Thread: Soldering hints
View Single Post
Old 17 February 2007, 13:15   #19
Secret Vampire
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Birmingham UK
Age: 43
Posts: 214
I use a weller whs 40 temperature controlled station, not as nice as the TCP ones, but a lot cheaper, and has a good temperature range so I can turn it way down for delicate SMT work, or all the way up for valve kit. Though I have a pencil tip for fine work, for general through-hole or point to point wiring, I prefer to use a screwdriver style flat tip, it's easier to make good contact with pads and component leads, and the larger tip area means it holds heat better than a long thin tip, of course, weller use the thinnest of thin nickel plating on the flat tips, so they don't last very long at all.

Other things, neither solder suckers or braid are great, generally I prefer a good sucker, but the ideal choice is a vacuum rework station, but they're expensive, so only really an option if you intend to do a lot of repair or component salvage. Artery forceps are invaluable for gripping wires and positioning parts in difficult locations, and since they lock, can be pushed into service as a heatsink when soldering temperature sensitive parts. Minature vices are useful for holding plugs in place while you solder wires to them, if soldering DIN, and especially mini DIN plugs, I find it helps to put them in a socket before soldering to them, the plastic they use for the bodies melts quite easily, the plug holds the pins in place during the inevitably fiddly operation of soldering the wires on.
Gas irons are a pain in the ass, and should be avoided, except possibly as a cheap source of hot air for smt rework with the appropriate hot air head, soldering guns are great, but totally unsuitable for any form of computer repair other than degaussing monitors.
Secret Vampire is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.04250 seconds with 11 queries