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I hate soldering

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Re: I hate soldering

#171

Post by tra3 »

stavros wrote: post #40
summa_tech wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't have space for a microscope, you can also get yourself the long-range (~400mm) 2.5-3.5x magnifiers that you may have seen your dentist wear. They're easily available on Amazon, not too expensive, and comfortable for hours of wearing. These are 2-element lenses that work really well. Higher magnification variants (8x etc) are not nearly as comfy. They get quite long, heavy and expensive. I tried them and…

This is a great tip, I use a loupe and it works amazingly well. Cost maybe $10?

Can you share a link?

Re: I hate soldering

#172

Post by Beijinger »

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 new USB PD EPR standard (Extended Power Range) working at up to 28V.

Re: I hate soldering

#173

Post by mrheosuper »

pclark wrote: post #54

Any tips on how to improve soldering? I just started learning electronics, it’s so fun with Claude doing the code for the device.

Apply heat to thing you want solder to stick to, not to the solder wire.

There is no such thing as "too much flux" (Actually there is, when doing BGA reflow, but that's advance topic)

Re: I hate soldering

#174

Post by Beijinger »

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…

26 USD: https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...

It runs IronOS - Open Source Flexible Firmware for Soldering Hardware

https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS

Re: I hate soldering

#175

Post by Tade0 »

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…

I picked up soldering around the time lead-free solder started being required in the EU, so imagine my frustration when suddenly stuff stopped unsoldering like it should.

Of course a lot of electronics were compliant before 2006, but that point in time marked the moment when even the most suspicious dropshipped Chinese items had to use it and suddenly you needed way more heat to do the same things.

Re: I hate soldering

#176

Post by asib »

rcxdude wrote: post #92
eviks wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With you overall, but given the toxicity of the fumes some quality / rated fume extraction might be the one area where cheap/self made item isn't worth it

If you're doing it a lot, then it's definitely worth making sure it works properly. If you're doing it occasionally, just make sure the area is well ventilated and you're not outright inhaling the fumes coming off the solder, and it's not likely to make any real difference to the health of your lungs.

"Well ventilated" on its own is completely insufficient. If you are soldering without any fan or extraction, you _will_ inhale fumes because you have to look right over your work when you solder, which is exactly where the fumes are.

In general, the danger with soldering fumes is not the average concentration in the room in which you're working over the duration of a session, it's inhaling the very high concentration of fumes right as the soldering happens.

We could debate how much damage this is going to do and whether it's worth worrying about, but there isn't really room to debate that ventilation alone is going to do absolutely nothing.

Well ventilated area + fan is probably okay, but you need the fan right next to your soldering iron or it needs to be a gigantic fan otherwise, again, you are just going to inhale most of those fumes.

Re: I hate soldering

#177

Post by Yhippa »

The first time I soldered, it was for a job interview to work for a professor building gastric pacemakers after university graduation. My eyes were still sharp so it was actually kind of fun.

Re: I hate soldering

#178

Post by bombela »

Toutouxc wrote: post #97

For anyone thinking about learning to solder, there are several levels of what you can do with a soldering iron. The surface-mount stuff and ovens and microscopes, that's like level 3. Level 1 is just being able to take two wires and connect them, reliably and cleanly. That's already immensely useful and requires very little skill and equipment. $50 gets you a nice soldering pen, another $50 gets you some tweezers, s…

I find SMD the easiest. Using a pinecil soldering iron, or a cheap hot air station. Then through hole, because it's annoying to hold and flip the PCB around without everything falling. And finally soldering two wires is just an exercise in frustration. Helping hands or not, it's just plain annoying.

Re: I hate soldering

#179

Post by [deleted] »

poulpy123 wrote: post #115
Doxin wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Leaded solder is easier to work with for personal projects it really isn't if you use a nice modern lead-free solder. you'll need your iron to be about 20c hotter, but it's not like the early days of lead-free where it'd flow all weird.

Do you have a brand recommendation ? Leaded solder is unavailable in my country

[deleted]

Re: I hate soldering

#180

Post by beret4breakfast »

tecleandor wrote: post #94
sandreas wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starting with soldering, I find these 200$+ recommendations (regardless of which tool) hard to justify. # Soldering iron I'd recommend the Pinecil V2 with IronOS. https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS # Solder fume extraction I've built a simple fume extraction with an old plastic case, a 120mm fan and a sheet of carbon filter attached to a 120mm dryer / air conditioning hose. Around 15$ and good enough for soldering from…

How well does the pump work? A couple times I've had to desolder a connector or IC with lots of pins from a PCB and it's a painful process. I've always wanted to buy one of those, but I've seen lots of reports about getting clogged easily. I rarely desolder, but I can easily justify a hundred bucks if I can avoid all that hours of work, where I'm also risking damaging an IC, lifting a pad, or something else...

Would also recommend soldering wick - it’s just copper braid that you heat alongside the solder you’re removing and it ‘wicks’ away the solder.
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