Protoboard Micro Assembly Tips?

[MobyOctopad]

Despite (mostly) lurking on the forum for a while now, it wasn’t until this month that I finally had the space to set up a small workspace to finally start working through the pile of boards I’ve accumulated. I thought I’d start by building the protoboard micro I bought a while back to try out different values in an Electra circuit before working on one of the Copper Clad boards I have as my first real project. I went into this fully prepared to fuck up my first few attempts but I figured it was time to get started, and…I whiffed it. Didn’t realize until after the fact that I had put my audio jacks in backwards. Which, as embarrassing as it is, is a mistake (I hope) I can correct next time around.

But what I was hoping to pick folks’ brains about was the quality, or lack thereof, of my joints: I did some practice soldering last year in a makerspace that was too far to drive to often and worked on the basics like resistors, caps, and trimpots, but this was my first time dealing with the components at hand and I don’t think there’s a single decent joint on the board.

In hindsight, I don’t think I got nearly enough solder to flow anywhere but was wondering if folks had any advice on how to approach the protoboard components next time. I’d heat the pad and lead for a few seconds before applying the solder on the opposite side of the iron but it felt like it took forever for the solder to flow. I used 60/40 solder with rosin and had my iron going at 625 F. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Sucks the first go of it ended poorly, but glad to finally be starting out!

 

[Harry Klippton]

You can still save those joints. Just put the iron back on until you see the solder flow and cover the pads

 

[MobyOctopad]

You can still save those joints. Just put the iron back on until you see the solder flow and cover the pads

That's great to hear, thanks! Other than increasing the temperature, is there anything I should be doing differently?

I applied the iron to the pad and lead for a few seconds before applying the solder on the other side of the lead but it struggled to flow at all. Towards the end I was more applying the solder to the iron itself and trying to get it to flow around the leads that way, which doesn't seem advisable long-term...

 

[spi]

What brand of solder did you use? What kind of solder tip are you using?

You should be getting better flows at that temperature, in fact I usually run mine around 550, so I don't think you need to increase your temperature.

Are you getting a good tin on your tip? Applying a small amount of solder to the iron is necessary, but that is not the solder that flows to the joint--it should be just a little wet when you touch it to the joint for the heat to transfer, then when you apply more solder it should flow easily to cover the joint.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Use the iron to heat the components not the solder. The heat from the components is what melts the solder to make the connection

 

[MobyOctopad]

I was using some Wyctin 60-40 I bought a few months ago and the stock tip that comes with a Hakko. And I was tinning the tip but might have been wiping too much of it off on my sponge before trying to heat the pad. I'll definitely keep that in mind on my next attempt, thanks!

 

[Harry Klippton]

That wyctin solder sucks. I've used it. Get some kester and you'll immediately see a difference

 

[MobyOctopad]

Oh good to know, thanks again!

 

[Smrtokvitek]

From my experience, a bit of a flux never harms anything. Get some RMA gel flux and apply it to joints. Apply the heat and it should reflow nicely. The temperature you use should be fine but it depends on the iron power/temp control and the tip a lot. If the tip is too small the joint will suck out the temperature and you get these lumpy joints. You can compensate by increasing the temperature a bit (340-350C for larger pads) but it is tricky. You don't want to burn the PCB.
If you have too much flux on the PCB you can always clean it with alcohol (recommended after soldering anyway) and even apply the fresh one if it is needed.