Tips and Techniques
Tips:
- Remember that you’re working with molten metal that is over 300F, nearly 200C. Wear safety glasses, it’s cheap insurance. I wear mine religiously.
- You’ll get better with practice. Don’t start on your mega-dollar stereo or computer project. If I’ve been away for more than a few days, I take a practice run, just so I can remember how everything behaves. In college, I had several of my classmates ask me if I bought part of my senior design project because the soldering looked so good.
- Ventilate the work area. Fume extraction is something you should be suing if you’re doing a lot of soldering. If not, make sure you are in a well ventilated area. That being said, I only started doing this a few years ago. I grew up on the smell of rosin wafting through the air. Turns out that may be worse for you than the lead…
- Children can learn to solder, I first picked up an iron when I was 11. I guess I’ve been soldering for over 40 years! Supervise them. It is very easy to forget how hot it is. The best thing is for you to be doing all the things you ask them to do. Don’t tell them to put on safety glasses if you’re not doing the same.
Soldering technique.
A general overview of how to solder. Check out some of our other resources.
- The things you are soldering together should be clean. Free of dirt, oil, corrosion etc.
- Join the wires together into a good mechanical connection. Soldering is not welding so it is essential that you have a good mechanical connection between the items being soldered.
- Using the clean tip, heat your work. Bring the solder into the joint without touching the iron. If you bring the iron in from the left, bring the solder in from the right.
- Once the solder is visible in the joint remove the solder and the iron, allowing the joint to cool.
- Don’t disturb the joint until the solder has cooled to it’s solid stage. This could be nearly instantaneous or take 15-20 seconds depending on how hot you got the joint and the type of solder.
- These tips might help too.
