Soldering techniques

[andare]

Holy crap!! This is worse watching it happen!

What if he created a short!

He also breathed in that sweet PCB dust.

 

[swelchy]

I do one component at a time and ensure the pad has been wetted thoroughly on both sides of the board.

This is how I roll... mostly... If I have a bunch of multiples that are spread out on the pcb like a handful of 10k resistors I will place... solder and clips them all at the same time... that way I'm not reaching back in the bin for the same value

 

[HamishR]

I like to talk to my PCB letting it know that it will be violated shortly with parts penetrating its holes. A calm, reassuring voice is essential. Then I do one part at a time, patting and caressing the board the whole time. I never use sticky tape. It can appear demeaning to the board and I don't want that. And although I use leaded solder I never refer to the PCBs increased weight. That is the way to a sad, disillusioned PCB. Remember, we are trying to increase the board's self esteem, not destroy it. I also ask the board if it will accept the solder I offer. This decreases the risk of cold shoulders.

A lot of pedal builders are dismissive of the PCBs feelings. I suspect a lot of pedal malfunctions are down to this basic lack of respect.

 

[Big Monk]

My settled technique is to now do a few components at a time, with no lead bending, held in place on top by sticky tac.

The clip the leads flush. No touch ups or anything like that and I’m not all that interested in solder going all the way through to the top.

I think the greatest improvement you can make in soldering is using good solder. That solved so many of the little issues I dealt with even in light of good technique.

A good roll of low flux Kester solder in the right diameter is a level up.

 

[RetiredUnit1]

He also breathed in that sweet PCB dust.

I use my Felker diamond tile saw with water pump when cutting G10 circuit board, eliminates the smell. I have one of these for drilling. One whiff of that stuff and you know *it's toxic*.....

 

[HamishR]

Because of the Covid pandemic we still have a fair collection of surgical masks. So I use one when sanding the edges of Vero board with my belt sander. In fact when working with timber on my table saw or when sanding, routing, whatever I wear a surgical mask because I can get a better seal than with one of the plastic respirators and my glasses don't fog up. I'm done with inhaling dust of any kind. I used to work with jarrah a lot and it's a deep red in colour - a beautiful timber but a real bugger to work with. I use to blow my nose afterwards and turn the tissues black. I suspect that it wasn't doing me any good!

 

[Passinwind]

I don't use through hole resistors that much these days but when I do I often top solder and then flip the board and touch up anything that didn't wet out fully on the bottom side. I stuff all the same value ones and then solder in most cases too.

 

[Feral Feline]

 

[Passinwind]

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