Soldering 101. A tutorial series by Oneslowz28

[Oneslowz28]

A new story entry has been added:

[drupal=395]Soldering 101. A tutorial series by Oneslowz28[/drupal]

Lets face it, there will come a time in your modding career when you will need to solder something. This is not a task that should be taken lightly as it involves high temperatures, molten metal, and dangerous fumes. Not to mention the risk of damaging expensive parts. Why should you solder you say? After all there are plenty of other options to making a connection than fusing two pieces of metal together with molten metal.

[mtekk]

"Lead free solder seems to bond better to silver wires found in Cat5 and Cat6 cables as well as many wires found in PSUs."

I believe that is aluminum wiring, and really, if you have the correct amount of heat the solder will flow (and when it does that you'll get a good bond). Also, Cat5 and Cat6 will always be copper wiring, it's required for it to be true Cat5 or Cat6 (aluminum is not a good enough conductor to do gigabit speeds at any usable distance).

Also, about sponges. Be careful of the type you use, at home I made the mistake of using the wrong type (I guess, the ones at school never had this problem) which caused a very unpleasant smell. I think I'll try damp paper towels, the worst thing that could happen is they would catch fire.

Oh, and it's a good idea to tin your tip after you're done using it. It will prevent the copper from corroding, and any flux will float to the outside, which is easier to remove when you start your next soldering job.

[x88x]

There's some good info in there.

For a nice iron, once you get into it, you might want to look at something like the Weller WLC100. I haven't gotten one myself yet, but I've used Weller irons at university labs, and the difference is amazing between a nice soldering station and a cheap Radio Shack iron. You can find a WLC100 for as low as ~$45, such as this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WLC100-.../dp/B000AS28UC

If you get severe damage on your iron tips, or if you just need a really small tip and don't want to shell out lots of money for the specialty tips, you can just stick the tip in a drill press (also works with a hand-drill, but it's more difficult), and use files and sandpaper while it's spinning at a low speed.

One other thing I would highly recommend is a fume-de-fumifier-thingy-that-I-don't-know-what-its-real-name-is...right..anyways, basically just a fan with a filter on it to suck up the nasty (and toxic) solder fumes. For mine I just zip-tied a scotch-brite pad to an 80mm case fan, and zip-tied that to a wooden block. It really makes a world of difference to not have all those fumes swirling around my face. It also lets me get a lot closer to my work.

Another point, and as with any power tools, eye protection is highly recommended.

[mDust]

Check back next month for part 2

Oh man, a month is a long time...how about tomorrow? I already knew the basics of soldering as I researched it before attempting critical mobo repairs...but part 2 should be a good read for me.

Soldering is seriously one of my many weaknesses and unfortunately I don't have any friends that are any good at it either. So online tutorials help me out quite a bit. Thanks for this article.

I have a cheapo iron around here somewhere...maybe I could practice a bit.

For mine I just zip-tied a scotch-brite pad to an 80mm case fan, and zip-tied that to a wooden block.

How does that work? Doesn't that just kind of spread it around the room, slowly poisoning everyone in the area?

Also, about sponges. Be careful of the type you use...

My wet sponge actually started to burn when I went to clean the tip...so yeah, some sponges are > others.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Thanks for the info. You know, I never thought to push both ends of wire into each other lol, I just lay one on top of the other hahahaha, but hey, I don't do much soldering.

I really have to get myself a nice soldering station and cable holder, that's what staff discount is for .

+rep!

[Oneslowz28]

Few quick notes to accompany the article.

Solder sponges are a sacrificial accessory. They will burn a little and eventually need to be replaced. There are some on ebay with a hole in the center that I like. You can usually get a 10 pack for a few bucks. Only use actual soldering sponges. They are made from an organic based material. They will burn and not melt like foam sponges. Melting plastic foam is bad. If you do not have a soldering sponge use a wet paper towel. It will leave a brown mark but its not going to catch fire if the paper towel is damp.

Yes a really nice iron is a Weller but I did this tutorial using my cheap RS iron because thats what most people can afford. I have a $100 weller station and use it just as much as my RS dual watt station.

Yes the silver cat 5 was a typo. I fixed that.

[x88x]

How does that work? Doesn't that just kind of spread it around the room, slowly poisoning everyone in the area?.

No, the fumes get caught in the scotch-brite pad, kinda like a dust filter.
(#'s are the pad)
-------------___
----------->| f |#-->
fumes---->| a |#--> no fumes
----------->| n |#-->
----------->|__ |#-->

[mtekk]

Solder sponges are a sacrificial accessory. They will burn a little and eventually need to be replaced.

A note on this, even if they don't burn much, they end up getting filled with a ton of solder that sticks to them and then need replacing.

Only use actual soldering sponges. They are made from an organic based material. They will burn and not melt like foam sponges. Melting plastic foam is bad.

That's what I thought. Synthetic sponges are the ones you want to avoid like the plague (the type I tried to use (it was what we had on hand), didn't do too bad, no real melting, but a very bad smell).

[x88x]

Also, you can get a dry tip cleaner, like so:
http://www.curiousinventor.com/store/product/2

I've never used one myself, but I hear they work a lot better than a simple sponge.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah we have those ones over here, seemed more worth it then the sponge.