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Hacking and Security => High Quality Tutorials => : iTpHo3NiX October 25, 2015, 06:29:33 AM
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// Paper: Putting Together a Soldering Kit and Soldering Basics //
// By: iTpHo3NiX //
// Rev: 0.0.1 //
// Date: 10.25.15 //
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Contents
Putting Together your Soldering Kit
1.1 Solder
1.2 Soldering Iron
1.3 Soldering Iron Stand
1.4 Wire-Modifying Tools
1.5 Clips and Clamps
1.6 Liquid Flux
1.7 Heat-Shrink Tubing
1.8 Tip Cleaner
1.9 Exhaust Fan
1.10 Safety Goggles
Learn Soldering Basics
2.1 Soldering Wires
2.2 Soldering a Circuit Board
2.3 Tinning
Who is This Tutorial For?
Before you continue reading, I would like to say that this tutorial is geared at the ABSOLUTE novice. Absolutely no knowledge of soldering or soldering equipment is necessary. If you are looking for a more advanced guide, this is not it. I wasn't kidding when I put basics in the title. If you're already a pro-solderer, go ahead and either skip or feel free to add input.
Put Together a Soldering Kit
Soldering is playing with fire, or at least with hot metal. So we need to be sure we have the right tools. If you're working on electronics projects, chances are you'll want to connect lightweight metal objects like wires, and soldering is the way to get that done. You heat pieces of metal with a soldering iron, then join them together using a molten filler, or solder. Once it cools and hardens, you're left with a strong, electronically conductive bond.
Solder
This is the good stuff - the material you'll melt to connect metals. Traditionally, solder was a mix of tin and lead, but these days look for lead-free types to avoid nasty health risks. Choose thinner solder for delicate projects, such as attaching wires to a circuit board, and thinker solder for projects involving heftier wires or bulkier pieces of metal.
Soldering Iron
This tool has a metal tip and an insulated handle. When it's powered on, the tip heats up so it can melt solder. There are low- and high-wattage versions: Low wattage is useful for fragile projects, while high wattage is better for projects involving bigger pieces. There are also different types of tips available for the soldering iron.
Soldering Iron Stand
Buy a stand that fits your iron so you'll have a place to put it down safely when it's hot. (Leaving this thing lying around when it's turned on is a good way to burn down the tool-shed before you've even made anything with it!)
Wire-Modifying Tools
You'll likely be soldering a lot of wire, so it's useful to have wire cutters, wire strippers, and needle-nose pliers on hand so you can manipulate the wire. Before connecting wires, you must peel back their insulation to expose the wires, so wire strippers are definitely a must.
Clips and Clamps
Soldering requires both hands, so you'll need something to hold the materials you're soldering in place. Clips, clamps, and even electrical tape can do the job.
Liquid Flux
Soldering works best when the items being soldered are squeaky clean, so have liquid flux on hand, it chases away oxides and other goop that can make soldering difficult.
Heat-Shrink Tubing
You can use plastic heat-shrink tubing to insulate wires before you apply heat and solder them. It's available in several diameters for projects with various wire sizes.
Tip Cleaner
Your soldering iron's tip will get a bit nasty as you work, so keep a wet sponge on hand to periodically wipe down the tip.
Exhaust Fan
The fumes from soldering are not healthy to breathe, so you need good ventilation from a fan or an open window to help clear the air
Safety Goggles
Bits of hot solder can go flying as you work, so don't do it without wearing safety goggles. Or do, what do I care.
Now that we have a good idea on what we should include in our Soldering Kit, lets get on to the basic steps of soldering.
Learn Soldering Basics
As its most basic, soldering is simply attaching wires to wires. The process is a bit different when you're soldering directly onto a circuit board, but don't worry, I got you covered with info for each.
Soldering Wires
- In a well-ventilated space, with your safety goggles on, plug in your soldering iron to heat it up. Be careful not to touch the tip, which heats up fast
- Prepare the materials you want to join with solder. If you're connecting two wires, peel back any insulation about 1/2 inch (1.25cm), and twist the wires together. Place your materials on a surface you don't mind burning a bit, like scrap wood
- Cut a length from the spool of solder and coil it up at one end, leaving a short lead. You can hold on to the coiled end as you apply the solder
- Touch the iron to the point where the wires are twisted together. Leave it there until the wires are hot enough to melt the solder (about 10 seconds), then touch the solder to the wire joint every few seconds until it begins to melt. Allow enough solder to melt onto the wires to cover them, then pull the solder and soldering iron away. Don't touch the solder directly to the soldering iron during this process, that will melt the solder onto the wires, but won't form a firm joint.
- When you need to fix a mistake, you can reheat your joint, melt the solder, and reposition the components. If you want to break the connection you made for any reason, you can desolder a joint. For connections like joined wires, you can often simply heat up the joint and pull the wires apart, or cut each wire below the join and resolder as desired.
Soldering a Circuit Board
- Place the component that you wish to solder in the correct spot on the circuit board and clamp it down, then push the leads for each component through the holes on the board
- Solder the leads to the bottom of the board. (This is easier to do with a fine-tipped, low-wattage soldering iron.) Press the soldering iron to the lead and the metal contact on the board at the point where you want them to connect. Once they heat up enough to melt the solder after a few seconds, melt a small amount of solder at the connection point. Too much solder can cause a short, too little solder won't make a string connection.
- Pull the solder away, then remove the soldering iron a second or two later. Once you've soldered all the leads onto the circuit boar, trim off excess wire with a wire cutter.
Tinning
If you're working with components that have to be surface mounted on a circuit boar, such as ones that don't have leads, you can thread through to the back of the board, you'll need to use a technique called "tinning"
- Touch the soldering iron to the point on the board where you want to attach the component. Melt a small drop of solder on this point, then remove the soldering iron.
- Pick up the component with tweezers, heat up the drop of solder on the board, and carefully place the component on the solder.
- Hold the component in place for a few seconds until the solder cools.
- If you need to desolder joints on a circuit board, use a soldering pump with your soldering iron to melt and remove the solder.
Conclusion
Well I say a job well done, with this guide you learned what you need to get started soldering and how to do the basics.
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You do cover a good bit of the basics however i want to add a few things as "must have" for the tool kit and a few pieces of advice.
Gear:
Desoldering bulb - Especially for small joints or joints in cramped spaces this can make a world of difference.
isopropyl alcohol spray for cleaning surfaces to ensure a good bond, especially on older gear/wires
some good wick is essential as well for use on small/tightly spaced joints to ensure you dont get a short.
Soldering Iron - you have two basic choices the 10$ special that is going to be more of a pain than you realize to use, or a nice high end variable temperature iron.
Solder - this is somewhat opinion based but i STILL prefer lead based for a few reasons. though perhaps the most important one is that lead is the easiest to work with. Just dont be stupid, wash your hands after and your good to go. Also feel i should point out that different solders have different melting points, which is WHY the variable temp iron is so useful(not to mention you can adjust heat vs thickness of solder you are using).
last two pieces of gear(optional):
Anti static mat for your workbench to help you to not shock components
and a magnifying glass (on a movable arm) for detail work, especially for those that dont have good close in eyesight.
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It's a nice tutorial, but you might want to add a few more things to it.
You should mention that one should look for rosin core solder, cause that makes things a lot easier. Flux is still handy to have nearby though.
Also, the soldering iron tip, the chisel type works best for most of the work, since it transfers heat better than a conical one. ~30W soldering irons are good for most of the PCB work.
Desoldering equipment is also important, cause mistakes/repairs will happen from time to time. A good, flux-impregnated desoldering wick helps a lot. Desoldering pumps work great too, I bought one for a few bucks 3 years ago, it's still awesome.
Fume extractor is a nice starting project, it can be made out of computer cooler fan, battery/DC barrel plug connector, some kind of box, a switch, a linear voltage regulator IC, and, optionally, some kind of air filter material.
I find steel wire sponges (http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/2050805999/Hakko-599B-BGA-Soldering-Station-solder-tip-Solder-Iron-Tip-Cleaner-With-Steel-Wire-Sponge-Detin.jpg) better for cleaning the tip. You can use the kitchen steel wire sponge instead of buying a "real" one. I placed mine in a Nescafe can, it works great. I just put a lid on when I finish, and put it back in a drawer.
Cheap chinese helping hands can really be helpful, but only after you solve the flipping problem. Attaching them to a piece of wood, thus making a better stand solves that.
Also, you should show what a good solder joint looks like.
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Here is a video series from a guy I'm subscribed to on youtube. Really like this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Sb21qbpEQ&list=PL2862BF3631A5C1AA
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Thanks for the input guys and I will consolidate your input and include it in the OP.
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Here is a video series from a guy I'm subscribed to on youtube. Really like this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Sb21qbpEQ&list=PL2862BF3631A5C1AA
roflmao i was looking for that EXACT video the other day when i made my response. That guy really really knows his shit. Recommended his videos a year + back and then flat out forgot what his channel was called.