141–150 of 163 posts
most of the youtube videos for soldering are a waste of time as they focus on the rituals of soldering rather than the rationale. think of soldering as a thermodynamic and metallurgical system to create a solid mechanical/electrical joint - so while welding is a good analogy, it doesn't really give you a good model on what is going on. to get really good at soldering is to get good at understanding the interplay of t…
1. Use a soldering iron that can hit 400, and use a needle tip 2. Use leaded solder - lead-free is a pain. If you're not doing this for hours every day, even without ventilation, you'll be fine. 3. Heat the pads you're soldering to, not the solder. I used to tell kids to hold the iron to the pad for a count of three, then feed the solder in. 4. Two additional tools I find helpful - a solder sucker and copper wick.
> 1. Use a soldering iron that can hit 400, and use a needle tip I have to disagree with that. Almost every time I've been called in to rescue a frustrated novice at the soldering bench (which has happened a lot), I've found them using the thinnest tip they could find with the temperature cranked to 400°C or higher because nothing was melting. It's fine to have an iron that can exceed 400°C (and I can't think of any…
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FNIRSI 2C53T for more serious work ZEEWEII DSO154Pro to go as cheap as possible for something that is roughly useful
And in between? Also what would I really need it for? I mainly do ESP circuits and stuff like that, would I ever need anything other than a multimeter if your opinion?
If you’re doing mostly digital circuits, I’d consider a very basic scope for dealing with power supplies and PWMs (but skip the cheapest single channel ones, you’ll want the second channel very soon), and consider getting a separate logic analyzer that can decode common protocols on several channels. You won’t need that if you just work with popular modules though.
While soldering is not that hard, different tasks require different tools. Most of them can be from very cheap to very expensive. As a beginner I'd recommend the following: A small USB-C soldering iron supported by IronOS[1], e.g. Pinecil vor TS100 A solid stand with brass wool A KU soldering tip (looks a bit like a knife) for good heat transfer, too small tips are not good Thin ( No clean flux (not a pen) Isopropyl…
> A wirecutter Yes, but buy several. Maybe it's only because I buy cheap crap ones in the first place, but I treat them as consumables.
While soldering is not that hard, different tasks require different tools. Most of them can be from very cheap to very expensive. As a beginner I'd recommend the following: A small USB-C soldering iron supported by IronOS[1], e.g. Pinecil vor TS100 A solid stand with brass wool A KU soldering tip (looks a bit like a knife) for good heat transfer, too small tips are not good Thin ( No clean flux (not a pen) Isopropyl…
I understand that there's always a hesitation to invest in what looks like an expensive and large tool, but if there's one thing that I could go back in time and force myself to get years sooner, it's a stereo microscope. It's the single largest difference between frustrated and feeling like a ninja. You will, quite simply, never regret it. I recommend this one: https://www.strangeparts.com/a-boy-and-his-microscope-a…
That link is unfortunately quite useless, link doesn't work.
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Most of those is not a must. For me one of the most important thing is Rose alloy and some copper braid for desoldering. Also rosin is one of the best flux available because of guaranteed no corrosion. Also it is best to have not only copper soldering tip for good heat transfer but iron soldering tip as well because it will not get bent when agressively digging some crap.
The fume extractor is completely superfluous to the hobbyist. Its important to people with occupational exposure but as a hobbyist i cant imagine ever soldering enough to get good if i had to set up a fume extractor every time.
While soldering is not that hard, different tasks require different tools. Most of them can be from very cheap to very expensive. As a beginner I'd recommend the following: A small USB-C soldering iron supported by IronOS[1], e.g. Pinecil vor TS100 A solid stand with brass wool A KU soldering tip (looks a bit like a knife) for good heat transfer, too small tips are not good Thin ( No clean flux (not a pen) Isopropyl…
One thing I'd take issue with though is no clean flux for hand soldering. "No clean" formulations are almost universally designed for reflow oven temperature profiles and may not actually meet their specifications for electrical/chemical safety to leave on the board without cleaning when hand soldered. They are also commonly _more_ difficult to clean if you want/need to. Given that non-no clean formulations are likely both easier to clean and more reliable over time when hand soldered, they're my preference for rework.