[Sinsen]

Hi.

I am having good fun building a Cmoy... but I need a bit of soldering advice.

I have some problems with the solder clinging to the soldering iron instead of the parts that I want to solder. What is the most common reason for this? That the parts are not clean enough?

Thanks.

 

[FallenAngel]

You want to make sure there is flux in your solder and you must have the parts where you want to have the solder going to HOT. Only way your solder will stick is if the metal you're soldering is hot and there is flux to make it flow. Tangent has some fantastic tutorials, check them out at Tangent Tutorials Check them out, they're very useful. He is a very evil man that got me started on this extremely interesting and fun path of DIY electronics and likely cost me over $10,000 in equipment, parts and general DIY stuff, but damn do I ever love it all

 

[tpc41]

my advise is to first apply the iron, then push the solder into where the connection is being made, then pull the solder away before pulling away the iron, this is kind of the opposite as the way i first expected it to work, but it seems to be working well for me now

 

[Sinsen]

Thanks for your advice.

There is flux in my solder, so that should be fine, and I am trying to follow the Tangent tutorial... but it happens anyway.

I think I might trying to set my iron a bit hotter, and try the tip with pulling the solder away before the iron.

 

[JamesL]

I'm assuming you're doing through-holes..
Remember, you're not heating the solder directly with the iron.. You're heating the lead/wire, and touching the other side of it with the solder, and it should flow around, as if it's drawn towards the heat.
With a solder that is acceptably heated, this process should take about a second or less, so first, don't heat it for too long, or you may fry the component, and make sure you're cleaning off the tip of iron frequently (w/ the flux and sponge/wool), cause a oxidized tip won't heat anything.

 

[Sinsen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesL /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm assuming you're doing through-holes.. Remember, you're not heating the solder directly with the iron.. You're heating the lead/wire, and touching the other side of it with the solder, and it should flow around, as if it's drawn towards the heat. With a solder that is acceptably heated, this process should take about a second or less, so first, don't heat it for too long, or you may fry the component, and make sure you're cleaning off the tip of iron frequently (w/ the flux and sponge/wool), cause a oxidized tip won't heat anything.

Aah, ok... this was how I understood it on Tangents tutorials, but it just did not work. My iron is set to 310 °C, as I was adviced for 62/36/2 solder. But this is a cheap iron... might be it just is not warm enough.

 

[JamesL]

Maybe, though I've used $3 soldering irons that performed reasonably well.
Also, try take a look at this video. It seems to cover the reasons for some of the results you seem to be getting.

 

[Sinsen]

Great video, thanks, I'll try out the techniques later today.

 

[ericj]

your soldering iron needs to be hot enough, too. i recommend around 370c. yes really.

 

[Swimfar]

This is the best soldering information I've found on the web so far: My Tips for Soldering (not actually "my" tips)

Also, I have some pretty thin solder (.020") and even though it's rosin core, I've found it helps if I add additional flux when I'm soldering larger components.

You can try looking in your local library too. I happened to find a whole book just on how to solder in my city library.

 

[pkshiu]

I have just restarted doing DIY after 15 odd years, so this thread interests me as well. I read somewhere that lead-free solder is harder to "use". Is that true? I just use the good old Kester 63/34 44 solder and they work fine. If it's not the solder, then I will go with what's already said before, make sure you are heating up the lead of whatever you are soldering. You have to press against the lead with the tip.

 

[Sinsen]

I think I found out what my problem was.

When soldering the IC, everything went perfectly, and the solder behaved nicely. And, these pins are copper... that I guess transport heat better.

I will try to get a screwdriver shaped tip for my soldering iron, it should deliver more heat to the standard non-copper pins.

 

[DaKi][er]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sinsen /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is flux in my solder, so that should be fine, and I am trying to follow the Tangent tutorial... but it happens anyway.

That's where I see you're mistaken, flux needs to be on the joint, not your iron. when you melt solder onto your iron, the flux it in will only last seconds before being bunt away. You need to flow the solder into the joint so the flux goes in with it, otherwise you wont get very far.

You'll soon get a feel on the way that the solder behaves, you'll see once the flux burns away that it gets tacky and kind of brittle (this is while still being molten) and loses its wetness, if you see it like that you need more flux in there

Best tips I can give - keep your iron clean, as in every time you pick it up and put it down and if it has been in your hand longer than 30 seconds, wipe it. And make sure there is lots of flux and it is where you need it

 

[JamesL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaKi][er /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's where I see you're mistaken, flux needs to be on the joint, not your iron.

??
I don't think he ever implied that the flux was on his iron.
But yeah, keep the iron clean. I couldn't burn my fingers with a oxidized tip.. (not that I'm willing to try..

)

 

[Sinsen]

Yes, the only thing I meant was that I was using a solder that actually contains flux.

But, as I mentioned in my previous post, I think I found the reason for the wholde "solder clinging to iron not pin"-problem.