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Need Help in Soldering? For Beginners - Solder & Flux 101

RyanElectro

RyanElectro

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Feb 18, 2012
Messages
796
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Good day ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades, friends,

If you are illsolderate like me, and have questions like:
"How do I solder?"
"What is flux?"
"I n00b, I pay money. You do for me?"

Well, you are in the perfect thread. After scooping through countless youtube videos on soldering tutorials, some good, others just terrible, I found what is IMO the best and most informative soldering tutorial for beginners! It doesn't just teach you how to solder, it also teaches you the why's and what's. Perfect for beginners who are great with their brains but need help hands-on! (no sexual connotation intended ;)) After all, this video was made by professionals for use in training courses. So let's cut to the chase:



I know it's old school... nevertheless it's still relevant for today's basic electronic soldering.

Hope this assists your understanding and good luck soldering! :beer:
Ryan
 
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I've always been nervous about soldering LD pins so have stayed away from it.

Thanks for this :beer:

Lase
 
Don't be nervous about soldering at all, just start with components you can afford to fry.

Just go ahead and solder a resistor and led onto some experimenting board, or wires to a LED. Soldering laser diodes isnt difficult to do at all, but you must practice before you try on expensive components. Perhaps you will break some components on your initial tries, but every time you solder a joint adds to your experience and skills.

I've seen people go from unable to solder in a pth resistor to good enough for soldering laser diodes within a single day of practical work. Mastering in quickly requires some talent, but even if you have no talent for it at all, soldering leads onto a laser diode is a learnable skill.
 
I've spent a few hours trying to solder wires to motors to make a spiro and have somehow failed every time. I don't know how but the motor won't work. I've done this to approx 10 motors now.

Lase
 
This little dude is your friend:
elenco-soldering-heatsink.jpg


Makes soldering LD pins very painless. Just be sure to use an alligator clip jumper to ground the heatsink clip first.
 
I like the Hunter brand of soldering heat sink, I have used them for years and never had any problems with them.
They have jaws made from solid copper so they suck heat pretty well
and come in at least two sizes.
 
Ryanrenesis said:
Good day ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades, friends,

If you are illsolderate like me, and have questions like:
"How do I solder?"
"What is flux?"
"I n00b, I pay money. You do for me?"

Well, you are in the perfect thread. After scooping through countless youtube videos on soldering tutorials, some good, others just terrible, I found what is IMO the best and most informative soldering tutorial for beginners! It doesn't just teach you how to solder, it also teaches you the why's and what's. Perfect for beginners who are great with their brains but need help hands-on! (no sexual connotation intended ;)) After all, this video was made by professionals for use in training courses. So let's cut to the chase:



I know it's old school... nevertheless it's still relevant for today's basic electronic soldering.

Hope this assists your understanding and good luck soldering! :beer:
Ryan
Click to expand...

Learned something new about the plastic state band of
different formulas/ratios of solder... :thanks:


Jerry
 
Wow! I didn't expect such excellent feedback guys.

I'm so glad this helped you all. I had to quench my thirst for knowledge somehow. What better way than to feed my perfectionist nature (tis true haha) with those hours scouring for better and better tutorials; they were for a great cause!

Cheers :beer:
 
personx910 said:
hello im noob in soldering and found thing for me on ebay but dont know if its usable to solder diode to driver or how to solder with it can u help ? these are things i found
Good Helper / No Soldering - Wire Glue BGA | eBay
Good-helper Solder Paste Flux Iron Soldering 35grams | eBay
Click to expand...

Hey there, I'm not sure if wire glue can be used to bond the wires to the diode pins. I think wire glue can only withstand so much current and is not the optimum bond compared to soldering. You can try but I've never tried it. Maybe someone here has?

And that flux paste looks alright, again I've never tried it so I can't pitch in on whether it's good or not, but it's no plumping flux.

Ryan
 
Lead-Free 96%tin & 4%silver will work just fine with laser diodes right? I'm a beginner, I must say...

Any additional info would help, such as when soldering do I do the same as any other connection or directly move the blob onto the diode from the iron?

:thanks:
 
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CH4RLIE said:
Lead-Free 96%tin & 4%silver will work just fine with laser diodes right? I'm a beginner, I must say...

Any additional info would help, such as when soldering do I do the same as any other connection or directly move the blob onto the diode from the iron?

:thanks:
Click to expand...

I usually use eutectic 63/37 solder as it more quickly turns solid from liquid and that trait is great for soldering diodes.


When soldering just make sure you melt the solder on the metal you're soldering, not on the iron.
 
Last edited:
RyanElectro said:
I usually use eutectic 63/37 solder as it more quickly turns solid from liquid and that trait is great for soldering diodes.

When soldering just make sure you melt the solder on the metal you're soldering, not on the iron.
Click to expand...

Yes, go for eutectic solder whenever you can. If you live somewhere that you can buy leaded solder, go for that as well, as it is generally superior to lead-free solders especially for hobby work (lower melting point, better mechanical properties, etc.).

CH4RLIE: As you don't live some place like Europe that enforces RoHS stuff, get yourself some 63/37 leaded solder and use that.
 
RyanElectro said:
I usually use eutectic 63/37 solder as it more quickly turns solid from liquid and that trait is great for soldering diodes.


When soldering just make sure you melt the solder on the metal you're soldering, not on the iron.
Click to expand...

Bionic-Badger said:
Yes, go for eutectic solder whenever you can. If you live somewhere that you can buy leaded solder, go for that as well, as it is generally superior to lead-free solders especially for hobby work (lower melting point, better mechanical properties, etc.).

CH4RLIE: As you don't live some place like Europe that enforces RoHS stuff, get yourself some 63/37 leaded solder and use that.
Click to expand...

Eutectic solder ☑

So, is it necessary to have any additional flux? Or is it fine without any because it is in the solder...
Thanks so much for the answers guys! :yh:
 
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