Soldering.......IT HATES ME

[JonnyCinco]

Well, I have all my electrical goodies laid out on the table...staring at me...laughing at me.....throwing rotten vegetables at me ::002::

I spent (literally) 6 hours last night attempting to:

1) solder the wires for ABS off switch

2) solder wires for Squadron lights

None of which I completed ::010:: ::010::

WTF am I doing wrong? Used lower heat (20W) and attempted high heat (50W). Have thin diameter 60/40 core (.032) and thicker.

Anyone around Richmond that wants some free beer and huge steak dinner in exchange for your soldering skills ::017::

 

[~TABASCO~]

Is it flux core? I use about 1/16". Don't worry about adding to much you can always melt off excess and let drip on the floor.

 

[Xdriver]

Soldering is tougher than I'd expected. I was just soldering(for the first time) some wires onto the circuit board of a garage door opener and made a mess of it. Had to tape the wires in place first and then solder. Was just using a cheapo thing from Hobby lobby that I'd used previously to melt the foam in my helmet to fit speakers. Not sure the gauge of the stuff I was using. It just came with it.

 

[JonnyCinco]

It's not that it was messy, the core would not freaking melt?!?!?!?!? Wires got hot enough to start melting the insulation. :'(

The core I am using does not require extra flux....so not sure if that is flux core or not.....

 

[timothy.davis]

Jonny I am a retired U. S. Marine Corps Electronics technician. I have had lots of schools and experience in the soldering field. You might go to Radio shack and ask for some 63/37 soldier. It has characteristics that make it idea for electronics use. 60/40 is plumbing soldier, can cause problems with faulty soldier joints. You will want to pick up some organic flux, its non-corrosive. Acid flux (plumbers flux) will come back and bite you with a corrosion issues. Make sure your connections and wire are super clean. Alcohol is a good solvent for this process. Cleaning the surfaces to be soldiered with an oil free ink eraser is a good way to get started. Soldering iron should also have a clean tip and be tinned. This means brushing the tip off with a wire brush the applying clean soldier to it until it shines. With your copper cleaned and fluxed, tinned soldier tip, apply the tip to the junction you want to soldier. If you have a small drop of molten soldier on the tip it will create a heat bridge with the copper. Then you should be able to feed in enough new soldier to make the joint. When the joint has cooled sufficiently you should clean it with alcohol and an acid brush. If with a cleaned tinned tip, and fluxed components, you still do not get enough heat flow you will possibly need to step up to a hotter tip. If you are still having problems let me know.

 

[Danno]

Melt a little solder onto the tip of the soldering iron. This is called tinning and helps provide good heat transfer to the items being soldered. Make sure the tip is clean first. Make sure the items you are soldering together are clean. Flux is used for this but not necessary. Just use anything abrasive to clean the wires and terminal. Tin both the wire and terminal. Apply the soldering iron tip to both the wire and terminal and then apply a small amount of solder to flow around both. Practice on some scrap material first. If I can make it through the mean old bat that taught our NASA spec soldering class, you can make it through this.

 

[ThatsLife]

Pretty good advice here already but I'll add a couple of things.

First and foremost make sure that your solder tip is clean. the solder should melt to the tip very easily and be nice and shinny with a clean tip. With a dirty tip the solder will just ball up on the end. I use a clean wet/damp sponge to clean a tip. just lay it down and swip the tip accross it to keep it shinny during the process. When you are done and unplug the iron, tin the tip with a little solder and it will keep it clean for next time.

I like to tin the surfaces with solder, that I am soldering together, first. Also, tin the tip with a little solder right befor you join them. Doing this will transfer much less heat to the wiring, board or plug when you go to make the union.

Use the right stuff for sure. I can get by with a 25W iron all day long for electrical work. Electrical solder usually will have a rosin core which will melt with the solder to clean the surfaces and necessitate the use of extra flux.

Last but not least, you soldered joint should be shinny and pretty when done correctly. A dull solder joint will be weak and likely to fail.

Good luck and practice a bit. You will be proficient at it before you know it. Just be patient.

 

[jajpko]

Jonny I am a retired U. S. Marine Corps Electronics technician. I have had lots of schools and experience in the soldering field. You might go to Radio shack and ask for some 63/37 soldier. It has characteristics that make it idea for electronics use. 60/40 is plumbing soldier, can cause problems with faulty soldier joints. You will want to pick up some organic flux, its non-corrosive. Acid flux (plumbers flux) will come back and bite you with a corrosion issues. Make sure your connections and wire are super clean. Alcohol is a good solvent for this process. Cleaning the surfaces to be soldiered with an oil free ink eraser is a good way to get started. Soldering iron should also have a clean tip and be tinned. This means brushing the tip off with a wire brush the applying clean soldier to it until it shines. With your copper cleaned and fluxed, tinned soldier tip, apply the tip to the junction you want to soldier. If you have a small drop of molten soldier on the tip it will create a heat bridge with the copper. Then you should be able to feed in enough new soldier to make the joint. When the joint has cooled sufficiently you should clean it with alcohol and an acid brush. If with a cleaned tinned tip, and fluxed components, you still do not get enough heat flow you will possibly need to step up to a hotter tip. If you are still having problems let me know.

Great description... That was a quick lesson that took me a few days to learn. Ex Navy ASW..

 

[Bundu]

HOT 'cleaned' iron and dip wire in flux before soldering - never had a problem

 

[JonnyCinco]

Thank you all for the great information ...tonight was much more productive than last and with much less frustration... squadrons are wired up and rocking. Got my eastern beaver wired up. Now just need to get the rest of the goodies on place. ::012:: ::015::

 

[ejy712]

When I solder wire to wire I twist them together in line. Then put the soldering iron behind the connection and push the solder into the connection. The wire is sandwiched between the soldering iron and the solder. When the connection gets hot enough the solder melts right into it nicely.

 

[GrahamD]

Jonny I am a retired U. S. Marine Corps Electronics technician. I have had lots of schools and experience in the soldering field. You might go to Radio shack and ask for some 63/37 soldier. It has characteristics that make it idea for electronics use......[snip]

Good stuff...

I spent a decade running a manufacturing plant. For hand soldering we tested a bunch of stuff. This was the best alloy and the best flux. It's a bit skinny for Electrical work, but you should be able to get 1mm for the bigger work..

Find a specialist.buy pound..This stuff is 12 years old and still fine..

 

[GrahamD]

And...

How and WHY to Solder Correctly

 

[FacePalm]

Awesome! You learn something new every day ::008::

 

[Firefight911]

Jonny I am a retired U. S. Marine Corps Electronics technician. I have had lots of schools and experience in the soldering field. You might go to Radio shack and ask for some 63/37 soldier. It has characteristics that make it idea for electronics use. 60/40 is plumbing soldier, can cause problems with faulty soldier joints. You will want to pick up some organic flux, its non-corrosive. Acid flux (plumbers flux) will come back and bite you with a corrosion issues. Make sure your connections and wire are super clean. Alcohol is a good solvent for this process. Cleaning the surfaces to be soldiered with an oil free ink eraser is a good way to get started. Soldering iron should also have a clean tip and be tinned. This means brushing the tip off with a wire brush the applying clean soldier to it until it shines. With your copper cleaned and fluxed, tinned soldier tip, apply the tip to the junction you want to soldier. If you have a small drop of molten soldier on the tip it will create a heat bridge with the copper. Then you should be able to feed in enough new soldier to make the joint. When the joint has cooled sufficiently you should clean it with alcohol and an acid brush. If with a cleaned tinned tip, and fluxed components, you still do not get enough heat flow you will possibly need to step up to a hotter tip. If you are still having problems let me know.

6432 here. MCAS El Toro, Iwakuni, Yuma, Subic, et al. Work center 620 I level electronics.

Good advice here!

 

[GrahamD]

That's Ersin Multicore solder. I'll take a wild wager. Solder is not all the same. Good solder. Radio Shack? Laugh, Chinese solder is flat not going to cut it.

Maybe. In Oz it was called "Multicore" just like on the label and was made here. Maybe it was an Australian licensee. The Label is just missing Ersin. I am sure Ersin still do the same thing except it will have funny things like AWG - OZ or pounds printed on it.. ;D

And by the way the Chinese can do it if you ask nice and pay what it's worth. They can make good stuff if you want. Just that the word China means cheap to most people so very few people ask them to put the Chinese OEM label on it, if you get my drift.

Just for the solder geeks out there...
http://www.logwell.com/tech/servtips/solder.html

Cheers
Graham

 

[SuperCruise]

I did some challenging soldering yesterday with 60 40 jaycar cheapo solder, 25 year old 60 W soldering iron with original tip well worn down, red rooster wet wipe for cleaning, fine hair-like earphone wire, and the gas stove for melting the individual strand coating off the earphone wires and for heat shrinking. I was an electronics tech for 10 years, so I have an advantage soldering over your average Joe, but it was still a very challenging job under those conditions. Keep at it!

 

[jajpko]

I did some challenging soldering yesterday with 60 40 jaycar cheapo solder, 25 year old 60 W soldering iron with original tip well worn down, red rooster wet wipe for cleaning, fine hair-like earphone wire, and the gas stove for melting the individual strand coating off the earphone wires and for heat shrinking. I was an electronics tech for 10 years, so I have an advantage soldering over your average Joe, but it was still a very challenging job under those conditions. Keep at it!

That's above and beyond the call of duty.. ::025::

 

[SuperCruise]

That's above and beyond the call of duty.. ::025::

Nah, it's because I'm a cheap ass and am on Xmas holiday break with nothing better to do. Took me a couple of hours to modify three Sena SMH10 speaker microphone clamp units to take earphones instead.

 

[Tremor38]

Re: Re: Soldering.......IT HATES ME

Great description... That was a quick lesson that took me a few days to learn. Ex Navy ASW..

Ha! You're an AW. That explains it! >

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