Soldering thread

[GSS]

Seoul, its 25W and he also threw in 63/37 solder and liquid flux
I like this iron also because its a little smaller than my Harbor Freights. My first iron was a Dollar store "Trisonic" at a said 40W?? and it is smaller like this Weller and easier for me to handle.
Never thought of sliding over a big piece of shrink wrap over a cut cord, as I didn't think it would shrink enough being so big to slide over the plugs. I just use the ugly electrical tape.
Isn't this place great as Pman sent me a care package a while ago with lots shrink wrap and silicone wire and etc. etc.
This brings up a question as my new cord won't be here till Friday or so and I cringe being on my laptop since my cord broke of at the plug and I have it taped up and I can hear it spark a little trying to hold it just right. Where can I find a 5.5mm plug to try to fix and practice on my old cord?

 

[Seoul_lasers]

Seoul, its 25W and he also threw in 63/37 solder and liquid flux
I like this iron also because its a little smaller than my Harbor Freights. My first iron was a Dollar store "Trisonic" at a said 40W?? and it is smaller like this Weller and easier for me to handle.
Never thought of sliding over a big piece of shrink wrap over a cut cord, as I didn't think it would shrink enough being so big to slide over the plugs. I just use the ugly electrical tape.
Isn't this place great as Pman sent me a care package a while ago with lots shrink wrap and silicone wire and etc. etc.
This brings up a question as my new cord won't be here till Friday or so and I cringe being on my laptop since my cord broke of at the plug and I have it taped up and I can hear it spark a little trying to hold it just right. Where can I find a 5.5mm plug to try to fix and practice on my old cord?

Wow that's a complete care package! Nice!

You can get 5.5 mm plugs at electronic supply stores or computer hardware stores. You're reffering to a DC jack for charging a laptop?

What you can do to fix the laptop cable is trace the damage to the area you can hear the sparking / short,
1)cut the wire off at the area shortly before(1cm before) the damaged location,
2)open up the insulation and expose the 2 wires. One - other +
3) from there you'll need to solder new wires and shrink those onto the laptop psu cable.
4) from is point you'll need to connect and shrink the barrel jack connections then wrap the the entire splice in larger shrink wrap.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

We've all see soldering being done, but what about when you need to removed solder from a board?

De-soldering can be done with a soldering braid (soldering wick), a manual Vacuum desoldering tool, and a powered desoldering gun (Hakko 808).

I have used all of these methods and the latter is of course the better, quicker method. These vintage guns run on ebay for around $90-150US and the modern counterpart (Hakko) FR300 runs around $250-300USD online.

The Vacuum desoldering gun wins hands down.

btw, Hakko being a Japanese company is pronounced Hack-oh NOT hay-ko... grr... both videos.




Be careful when choosing vacuum stations, knockoff brands can have major internal issues as shown in the video below.


Some key points to remember when desoldering. By Pace Inc.

 

[GSS]

Yes the DC jack. It's a straight in plug and had the laptop on my coffee table and hit the jack when walking by it and it bent and broke it right where the plug is in the boot.
Till I find for a replacement plug I won't know whats needed. I will need to wire mesh solder as its a mesh type cord. Hopefully i'll find a 90% bend plug so I won't make this mistake again

 

[Benm]

Using desolering braid with flux will usually work, albeit slower than a hot system with suction.

If you want to remove a defective component once in a while working with the wick/braid stuff is really fine. If you want to remove the component for further use it may be better to use a desoldering tool as it will probably get less hot and hot for a shorter period of time.

For a broken power plug none of this is needed, you just strip the wire back a bit and solder on a brand new plug.

If you break the socket inside a laptop that's another story. If you can get the board out and have good access, i'd actually suggest snipping the existing broken port off with side cutters or something like that first, and then desoldering the remaining pin parts one by one. This is a bit easier that getting all pads to melt and yank the thing out as a whole.

After fully removing the defective socket, use wick/braid to absorb any excess solder so the PCB holes are open again (assuming this i a through-hole component) and just solder the replacement in like you would on a newly built board.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

Using desolering braid with flux will usually work, albeit slower than a hot system with suction.

If you want to remove a defective component once in a while working with the wick/braid stuff is really fine. If you want to remove the component for further use it may be better to use a desoldering tool as it will probably get less hot and hot for a shorter period of time.

For a broken power plug none of this is needed, you just strip the wire back a bit and solder on a brand new plug.

If you break the socket inside a laptop that's another story. If you can get the board out and have good access, i'd actually suggest snipping the existing broken port off with side cutters or something like that first, and then desoldering the remaining pin parts one by one. This is a bit easier that getting all pads to melt and yank the thing out as a whole.

After fully removing the defective socket, use wick/braid to absorb any excess solder so the PCB holes are open again (assuming this i a through-hole component) and just solder the replacement in like you would on a newly built board.

Soldering braid definitely will work for a connector, you just got to be careful on your timing
If you are removing heat sensitive components then yes a de-soldering gun will be the best trick.

this video shows different techniques for de-soldering including the de-solder braid

 

[Benm]

At least that is a proper procedure.

Personally i just reflow the joints with lead based fluxed solder and tap/whack the board onto on of the sides to get the majority of solder (flying) off, only using the braid on troigh holes that just don't open up that way

I'm sure that is not by any book but it often is the fastest way to get the job done. Notice where the solder ends up though or you could be in for major problems.

Soldering is a bit of an art that you cannot really learn from tutorials and just have to do hands on. I'm sure it looks like i'm brutalizing some poor board like a wild urang utang when i need to replace a component on it, but in the end it generally works out just fine.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

At least that is a proper procedure.

Personally i just reflow the joints with lead based fluxed solder and tap/whack the board onto on of the sides to get the majority of solder (flying) off, only using the braid on through holes that just don't open up that way

I'm sure that is not by any book but it often is the fastest way to get the job done. Notice where the solder ends up though or you could be in for major problems.

Soldering is a bit of an art that you cannot really learn from tutorials and just have to do hands on. I'm sure it looks like i'm brutalizing some poor board like a wild urang utang when i need to replace a component on it, but in the end it generally works out just fine.

A little word of Caution:

Whacking the solder off is probably not the best idea as it can splatter and get onto the board traces. Using an air bladder or puffer is a bit more controlled method of getting out difficult soldered in tight or unusual shaped locations. I know that lots of people using the wacked method for along time
but with the advent of SMC boards, more possibility of problems using that old method. :tinfoil:

 

[Benm]

Hehe yeah, you do need to check where that solder actually ends up. Usually just on the table, but it can bridge other connections on the board and such if you're unlucky. Good thing this is usually quite visible.

There are many things to go wrong with it though, it takes some practice and decent aim. Novices tend to get this wrong even to the point of the solder flying off in their face instead of somewhere on the bench.

Field technicians and such do it all the time though, it's just faster and sometimes you don't even have to remove all the connectors from a board or device to swap out one faulty component. Reality of the situation is that you'll have to component and solder residue removed faster than a desoldering station heats up

 

[GSS]

Got a new battery pack which I ended up doing my first battery pull from the old one and got 6 18650 LG's.
Had trouble though trying to simply put a topping on these flat tops. I used first the new Weller and couldn't get the tip to tin. After starting to blacken the tip I ended up switching to my cheapy "Trisonic" Only to not ruin the Weller in anyway.
Wasn't pretty but ended up topping 3 off so I have the option of 3 sets of 18650's in series. Duh!
I'm asking of what I think I learned is correct?
Lifetime threw in some good flux and solder but I used a .59 cent metal tubed handled brush that they carry in the soldering sections of stores. I always notice no matter how quick I flux the iron tip it melted the brush a little. Also I have been wetting a typical orange mechanics rag to wipe and clean the tips. I'm thinking these rags aren't pure cloth and have alot of nylon in them. All the iron tips have been building up what looks like goo.
I ended up cleaning the irons by softly rubbing them with a sponge that has the green scotch bright after the they cooled down and I don't think any factory tin coating was damaged.
Whats the best brush and clothe?:thinking:

Oh yeah: talk about tapping off all that extra solder that I couldn't get to stick...

 

[Rivem]

Anybody else a fan of butane irons? I find I use mine a lot more than my soldering station simply because of the work I do more of. Plus, the little torch can be really helpful for several things as well.

I'm thinking I might get a good digital soldering station this summer though. Any suggestions? I like the iron on the thinner side with a very flexible cord.

 

[Benm]

I don't really like butane/gas powered soldering irons. Temperature control on those things is often absent or unusable.

Sometimes you have no other choice and you need to use them, but if you have mains power available i would not bother with them at all.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

Anybody else a fan of butane irons? I find I use mine a lot more than my soldering station simply because of the work I do more of. Plus, the little torch can be really helpful for several things as well.

I'm thinking I might get a good digital soldering station this summer though. Any suggestions? I like the iron on the thinner side with a very flexible cord.

Butane irons, they are good for power outages and in a pinch but as others indicate, they have nearly 0 temp control *usually temp is usually eq to 80-130W iron.


On the subject of digital irons:
I recommend a hakko digital soldering station (FX888D,FX951.. they do get extremely expensive) or Weller model WESD51 or WD1002.
I'd also recommend making or getting a fume catcher as well. (quite easy to make)

 

[Rivem]

I don't really like butane/gas powered soldering irons. Temperature control on those things is often absent or unusable.

Sometimes you have no other choice and you need to use them, but if you have mains power available i would not bother with them at all.

Of course. I guess the majority of soldering work I do is different from the average LPF user.

Of course, I wouldn't ever consider using one on a laser diode or semiconductor circuitry.

I do find myself tinning wire contacts and doing splices in very odd places quite frequently though. Sometimes, I also do weird stuff like putting small test leads on heavier gauge wire, and the ridiculous heat is helpful.

I also use it a lot for the finer work of heat piping, but that's stepping away from the electronics a bit.

I think they're a bit underrated, but I get that most laser hobbyists might think that's a bit looney in the context of sensitive electronics. :crackup:

On the subject of digital irons:
I recommend a hakko digital soldering station (FX888D,FX951.. they do get extremely expensive) or Weller model WESD51 or WD1002.
I'd also recommend making or getting a fume catcher as well. (quite easy to make)

I believe I used a Hakko FM203 when I used to build test equipment in an internship. Liked it a lot, but the price was staggering.

Already got the fume extractor built into a workbench. Not new to soldering at all, but I want a much nicer iron for new stuff.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

Of course. I guess the majority of soldering work I do is different from the average LPF user.

Of course, I wouldn't ever consider using one on a laser diode or semiconductor circuitry.

I do find myself tinning wire contacts and doing splices in very odd places quite frequently though. Sometimes, I also do weird stuff like putting small test leads on heavier gauge wire, and the ridiculous heat is helpful.

I also use it a lot for the finer work of heat piping, but that'should stepping away from the electronics a bit.

I think they're a bit underrated, but I get that most laser hobbyists might think that's a bit looney in the context of sensitive electronics. :crackup:



I believe I used a Hakko FM203 when I used to build test equipment in an internship. Liked it a lot, but the price was staggering.

Already got the fume extractor built into a workbench. Not new to soldering at all, but I want a much nicer iron for new stuff.

Those Hakko FM203 are indeed very expensive and are only really only good only for a production facility. They can take 2 irons at a time or a vacuum desoldering tool or a SMD hot tweezer and auto adjust temperature based on the tip's thermal ID characteristics. They also use a lockout key instead of having a default passcode to change settings. (tips are very expensive!!)

Ah I need to make a wishlist of materials to get a home lab up and running.

 

[Benm]

Of course. I guess the majority of soldering work I do is different from the average LPF user.

Of course, I wouldn't ever consider using one on a laser diode or semiconductor circuitry.

I think they're a bit underrated, but I get that most laser hobbyists might think that's a bit looney in the context of sensitive electronics. :crackup:

I'm not really sure, at some time gas powered soldering irons were promoted as suitable for electronics here. These were very small ones though, not suitable for large gauge wires at all.

To me they are mostly fieldwork things, if you have no power available you can resort to using them, probably to restore the power in the first place


As for proper soldering solutions go: Don't spend a lot on them if you are just starting up. Things like the really cheap Aoyue soldering stations are actually not that bad as long as you get the proper tips for them.

The smaller chisel shaped bits that come for those are actually pretty good for general electronics work, and could be used to solder laser diodes easily.

Things like solder suckers or smd tweezers are nice, but not required for general assembly work. You don't need them to remove defective components either, but you might when you want to remove non-defective components for re-purposing or somthing like that.