Soldering Irons

[joechimp]

THank you. I shall never consider cold soldering again.

Like I said, I had heard conflicting reports on cold soldering.

You certainly set that subject straight,

Thanks again.

[cdbc]

Hi
I would say a nice piece would be:
Antex soldering station ~ bit pricy though... or..
Weller same same as above...
Controlled temperature etc... 
Regards Benny

[joechimp]

Hi
I would say a nice piece would be:
Antex soldering station ~ bit pricy though... or..
Weller same same as above...
Controlled temperature etc... 
Regards Benny

Think a Weller might be more in my price range. Thanks

[Yankee]

I've had soldering irons as big as a hot dog and as small
as a pencil.    Good for speaker wires, outside antenna
connections, etc..

Anything super small sized, like heating up a needle over a candle, don't think
I have a steady hand for circuit board work any more.

They were all about $5-10  at say  Radio Shack.

The first little "splash" of solder is the best one.   A second try always
ends up a big mess for me with motherboard damage and short
circuits a big possibility.    One tiny drop per hole.

[The Chief]

For years I used one very similar to this, and it worked very well, until it finally died and no repair parts were available.  Mine had a replaceable tip, but I'm not sure this one does.   I think the one I had cost a good bit more, too.  I seem to remember something like $70, way back in the 60's.

One bit of advice - always use iron tips.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=370-352

[Tony]

joechimp, you have a willing team of Solderers willing and able to come over and fix whatever it was you were trying to fix. Quite amazing !   

[joechimp]

joechimp, you have a willing team of Solderers willing and able to come over and fix whatever it was you were trying to fix. Quite amazing !   

It is amazing, yet "not" considering how great this forum is 

In the long run getting someone else to do it might be the way to go. Nah ! What's the fun in that.

[µT6]

use a good soldiering iron, weller makes some of the best ones

this one is almost professional

i have one almost identical to this



always keep the tip of the soldiering iron covered in tin

don't use lead free tin, buy less than a pound of it, preferably a very thin one, thicker one usually doesn't melt well



don't be afraid of use lots of flux but try to put it over the points to soldier only, even the cheapest one is good, those sold in small doses works well



it doesn't have to be that liquid one that is so expensive that no one outside a lab will buy it

if you don't have enough experience be patient and have a tin remover like the one on the left of this image



when working with a multi layer printed circuit board remember to not to apply heat for longer periods, 3 or 4 minutes will probably destroy the tracks or even detach a entire layer of the pcb

if what you want to fix is a superficial soldiered component like a resistor or something similar, a soldiering iron is not the best solution, possibly a heat gun is better

weller and makita are good options, put the wind speed to lowest and heat the entire component, you can use aluminum to cover the sections that doesn't require heat to resoldier components





the problem is that if you can't control wind speed, you will detach pieces from the pcb because the pcb can melt all the tin on the near area

it is so fun to put the accidentally removed pieces back in place  

have in mind that you can end up breaking everything so try to destroy something else first, i like to destroy old ps2 mouses, i recover the buttons that are not damaged and soldier them in new mouses that end with broken buttons to recover them, just did that with a mouse when my microsoft mouse end broken and i didn't had a usable replacement

every pcb has its own conditions, some are harder to work with than others, you read my post about fixing my old mainboard, i had two different situations removing a capacitor form two mainboards

[Just17]

Take note of the shape of the very tip of the iron .......  the only real use I ever got from tips shaped like this was to melt round holes in plastic parts!

Use a tip with a single flat surface ...... use different sizes for different work ........  the flat surface helps to get the heat to the required location quickly and efficiently.

Something shaped like this is what I would recommend ---  I couldn't find a pic of what I actually use ...



The centre one of these, in varying sizes and temperature ranges, is closest to what I mean which would be best described as 'spade' shaped I reckon



EDIT
This shape on the tip .....  finally!

[ThirdOfSix]

Take note of the shape of the very tip of the iron .......  the only real use I ever got from tips shaped like this was to melt round holes in plastic parts!

Use a tip with a single flat surface ...... use different sizes for different work ........  the flat surface helps to get the heat to the required location quickly and efficiently.

Something shaped like this is what I would recommend ---  I couldn't find a pic of what I actually use ...

Once again, I totally agree with just17 on this.

I was having an internal debate with myself as to whether to comment on those conical tips.

As I said earlier, you want to make repairs very quickly which means you want maximum transfer of heat from the tip to the joint.

You will never get that with a conical tip because due to it being round, the tip and the joint only touch at a very small spot unless you apply a large glob of solder to it which will tend to bridge across nearby pins on a small surface mount IC which is the only place you are likely to need the ultra fine pointed tip.

Even then it is a gamble unless you have some of the extremely small diameter solder at hand.

I have done such repairs with one of those tips but only as a last resort where I am willing to make the gamble.

And, yes, I have used them many times to make round holes in plastic when doing custom repairs where the replacement parts won't fit original hole sizes.

[µT6]

"Take note of the shape of the very tip of the iron .......  the only real use I ever got from tips shaped like this was to melt round holes in plastic parts!"

after soldiering with that same useless tip a considerable amount of small devices like cellphones(small speakerphone cables or a display is not a simple task, i guarantee you that), mouses, gamepads(oh old dualshock ps1 times  ), headphones(i break the cables alot) and many other devices, i can say that you have your style and never got used to that tip, possibly not enough practice

i can do alot with the standard one, in fact the last one on that picture



is the one i bought to replace the old tip i left damaged for years in the soldiering iron, the new one is cheap, not the original one but i must say that is working really well

if you remember to let the tip covered with tin when you finish your soldiering task, the tip will remain in good shape for a long time, specially if you don't clean it with the sponge in the weller soldiering station, it usually makes the tip break in a couple months, i have seen it happen, so sudden, one hour it was fine and then next it wasn't there

i am not even close to be good soldiering things but i can manage to do alot, i enjoy using that soldiering iron alot

something i recommend is have a soldiering station, or at least a good stable table with decent illumination

when soldiering something remember not to blow the tin while it gets cold, that is the easiest way to make tin fragile, a fake soldiering contact point

[Just17]

after soldiering with that same useless tip a considerable amount of small devices like cellphones(small speakerphone cables or a display is not a simple task, i guarantee you that), mouses, gamepads(oh old dualshock ps1 times   ), headphones(i break the cables alot) and many other devices, i can say that you have your style and never got used to that tip, possibly not enough practice

 

[joechimp]

use a good soldiering iron, weller makes some of the best ones

this one is almost professional

i have one almost identical to this

WOW, Thanks T6. That sure covers a lot. Very in depth. Lots of practical information to be absorbed.

The Weller is the way I think I will go. It seems the most likely to suit my needs.

[joechimp]

Thanks Just 17 and ThirdOfSix. I find your information helpful as well. Like I said earlier that I used to solder things way back in the day but this modern refresher course is been enlightening.

The conical points that you recommend T6 will be invaluable to me on the fine little solder points in the cameras I want to repair. The larger tip would not even fit in some of the spaces.

It really is amazing how the wealth of information on soldering has been amassed in this thread.

This info should be added to the help database. I am sure that a lot of people can be helped by this excellent tutorial. 

[Just17]

The conical points that you recommend T6 will be invaluable to me on the fine little solder points in the cameras I want to repair. The larger tip would not even fit in some of the spaces.

I disagree absolutely.

It is not a matter of space .....  bits with flat surfaces of differing sizes and temperatures are available.

Using those pointed bits is a recipe for disaster.

......  and that is based on more than 3 decades of professional experience.