Quote:
Originally Posted by sarek2k
another one here without any soldering skills sarek + soldering iron = destruction 
anyone fancy starting a soldering skool  |
Hi, I have been soldering for quite sometime now and I’m pretty good at it.
I would recommend getting a soldering station that you can set to different temps. So you don’t burn chips or lift pads!
Good Quality soldering Iron Tips!
Believe me when using the right Tip for the job.
It will make life soooo much easier for you.
Also will make soldering more easier to.
I would recommend for a beginner to practice on a dead PCB bored that you don’t care about or a bread bored.
Make sure to use good Quality flux! Has with out flux you will be lifting up pads.
You can’t solder without flux!!! Flux helps the solder to melt and make a good connection.
The make I use is AMTECH NC-559-ASM.
Always clean the flux off after! Use IPA Alcohol or WD40 electronic contact cleaner with a Foam Swab or a toothbrush! I don’t recommend using Cotton buds to clean the motherboard. I use to use them all the time. Hate the stuff and it can lift solder pads like anything. If not careful. Even leave little bits of Cotton everywhere. I recommend Foam Swabs! So much easy and don’t leave a mess. But make sure to clean the flux after doing any soldering. Over time flux can become conductive and can even do damage to the motherboard. Depending on what flux it is.
Always clean your Iron tip every time when soldering something!
Get a Soldering Tip Iron Cleaner and some Tip cleaner that you put your soldering Iron into.
Make sure to use good Quality solder! You won’t believe what bad rubbish solder can do. It can make it more harder to solder when using rubbish stuff.
You will find the solder will not make a good connection and make solder blobs everywhere.
What I recommend is one that melts at a lower temp around 240c with flux made into it. If you get rubbish stuff that melt at a higher temp you will have problems and it can even do damage to the end of your soldering Iron tip! Won’t come off so easy.
Buy some good Quality solder wick!
Don’t buy rubbish stuff. Has it will make life a living Nightmare when you need to de-solder a component. Solder wick is your best friend when soldering.
Also a de-soldering gun is pretty good. But can be pretty expensive.
I would recommend a heat work station.
You can get them that’s build into soldering stations. They are pretty good when removing chips or doing anything that needs removing with out a soldering iron. Like a video port!
Just loads and loads of practice!
Like I said I have been doing it for years now and got very good at it. I can do mods on game consoles like the Dreamcast HDMi mod and Dreamcast bios piggy back mod, GameCube HDMi mod, N64 HDMi, Sega Saturn Sram mod and bios. PlayStation PSIO mod.
Practice makes perfect and don’t feel bad on yourself if you don’t Master it on the first go or get angry over something that you are doing. When something goes terribly wrong. Everyone makes mistakes and even I sometimes have made bad mistakes. Even from this day! LOL
Just take your time and practice on a dead PCB or a bread bored until you get the confidents to work on a good PCB bored. Buy some resisters to mess with or even one of them build it your self soldering kits on Amazon. I have build two Radios and even a watch, speakers. You can get them on Amazon for tiny do it yourself projects. They are great fun to build and I totally recommend them for anyone that is learning to solder. Getting into electronics!
I hope this helps you.
Take care.