[Snicewicz]

Well I have never even tried to build anything electronic on my own before and my recent interest in hifi audio sparked my interest in DIY projects.

I plan on just starting out with the small things such as a penguin tin amp and maybe a few other things like that.

I have never soldered a single thing in my life and was wondering on some tips and what soldering iron and what watt I would need.

Some recommendations on a cheap, value soldering iron would be great. Also I found directions to build the penguin amp but one website doesnt have all the parts and there are quantity minimums on them. Can anyone point me in the right direction here?

Also what are some other projects I should try, preferably amps or something to improve sound quality or performance? Also im looking for cheap ones to start out with thanks

 

[breakfastchef]

Your first stop for answers to many of your questions is to spend some time reading the material at Audiologica.

Search for threads about soldering irons; there are several.

Parts can be ordered from places like DigiKey, Newark Electronics or Mouser. Google them. Radio Shack is decent for some patrs, as well.

 

[nysulli]

i second taking a look at tangents soldering guilds, great place to start

as for cheap irons, the hakko dash seems fairly popular, or for a little more there are a few hakko 936 imitations that have been brought up in various threads

 

[Snicewicz]

Thanks for the quick replies. IS there one part website better than the rest that I will be able to find almost anything i need?

Also any idea on projects, ones I could pull off?

 

[ajames]

Also keep in mind that Radio Shack does carry most of the parts necessary to build a *working* cmoy. If your goal is to practice soldering, and learn how *not* to blow up op-amps, Radio Shack can be helpful in that regard.

I personally build my first (of two, mind you) cmoys using all but a few ratshack parts. I blew up a few opamps, ruined a few components, etc., but in the end, i had a working amp, and a great deal more understanding.

Its not optimal, nor is it audiophile quality, but its a start ...

my 2 cents.

 

[Paragon]

Best thing can also be to just get a cheap bag of parts and a perfbaord and have at it with the soldering iron. Then move to an amp.

First, watch the videos on Tangent's site.

You can go for a cheap ratshak soldering iron but I think even a basic weller will be better in the long run. Use a sponge and water to keep the tip clean (I use distilled water so there isn't any mineral buildup in the sponge/tip from tap water)

A good rosin flux solder. I like eutectic jsut cause I am used to it and seems to get better joints in the long run.

Proper soldering.. you shouldn't have to have the tip on the parts/board for very long to get the solder to flow. The quicker you are, the less parts you kill. Take a resistor, hold one lead on the very end, put the iron tip on the other end. It will not take very long for the heat to reach your fingers. The heat travels fast and will go to anything that is electrically connected.

Bigger the solder area is, longer it will take to heat up. Pots and other large connections will take a lil longer if you don't have the capability to turn the iron heat up a tad. I usually solder at around 600-650 °F for normal through hole. More for larger connections.

Clean tip is key and also good contact with the part lead and board copper at the same time. You can put a lil dab of solder on the tip to help spread the heat to the lead&board if needed. Also help when trying to melt a soldered joint.

Enjoy the videos.

 

[Budgie]

Practice is the key to good solder joints. Start with something you don't care about ruining, so you can make mistakes. I suggest even intentionally ruining some solder joint by over and under heating, to see what those problems looks like.

 

[Hayduke]

Take an electronic device you already have and practice on that. Use something already broken or you don't care if you break it. Try to remove a resistor and put it back in. Keep in mind the above advice about minimizing the amount of time you heat parts with an iron. You want to make sure you heat the joint enough to make a good connection, but only just enough. Be as quick as possible. A Cmoy in a mint tin is a pretty good place to start. There are tons of threads about them, so any problem you run into has probably already been discussed. If you haven't started already, you have a lot of reading to do. I recommend you read as much as you can before you plug in an iron or maybe even order parts. Speaking of parts, I prefer Mouser. They are a lot cheaper then DigiKey on most items, but neither of them will have everything you need depending on the project. You might also want to order parts for a couple projects at once to save on shipping. Of course you WILL forget something and end up placing another order at some point, but if you are very thorough in your research/study you may get everything you need first try.

 

[Snicewicz]

Well im going to head to the local radioshack for some parts to practice soldering. I feel as if this will be my first DIY project of many.

 

[breakfastchef]

I built three Tangent CMoy's; all three worked just fine. Read as much information as you can, take your time and your builds should work. Don't forget to get a solder vacuum pump and desoldering braid as these will correct any mistakes you may make early on in your DIY experimentation.

 

[Snicewicz]

I cant solder to save my life at the moment. Gave it a 15 min try today. Ill try tomorrow when I have more time.

Chef: HOw did you make the CMoy in a cocktail shaker. Think you could PM me pics? I would be very interested in trying this.

 

[Hayduke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snicewicz /img/forum/go_quote.gif I cant solder to save my life at the moment. Gave it a 15 min try today. Ill try tomorrow when I have more time. Chef: HOw did you make the CMoy in a cocktail shaker. Think you could PM me pics? I would be very interested in trying this.

Like most things, practice practice practice. I worked in electronics manufacturing for many years, so I'm not bad with an iron

Breakfastchef, I'm also interested in seeing pics of the cmoys in your sig.

 

[breakfastchef]

I chose to trick out non-portable enclosures because I mangled the only Altoids tin I had during the first build. To me, creating the amp is the easiest part; kitting the amp takes the most planning and time. Larger enclosures gave me more room to work with. Less conventional turned out to be more interesting. My CMoy builds, as requested. Thanks for you interest.

 

[Snicewicz]

Wow thats awesome chef. I think that I may have to experiment with different enclosures now.

Hope you dont mind if i try to make one in a cocktail shaker too xD