Capacitor leads vs. resistor leads

[Zanshin]

Each has to decide how much they want to invest in this obsession hobby, but a decent station from a company like Hakko or Weller should be baseline. If you really want to treat yourself, an induction soldering station from Metcal, or Hakko etc feels like an evolutionary step.

Rando brands on Amazon are garbage. The X-tronic station linked looks like they stole the design wholesale from the cheaper digital Weller workstation. Like they stole the plastic molds even haha. Shameless.

Proper tools, and materials are a multiplier to your skill.

 

[Erik S]

Each has to decide how much they want to invest in this obsession hobby, but a decent station from a company like Hakko or Weller should be baseline. If you really want to treat yourself, an induction soldering station from Metcal, or Hakko etc feels like an evolutionary step.

Rando brands on Amazon are garbage. The X-tronic station linked looks like they stole the design wholesale from the cheaper digital Weller workstation. Like they stole the plastic molds even haha. Shameless.

Proper tools, and materials are a multiplier to your skill.

I like my little blue haako just fine, but I have a Desoldering gun and a hot air station from rando Amazon and they’re also great.

I think a clean tip at the right temp and good solder is going to get the job done.

The resistors can’t tell how much you spent on your soldering iron.

 

[Stickman393]

I used an x-tronic a while back. Always had issues with it.

The problem, as I saw it, was that there just wasn't enough surface area between the iron and the heating element. It made getting consistent heat difficult. I can't say how many boards I ruined with that thing...but I was also using k100 unleaded solder at the time.

63/37 is superior, IMHO, to 60/40 for one simple reason: its eutectic. They're both available, but they're not the same to work with.

The advice given here is good: though if you clean every lead with ISO and a kimwipe I might suggest you stop being so perfect and wholesome because it's making the rest of us with no paitence look bad.

Clean leads, clean surface, flux, clean & tinned iron, sufficient heat.

The fact that you're not having issues with switches and the like makes me think that part of your issue here is related to technique. I'd say try heating the joint a bit longer than you're used to before applying solder. Maybe warm up the board a bit with a heat gun (VERY gently).

In fact, the gently preheating with a heat gun bit might be the ticket. A great deal of the time while we're working with electrolytics we're soldering to the ground plane on a PCB. The ground connections tend to be a bit more thermally massive than your typical "signal path" joints. That mixed with the more massive components could explain a bit of why you're having difficulty in this particular area.

Food for thought.

 

[Zanshin]

I like my little blue haako just fine, but I have a Desoldering gun and a hot air station from rando Amazon and they’re also great.

I think a clean tip at the right temp and good solder is going to get the job done.

The resistors can’t tell how much you spent on your soldering iron.

"right temp and good solder" this we agree 1000% on. Good, consistent solder joints are key to a successful build. How many beginner troubleshooting pictures have we seen where it's obvious that the iron is too cold and/or the solder is garbage?

I'm not trying to shame the OP but he wonders if capacitor leads are different than resistor leads. Huh? The first station he received "glowed red"?!

You gambled on Amazon and won (with your desolder gun and hot air station), it sure sounds like the OP gambled on Amazon and lost.

I gambled and lost the other week with copper clad board I sourced from Amazon. Traces started to lift when I was soldering a pot to it. I should know better.

I guess my point is why gamble. "I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Again, no shame. Just empathy.

Except for lead-free solder. SHAME on those who use that.

 

[PunchySunshine]

The advice given here is good: though if you clean every lead with ISO and a kimwipe I might suggest you stop being so perfect and wholesome because it's making the rest of us with no paitence look bad.

I never woulda thought this habit could be borderline controversial.
I forget where I picked up the habit, probably Psionic, Brad or some other kudo retentive tech. I definitely don't see it as "wholesome". Holistic perhaps. Just an ounce of prevention tbh as well as a way to help me slow down and be present in the build. I only get to build a few pedals a year.

 

[comradehoser]

Except that if was truly a bad station, I would have issues all over the place, which I don't, which is why I posted, to see if others observe the same tendency that I have with electrolytics only. I actually think it's probably dirty leads, but I don't know what in the manufacture of electrolytics would be different than resistors, pots (especially--some are super greasy), and all the other things.

X-tronic was actually recommended by the NYTimes Wirecutter magazine, FWIW--I think it provided me the right features for the price point at my level of investment in the hobby. If I knew back then that I would be building 100+ pedals, maybe I would've sprung for the Gucci option. I'm kind of winding down my pedal building at this point in any case.

 

[comradehoser]

I never woulda thought this habit could be borderline controversial.
I forget where I picked up the habit, probably Psionic, Brad or some other kudo retentive tech. I definitely don't see it as "wholesome". Holistic perhaps. Just an ounce of prevention tbh as well as a way to help me slow down and be present in the build. I only get to build a few pedals a year.

Once you ritualize something, it just becomes part of the flow.

 

[Zanshin]

I'm kind of winding down my pedal building at this point in any case.

Time to switch to building amps!

 

[comradehoser]

Time to switch to building amps!

It's already in the pipe. Have an ICEpower 100w Class D power amp to drive a Marshall cab, just need to figure out the logistics and wiring to hook up preamp pedals and a signal splitter/merger, master volume and such (original idea was to do a Sunn Beta head from pedal preamps).

 

[Stickman393]

Except that if was truly a bad station, I would have issues all over the place, which I don't, which is why I posted, to see if others observe the same tendency that I have with electrolytics only. I actually think it's probably dirty leads, but I don't know what in the manufacture of electrolytics would be different than resistors, pots (especially--some are super greasy), and all the other things.

X-tronic was actually recommended by the NYTimes Wirecutter magazine, FWIW--I think it provided me the right features for the price point at my level of investment in the hobby. If I knew back then that I would be building 100+ pedals, maybe I would've sprung for the Gucci option. I'm kind of winding down my pedal building at this point in any case.

Eh, Wirecutter is a bit...uh...not what it used to be. Honestly.

Don't mean to shame ya either. Like I said: I had one for a while. Eventually I plopped down $250 for a used Hakko induction system. It is tre bien.

The fact that you're getting good results with switches and other thermally massive joints indicates that the issue is, like I said earlier, probably not the station. A change in technique will likely help: a *little* bit more time warming up the pad & lead before applying the solder. Pre-warming the board with a heat gun to get your ground plane a bit warmer.

Switches have a lot of surface area to wedge a soldering iron against. Typically, when soldering an electrolytic to a ground plane, you're dealing with a larger "heat sink" in both the capacitor and the pads, and it tends tends to be tricky to maximize the conductive area between the two and the soldering iron before you apply solder. Apply solder too soon, and it clumps up cause the cold traces and component leads suck all the latent heat out of the liquid solder.

I never woulda thought this habit could be borderline controversial.

Well la de dah Mr Perfect. Sheesh. Breaking down conditions...grumble...

 

[Erik S]

a way to help me slow down and be present in the build.

I like that.

I'm often tempted to think about more efficient processes, but then I remember - this is what I do for fun... Why am I trying to rush through it?

 

[Stickman393]

I like that.

I'm often tempted to think more efficient processes, but then I remember - this is what I do for fun... Why am I trying to rush through it?

Porque no los dos?

 

[Feral Feline]

Porky No Loss Doze indeed.

And thanks for teaching me a new word, @Stickman393 — "eutectic".

I love expanding my vocabulary.

 

[Stickman393]

Porky No Loss Doze indeed.

And thanks for teaching me a new word, @Stickman393 — "eutectic".

I love expanding my vocabulary.

Honestly, I experience a certain degree of schadenfreude in watching people go apoplectic when I use a word that they don't understand.

Its what I do to quell my iracible nature. Exuberantly confounding philistines is most frabjous.

Erm...uh...Reaganomics. fuckfuckfuck...

Ooh! Another point though: eutectic solders are *great* for electronics. Don't go using them with pipe though. Fucking nightmare. Having a wide "pasty range" is wayyyyyyyy better for soldering pipe.

 

[Feral Feline]

Nope, nothing new there. However it's been a long-long time since I heard anyone use "frabjous", so kudos (still) and bonus points.


My favourite use of frabjous has always been within the Jabberwocky...

Jabberwocky​

BY LEWIS CARROLL​

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves​

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:​

All mimsy were the borogoves,​

And the mome raths outgrabe.​

​

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!​

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!​

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun​

The frumious Bandersnatch!”​

​

He took his vorpal sword in hand;​

Long time the manxome foe he sought—​

So rested he by the Tumtum tree​

And stood awhile in thought.​

​

And, as in uffish thought he stood,​

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,​

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,​

And burbled as it came!​

​

One, two! One, two! And through and through​

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!​

He left it dead, and with its head​

He went galumphing back.​

​

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?​

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!​

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”​

He chortled in his joy.​

​

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves​

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:​

All mimsy were the borogoves,​

And the mome raths outgrabe.​

For a time, I was in a theatre troupe that acted out poetry at HK schools;
after the performance we conducted an ESL workshop with the students,
picking apart the poems and their meanings, getting them to act out scenes...
Loads of fun for everyone!