crud, various amalgamated solder waste, melted plastics, and trimmed bits of steel etc. Best of luck =3

That's certainly a concern, but it's completely ameliorated by buying real brass wool.

The stuff that came with my (apparently genuine) Hakko 599B is non-ferrous (and is therefore not steel). Refills are Hakko part 599-029.

Soldering iron tips are usually made from copper with a thick iron plating. On Moh's hardness scale, iron doesn't care much about what brass thinks. :)

Re: I hate soldering

#197

Post by tra3 »

stavros wrote: post #185
tra3 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you share a link?

Yep: https://a.aliexpress.com/_Eyw9z6E

Appreciate that, ordered!

Hopefully it'll bring my soldering to the next level.

Can you recommend something for "helping hands"?

Re: I hate soldering

#198

Post by projektfu »

pipe2devnull wrote: post #118
_nxwj wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree it seems like it could be fun. I think I am a bit paranoid about the hazardous chemicals and risk of a burns when using a traditional iron. From what I understand reading the comments, it's gotten much smoother with stencils, SMD, ovens, and so on.

It’s quite easy to not burn yourself. I’ve done a fair bit of soldering and it has only happened like twice to me and it wasn’t that bad

The most important thing is having your workspace organized. Second most important is to put your iron in the holder when you're doing anything else. ADHD types will get more little burns.

Re: I hate soldering

#199

Post by stavros »

tra3 wrote: post #197
stavros wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep: https://a.aliexpress.com/_Eyw9z6E

Appreciate that, ordered! Hopefully it'll bring my soldering to the next level. Can you recommend something for "helping hands"?

No problem! The only helping hands I'd recommend are https://omnifixo.com/. Pricy, but everything else I've tried has too much play and is useless to me. Omnifixo is just fantastic.

Re: I hate soldering

#200

Post by projektfu »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #182
bityard wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not trying to convince you of anything, but if all of your soldering experience is from parts that came out of a 40 year-old arcade cabinet, don't beat yourself up: that is definitely what I would call soldering in hard mode. Depending on where it lived, everything in it is probably oxidized, corroded and covered in dust, cigarette tar, and possibly cooking oil. Even if you can't see/smell any of it, it's still t…

Ah thanks to all of you for the nice comments. I didn't really realize this: I may not despair yet and still give it some more tries. I'll probably keep a few tiny PCBs (say from broken computer mouses) around and cut cables (so that they're not oxidized) and give it a go again and see if I can get a bit better at it.

They make practice projects with lots of joints for a few bucks that you can use to develop technique. Then you can know it's not just technique.
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