Curious about Electrical Components and their Tools.

[Spud1200]

What tools do you need to be able to Soldier. Obviously a Soldering Iron but is an electrics hobby costly and what do you need to be able to fix parts components by your self. I've been reading threads on different Forums about people who were soldering Chips, Capacitors to their Mainboards. How would you do this. Can some one point me to a UK Shop I could by a "Kit" to get me started. Such as Soldering Iron and soldering Wire.

I'm presuming their must be different thickness and types of wire. Different costs involved. Is this a hard thing to do. Has anyone on hear done this before.

Is their a Kit available I can by from a UK shop.

Anyone. !! ..

 

[S0ULphIRE]

You'll need

• A Soldering Iron
• Solder
• Damp sponge or cloth to wipe your soldering iron on
• Ideally some rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) to clean the components you want to solder. Any oil/grease on them makes it pretty hard to get a nice job done.

You can get a 30W soldering iron for ~10 quid, so it's pretty cheap. You may want a more expensive iron in the future if you end up soldering lots (i.e. one that has a temperature control on it and doesn't take forever to heat up) but if you're just starting I wouldn't invest too heavily.

And that's all you need to buy. To practice, just get any piece of electronic junk you have lying around and try to desolder a capacitor or anything. Youtube has *lots* of tutorials on how to do this so just follow one along and don't sweat it if you don't get it perfect first try.

Basically you follow these steps though:
1. Touch hot iron to the part you want to solder
2. Touch solder to where the tip of the iron meets the part you want to solder and wait for it to melt. You'll see the solder melt, then kind of "jump" to completely surround the leg of your part.
3. Take the solder away
4. Take the soldering iron away

That's how you get neat joins.
If you want messy and weak joins, use the iron like a paint brush and push the solder around with it. If you want good joins, don't do that

 

[carnageX]

Basically you follow these steps though:
1. Touch hot iron to the part you want to solder
2. Touch solder to where the tip of the iron meets the part you want to solder and wait for it to melt. You'll see the solder melt, then kind of "jump" to completely surround the leg of your part.
3. Take the solder away
4. Take the soldering iron away

That's how you get neat joins.
If you want messy and weak joins, use the iron like a paint brush and push the solder around with it. If you want good joins, don't do that

Good thing I don't do much other than solder speaker wires for my car . I could never get the hang of getting the solder neatly/cleanly on...what you said makes sense tho - not sure why I never tried it that way lol.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Another thing to consider is the solder used...

Small things like resisters, and the such, use a smaller diameter solder! Thick speaker wire? Use a larger diameter solder!

There are also different blends of solder... Don't know about Aus and Euro countries, but I love 60/40 (60% Tin, 40% Lead). Most stores here won't sell solder with lead, and that kind of solder almost never works right with out incredibly high amounts of heat in my experience. Last time I bout solder, I bought a 60/40 Rosin Core 0.80mm spool (I think it's .80... Label wore off years ago!). One pound has lasted me 8 years so far, but, the solder is thick, so it has taken some getting used to.

When buying solder, make sure to get solder that says "Rosin Core" or "Contains Flux". Just makes it a little easier to solder, and keeps you from having to buy flux and use that separately.


The last important thing, how do you want to remove solder should you want to replace some components? I prefer a solder sucker... Some prefer Solder Wick.

All that aside, buy a few practice boards from Amazon or Ebay. Will help you learn how to solder with out destroying a PCB and lifting pads.

 

[Joe C]

imho.... silver solder is much better for electronics.
You find that it is much harder to de-solder than it is to solder. You'll need to de-solder old parts off your board (capacitors) before you can replace them with new ones.
If you have any intention of replacing bga types of chips, then you need a work station
Infrared Welding Station | Aoyue | Replacements | BGA

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Got a link to a good silver solder that doesn't have a higher melt point than what I am used to (60/40 tin/lead)? A lot of the lead-free solders here that I can get require about 25C more worth of heat which is just enough to make my life a royal PITA.

 

[Joe C]

get a better soldering iron?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Have a fairly good one as is. I rather not have to heat a copper pad on something up more than needed to melt solder.

So, I will stick by what I feel is best, since you obviously can't provide a link, or mixture of silver solder that is similar to 60/40 tin/lead in characturistics.

 

[carnageX]

The benefits of silver solder are miniscule

Silver bearing solder: (that is, contains silver, not for roller bearings) Silver is used in one of the leading alloys for lead free solder (An96.5% Ag3.0% Cu.5%) and also as an addition to tin-lead solder, usually in the 2-4% range (when you se 62/36/2 this means Sn64Pb36Ag2).

People claim that it flows better, has a lower melting point, is stronger, and has a higher conductivity. According to Indium's solder wire data sheet, their 2% silver solder has an electrical conductivity that is 11.9% of Cu compared to 11.5% of 63/37 tin-lead solder, a shear strength of 7540psi vs. 6200psi, and a tensile strength of 7000psi vs. 7500psi for 63/37. So, yes, the claims are true, and also mostly insignificant. Silver was initially added to solder to prevent silver platings on component leads from dissolving into the solder ("silver migration") and forming brittle joints. Having silver in the solder reduces migration, so you may want to use it on silver joints. (Note: this logic doesn't entirely make sense to me. If silver getting in the solder caused embrittlement, how does adding more silver prevent this?)

Audiophiles seem to be enamored by 4% silver bearing solder, namely some from WBT, Cardas, and WonderSolder. Are these really better for audio?

The superior claims include things like higher purity, eutectic alloys, higher conductivity, and better flux. I haven't found any controlled studies showing that a group of people can actually hear the difference, so I'm skeptical. Although additional silver does increase conductivity, the increase is small and the joint distance over which that conductivity applies is also extremely small. For what it's worth, here's a forum discussion that discusses a bit about solder in high-end audio and also a FAQ (scroll down)concerning solder on Cardas Audio's site. Another decent discussion.

Bad joints made with any solder can create a high-resistance connection, especially if the underlying components were heavily oxidized initially. My advice: if it makes you feel better, get it, but be wary of sellers that don't provide spec sheets.

What Kind of Solder to Use

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Eh, in either case for a learner it's a moot point any old normal solder will do, just don't get one that's too thick. Anything under 1mm diameter will be ok.

Don't forget to post pics up of your attempts! I'm gonna be waiting