I need to wire something up, and I have not soldered in 15 years.

Medium wiring, 5 to 24v. Compared to the past : my soldering iron actually has a temp display and i’m using some kind of siringe instead of fat. Any Tips?

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    1 year ago
    • Heat the work, not the solder
    • an iron tip with zero soldier on it creates a poor thermal bridge. Put a tiny bit of solder on the iron before you apply it to the work surface
    • your iron’s heating element acts like a thermal battery. If you put it on large, cold, work, you can drain the heat below the optimal point of solder flow. Remove the iron from the work for 10 to 15 seconds to let the heating element “refill the thermal battery” before trying to solder again.
    • your iron’s tip should be nearly all black with oxidation with only the tip that touches the work tinned silvery. That black oxidation is a blanket that keeps the heat in the iron and the heat can only come out of the silvery tinned tip.
    • thebestaquaman@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      Finally: Keep filling tin until it “flows around” what you’re working on. If your tin is forming a drop on the surface, it’s not bonding properly. It should spread a bit and flow nicely on the surface/wires you’re soldering.

      • FaceDeer@kbin.social
        2·
        1 year ago

        If you’re soldering things that aren’t fresh from the store then you might want to lightly scrub the surface with something sandpapery, to ensure that it hasn’t been covered with a layer of something oily or corroded that might interfere with the solder making proper contact with it. A bit of abrasion might also make the surface rougher and more capable of clinging to solder, but I’m not super experienced, that just seems like something reasonable to me.

    • jamesorlakin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      your iron’s tip should be nearly all black with oxidation

      Ohh that’s something I had no idea about. I’ve always tried to clean and scrub my iron, whoops.