Step 4: Snip The Leads — Remove the soldering iron and let the solder cool down naturally. Once cool, you can snip the extra wire from leads. A proper solder joint is smooth, shiny and looks like a volcano or cone shape. You want just enough solder to cover the entire joint but not too much so it becomes a ball or spills to a nearby lead or joint. Begin by removing the insulation from the ends of both wires you are soldering together.
If the wire is stranded, twist the strands together with your fingers. Make sure your soldering iron is fully heated and touch the tip to the end of one of the wires. Hold it on the wire for seconds. Repeat this process on the other wire. Hold the two tinned wires on top of each other and touch the soldering iron to both wires. This process should melt the solder and coat both wires evenly. Remove the soldering iron and wait a few seconds to let the soldered connection cool and harden.
Use heat shrink to cover the connection. The good thing about using solder is the fact that it can be removed easily in a technique known as desoldering. This comes in handy if you need to remove a component or make a correction to your electronic circuit. To desolder a joint, you will need solder wick which is also known as desoldering braid. Step 2 — Heat your soldering iron and touch the tip to the top of the braid. This will heat the solder below which will then be absorbed into the desoldering braid.
You can now remove the braid to see the solder has been extracted and removed. Be careful touching the braid when you are heating it because it will get hot. Optional — If you have a lot of solder you want removed, you may want to use a device called a solder sucker. This is a handheld mechanical vacuum that sucks up hot solder with a press of a button. To use, press the plunger down at the end of the solder sucker.
With a soldering station, the soldering iron plugs into the station for greater control over temperature, and other features like set-temperature memory, lock-out, etc. While there is a large variety of different types of solder, at the most basic, you need to choose between lead or lead-free, the diameter of the wire, flux core or solid wire, and the type of flux. If you are repairing or assembling electronics for use in the US, lead solder is the easiest to work with and it forms the most reliable solder joints.
The lower heat also generates less thermal stress on the rest of the PCB. If the end product is being shipped outside of the US, especially to Europe, you should consider lead-free solder. An exception might be for high-reliability electronics like those used in aerospace. In that case, check with the specifications and requirements of the end-user of the electronics. Lead-free may still be required, but there may be exemptions in place that allow for the use of lead solder.
Think of flux and a prepping agent for the soldering process. Flux removes any oxidation that may be present and slightly etches the surface to promote wetting. No-clean flux is a good choice for soldering where cleaning is to be avoided. The light residue can be left on the board, or removed with a flux remover. Rosin activated flux RA provides excellent solderability in a wide variety of applications. It is best to remove the residue after soldering for aesthetics and to avoid corrosion down-the-line.
Water soluble flux OA is a very active flux engineered to be removed easily with DI water, like in a batch or in-line system. It can also be removed with isopropyl alcohol IPA. It is very important to clean off water soluble flux residues because they are highly corrosive. These classifications are for companies that have green initiatives, or have to comply with halogen restrictions due to regulatory or customer restrictions.
Halogens include chlorine, fluorine, iodine, bromine and astatine elements. If soldering a simple connection, like 2 wires, or a thru-hole lead, the flux in a flux core solder should be enough. For more complex soldering techniques, like drag soldering multiple leads on a surface mount component, additional flux may need to be added.
The flux is activated and consumed when it originally flows from the core. If the solder is worked further, like when you drag across multiple leads, you run the risk of cold joints or bridging without additional flux.
While more flux seems like it should be better, take care not to over apply flux. Flux can be painted on with an acid brush, or applied with either a needle bottle dispenser, or a pen dispenser. You want the tip hot enough to melt the solder efficiency, but excess heat can damage components as the heat travels along the leads, and it will reduce the lifespan of the soldering tip.
Inspect the solder joint to make sure there is full coverage over the contact area and lead. Some things to watch out for:. The goal is to match the tip shape and size to the contact pad. This allows you to maximize the contact surface area, so that you heat the lead and contact area as quickly as possible. If you choose a tip that is too large, you have more tip volume to heat, which will slow down the heat recovery - the time it takes for the tip to reheat after soldering a joint.
It also runs the risk of interfering with other components and contact areas. It will take more dwell time, which slows you down and could increase the thermal stress of the component. Make sure you are using a soldering iron and tips intended for electronic PCB soldering. Tips intended for other applications, like stained glass, plumbing, or heavy electrical work, are generally much larger than what is appropriate for electronics.
Soldering tips come in all kinds of shapes to facilitate different PCB geometries:. The solder will tend to melt but just drip off the tip. This makes it difficult to move in order to solder around contact areas the way you may need it. The purpose is to remove excess flux and solder from the tip. If too much flux builds up and burns onto the soldering tip, it will eventually dewet and be unusable but not necessarily unrecoverable. Unless the tip cleaning tools are used properly, they can do more harm than good.
When choosing a sponge, make sure it is made of natural cellulose like Plato replacement sponges. Synthetic sponges will melt onto the soldering tip and can shorten tip life. Use clean DI water.
Tap water may include minerals that can build-up on the tip. When you saturate the sponge, wring it out so that it is not dripping wet. Too much water can increase the thermal stress of the tip, and slow down tip recovery. When the soldering tip has turned black from baked on fluxes and no longer wets properly, it is time for the cleaning tools of last resort. Tip tinner Plato TT is a combination of lead-free solder and cleaner. While the soldering iron is at full temperature, roll it in the tip tinner.
As you roll it, it should change from black to shiny silver as the baked flux is cleaned off. It's simple, and it's also very practical.
You'll make your own smartphone charger that you can power up with ordinary AA batteries. Fewer parts than the Christmas tree, but a little more challenging to solder. This is a handy one to keep in the car, as you can get AA batteries at gas stations and corner stores everywhere. It is what it says it is. Build yourself a nice single-speaker FM radio that can tune in stations from 88 to FM.
With plenty of parts to solder, new components to learn about, you'll also learn a thing or two about radio technology. If you can build a radio, there's nothing you can't build. Put it in a nice clear case and be the envy of friends and family alike. Soldering is a basic skill needed for DIY'ers, whether you want to build your own electronics or just do some simple repairs.
It's an inexpensive and simple skill to learn. There are plenty of electronics kits to practice on, and you can start designing your own electronics projects before long. Just getting into DIY electronics? How'd you like the article? Are you a bit of a pro already? Share your tips and tricks with others. Know of some really fun kits to help the beginner learn?
Feel free to mention them in the comments. Which Raspberry Pi project should you start with? Here's our roundup of the best Raspberry Pi uses and projects around! I strive to do the best job possible in the best manner possible, and with a little humour.
Safety First You're working with hot metal, so there are some obvious safety concerns. Heat Resistant Soldering Board. The Rosin is in the Middle. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Explore this Article parts. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Part 1. Buy a soldering iron that lets you control the temperature.
Look for this information on the box or you can also ask a store clerk. This is really important as some soldering projects require the solder to be heated to a specific temperature. However, cheap, single-temperature irons are also OK if you're just looking for something to practice casually with. It's worth noting that many cheaper soldering irons often heat up to very high temperatures. This heats the solder up too high resulting in a poor connection and, sometimes, damage to the electrical component.
Look for this at your local hardware store. If you want to improve your soldering, try to buy a decent quality solder if you can as it is much easier to work with than cheap solder. A high-quality solder should melt right on contact with a heated soldering iron. This is a result of there being more impurities in the lead portion of the alloy.
Get hold of some scrap-metal to practice on. You can use old devices you no longer use such as radios or an old toaster or things like that. Coins also work really well!
Look for anything you can pull apart and that you no longer need or use. Practicing on a coin or some other kind of cheap piece of metal allows you to practice without the fear of ruining the electrical component. Get a good, sturdy set of pliers to hold any electrical wire. You can find these at your local electronics store, or home goods store.
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