Soldering IRons

What should i do for my soldering skills because they stink and i was wondering what kinda of solder to use and what kinda head i should use.

Assuming you are starting out with nothing, I say go to Radio Shack and see if they still carry a complete soldering kit.
It will have al the hardware you need.
Maybe a cheapie kit to build for some practice.

Then hit good old Google and read up on techniques.

A 30 or 40 watt iron should be fine for this stuff.
It's very important to care for the iron properly too, to get the most life from the tips, but you'll read about tha I'm sure.

i have a 25 watt soldering iron with 3 interchanging tips. But i am out of solder

[dielectric]

I practiced on old boards from walkman tape players and such. Find some old broken piece of electronics around the house and try removing some parts without damaging them. Then put them back. You'll have more luck finding through-hole mount parts in cheap appliances like coffee makers and such. Maybe find an old computer board, like a junk MODEM or ISA Ethernet card, those usually have some good practice parts on them.

When you get brave, take something that works, remove/replace, and see if it still works!

When you get more practice, try some surface mount parts. They are kinda fun. I like to desolder little SOIC chips and put them back on backwards, just to be a punk. I don't expect it to work, it's just for the practice.

You don't need more solder for any of this, just some junky board and a soldering iron. It's fun, try it!

Josh

[cj1267]

Your 25 watt iron will be fine for most pc board work but for the boards on a zip/bit I would not go above a 15. Most all surface mount parts are VERY heat sensitive and you can kill then with a 25 watt or higher. RS does carry a 15 watt grounded iron which will be better for the surface mount parts as well because some are even static sensitive.

[aperson]

you should use the finest tip you can find. id reccomend acid core solder it melts very easily.

thanx guys

[dielectric]

Originally posted by aperson
you should use the finest tip you can find. id reccomend acid core solder it melts very easily.

I really don't recommend acid core. That's for plumbing, I think. The problem is that if you don't wash the joint and neutralize the acid, the joint will get eaten away over time.

I've been using some Kester brand 63/37 rosin core, .020" diameter, and it's very nice. I don't think you can get it at Radio Shack, but most mail-order places carry Kester.

Otherwise, the .020 60/40 rosin core from Radio Shack is good enough. Pretty standard stuff, can't say anything bad about it.

[Labmonkey]

i agree with dielectric....use only rosin core for surface mount. even the rosin core will leave residue that can eventually do some damage, but it is minimal and slow...but if you want to be a perfectionist about it, use some alcohol and a q tip to clean any new solder joints.