I wish I had read this, or something similar, when I learned how to solder. I initially was doing "cold soldering" by just melting the solder and using it like glue. Soldering became much easier once I learned the right way.
How to Solder [comic]
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Re: How to Solder [comic]
#12I saw Mitch at an event. He said that 'it's easy to solder. the hard part is unsoldering'.
That being said, he gave some amazing impromptu demonstrations of unsoldering. Stuff like heating up the soldered bit and turning the PCB upside down and hitting it not too hard but still firmly (with the flair and skill of a chef pan flipping a soufflé) to get the solder out of a hole.
Re: How to Solder [comic]
#13Another thing: good tools matter (just like with software). Don't try to solder electronics with a RadioShack iron. It can be done, sure, but it's frustrating. Get a temperature-controller solder station and a fine tip for the iron. This will cost about $100, but will last years and produce much better results. Another nice thing to get is a circuit board holder so you don't have to lay the board upside down on the t…
Great suggestions. A nice Weller station will make your life infinitely better. Another thing that helps make beautiful, clean solder joints is flux. I used to stuff PCBs with surface mount components, and my general practice was to just swab flux over everything before soldering. Then, when you're done, you need to scrub the board in hot water to remove the flux, but it's worth the trouble.
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