Don't ever "shake off extra solder", use a brass solder tip cleaner (looks like a brass brillo pad). Flicking off excess 700 degree liquid metal is never a good idea.
I wasn't taught a dang thing, but figured out this point pretty early on. I burned the shit out of lots of things before I got the hang of it. I still suck, but have learned how to NOT destroy things.
I'm trying to self-teach on how to solder, and this video with 1080p and the narration really helped a whole lot. One of the best videos I found so far, so thank you!
Easily one of the best vids I've seen on the topic!!! I actually think I have it now. The tinning of both components seems to be one of the main steps that can make or break the whole deal. Thanks Bro! Much appreciated.
You should apply a little solder to the soldering tip to create a "heat bridge" to help with heating up the wire so you can get the wire you are trying to tin come up to temp quicker. This will prevent a lot of the melting insulation away. Also you could increase the temp on your solder station to help with the transfer of heat to the wire.
never been a fan of just sticking wires together. Depending on the size of the wire I have a few different ways I like to twist or braid them together. Then solder them. Especially in thinks like cars an boats. More secure in my opinion. That mechanical connection will also make sure you get the best electrical connection. Then the solder and tape/shrink will reinforce the physical connection.
Mostly false tutorial. You don't solder wires like that. The tin itself only barely hold stuff together. Wrap those wires in hooks(there's 200 page NASA article about this) around each other so that you can pull them while they stay together and have most contact are as possible. Same goes with that potentiometer. Any joint that is only held by solder is going to break in time. Also, if that is not possible(e.g. wire to flat PCB plane) you cannot possibly hold them steady enough. It will always create poor solder structure. You got that helping hand there, just put both components to each of those clamps, have them rest on each other without any force, and then tin them.
***** +1 Plus you don't really want to have solder blobs on your work table. I recently lost an arduino to a blob of solder on my table. Always keep it clean.
RealationGames Thank you for supplying the link. Certainly should be accurate information considering the source. ...and at "only 114 pages", yes, that should be plenty! lol :0)
Other than neoc03s suggestion (which seems to make alot of sense) this video was exactly the simplified sight training for the basic "how to" information i was looking for. Its clear and demonstrates the main guidelines that are needed to get started and practice.. Far too many instructables are too assuming in their content. Or they are full of information that leaves a cloud of details that overcome the basics they are attempting to display. I'm embarrassed to admit that the first few videos had me buying flux for solder that already contained it and trying to brush small connection points that were in areas that any overflow could cause shorts..i was under the impression i had to create a barrier between the two points and then laying solder in clumps that in the end i found myself forced to take a micro-file to...i had managed to run through about 8 inches of solder with probably upwards of 15 failed attempts that left unstuck balls of solder next to a surface that they were intended to adhere to..and leaving me frustrated and confused...After viewing this i had the 12 wires connected with precise, solid joints that i am confident will last. Great video...i will be using it regularly as i am now confident that the partners i am working with will benefit from it with a quickness that will save us alot of time. Thanks a bunch!
It's fun to see how people spend time criticizing other's job thinking that they are somehow been helpful. Filear, I really appreciate you taking the time to make this video. For those who think they know more or can do better, please post a video response (if it's not too much work to do).
I second the annoyance at all the know it all backseat driver experts. It's true what previous dude said, if ya'll are such amazing gods gift to soldering then why are you watching elementary how to videos? I played college basketball and stopped watching how to bounce the ball and run when I mastered dribbling. I commend the video and the guy in it for helping us DIY learn. Thanks for putting up with the "soldering legends," in order to contribute to our wiring situations.
Thanks to this video, I just recovered some very important files from a broken flash drive for a loved one. We were able to save quite a bit of money. Thank you.
I take it back. It's a good soldering tutorial. A guy made a response to "you-are-not-doing-it-right" comments and it is "if you disagree with the way I do it make a video and post it ... so I can write negative comments under it.". It's OK if the joint is only held by solder ... unless you work in NASA. It's OK to solder a pot like that - don't worry I have tens of pots soldered like that from 15 years ago - they are still strong. There are some good tips in this video to get started. If you want to do a professional soldering - you wouldn't be learning it from youtube, right?
You make it look easy when it's not as easy as you make it look.. Haha I'm a mechanic and have the need for soldering from time to timeand it took me longer to learn how to solder than anything.. Thanks for the video man this helps a lot
Thank you so much for this video! Previously, I was only told how to solder, so it's good to be able to see it. Your picture quality is excellent too, so it makes it a lot easier to understand. I was having a lot of trouble attempting to solder... I'm now inspired to try again. =]
This helped me a lot thanks. I was stupidly heating the solder and not the wire or lug that I was trying to solder it to. I went to the UK equivalent of Radio Shack and when I had soldered before I was using solder with a flux already mixed in but the only stuff they had came with separate flux. This made it a lot harder. Thanks loads for this post.
Thanks, there's some really great tips in there and I appreciate how you showed how things would look if done incorrectly. Even as someone who's been soldering a long time I got some good tips and refreshers, I think I'm gonna make a fan like that so I don't have to breathe in any more solder.
So if my soldering iron tip gets bubbles I should drop it on the floor? Wouldn't swinging it by the cord and smacking it against the wall be more efficiant?
I've never solder before, your video is really good, really clear and straight foward, good use of my time watching you video I learned a lot. Thank you
This video deserves many "Thumbs up" really. I want to build some Interconnect cables as a DIY project and there are various parts to the project. I will your video as my guide to get the soldering part done. I heard that when soldering wires, its not a bad idea to attach a metal heat deflector (looks like small a needle nose pliars) to thew wire so the wire does not get damaged from the heat. Don't know if that's just some fancy snake-oil thing though
extra tips on soldering from experience: Wear eye protection if you dont have a magnifying glass and have to look real close at the components solder almost hit my eye when it just flinged off. point the fan away from your face because then your just blowing all the smoke to your nose... dont fling solder if it lands on your clothes it will melt them instead buy a solder tip cleaner either brass or stainless steel. DO NOT DROP THE IRON thats the most important thing ever. when soldering the two wires together leave a bit of room between the plastic casing and the wire just solder most of the tip and leave room. Use the right tip for the job the more mass the object has the bigger the tip you need. Desoldering pumps are good for beginners because you will probably add too much solder when first starting, Flux(use water based on electronics not acid one) is used to attract solder and to clean the parts so solder can get "absorbed" quicker.
Good tips except for the recommendation of water soluble flux: it's not good for beginners because it can be corrosive with time if even the tiniest bit isn't washed off. In nearly all cases, hobbyists are better off using a no-clean flux or a rosin flux.
I really don't understand why people don't like this video.This is a great tutorial for beginners!!! Maybe they are just selfish and don't like sharing knowledge with others and that's just evil! Anyway, Thanks a million for the guide! Helps a lot!
Thanks, it was very useful. For me, being new to this, a discussion of solder types would have been useful as well; I know there are more than one kind, and the "old" formula (so I am told) worked better than the new, the old having lead as I understand it.
the first part of him showing to connect 2 wire ends together by soldering the straight pieces end to end is the worst thing you can do for a high current connection. this connection will simply break off after time. you much twist both ends together BRFORE soldering or you could interweave the ends together, uning lots of flux as well, and then soldering. I can only assume from what ive seen, and the size of that iron,in this video that he is not doing any fine detailed work. Good to have an adjustable temperature. or regulated tips.
i Repair Electronics Well, he does have an adjustable station, but with it set to 735F/390C. ::facepalm:: With temps like that, the flux is gonna burn off before it has a chance to flow...
I solder wire all the time, and I heat it up first, but I merge the two copper cores together before melting the solder in to it. Strange that you heat them seperately... It just sucks up the solder as you'd expect. And I don't mean twisted together. I mean, the two copper cores just pushed together in one motion. You lay one on the other which doesn't even seem neat, never mind efficient. Two days ago I did that on the cable on the actual soldering iron :P It was like 50cm long and totally awkward so I made it longer. The current went through the cores as they cable ends lay taped to the worktop with the three cores just merged. Anyways, all I am looking for are universal ways to hold two things in place while I solder them together. I should just buy the damn flexi clamps. Since I'm so full of fun facts, in the UK we pronounce solder as "soul-der", not "sol-der".
Hi, thanks for this Vid, I liked the simple idea of the extraction fan. I wouldn't pay to much attention to the better than thou comments. If every thing in life was done by the book how boring it would be. I'm sure most the DIY viewers have gained by watching this. Cheers
@thijsloon Always use Rosin Core Solder, I have not ever used the lead free kind only leaded. I think the lead free solder is not quite as good or at least a little different, but it is being fazed out due to the hazards of lead. Lead free may need a little higher temperature? I just have so much lead solder around I haven't tried it yet.
To make it transfer heat much more efficiently to whatever you're trying to solder. The cone shaped tip has a much smaller contact area to heat up a piece of wire or component lead in comparison to a glob of liquid solder on your soldering iron's tip. The other reason is to keep the tip from oxidising, a process which is accelerated by heat (oxidising is basically the same as rusting) and which will also make the iron much less effective at transferring heat to whatever you're soldering.
This is all good. If you haven’t done it before how you gonna learn? Thanks. I bought a soldering iron and fixed a toy track-car for my grandkids before I watched this, and found it difficult. Want to be better. I had to find out how to set up a sewing machine from a young lady in America, probably a teenager. All knowledge is good. Isn’t technology wonderful?
Hi, do you know what is wrong with me soldering station, its an RS 200-7693. 50W. The problem is it heats up to the required heat and melts 1mm solder onto the soldering tip. When i try to solder and touch the soldering joints, it seems to go cold and the solder goes hard, when i release the tip, you can see it starting to melt the solder on the end of the tip. Nigel
I'm pretty much a beginner in soldering, hobbyist I might add, but can you desolder solder glue? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but when I think of glue, I think that it's permanent.
The reddish coating is like a lacquer, and needs to be scraped or sanded off before soldering. If not, the solder won't stick. This is not the same as 'tinning', which is done on stranded wire to keep the fine strands together and give mechanical strength. To tin, put a tiny drop of liquid flux on the wires first, then lightly touch the wires with a hot iron and small dab of solder. The flux will draw the solder through the strands and ensure a nice, uniform surface for your wire ends.
hi im going for my IPC certified and today i was soldering a solid wire to U1 and to U2 and man it was horrible cause i end up burning the insulation cove on the wire and damaged the legs on the U1 and i was wonder if you can make a video showing how to do it Thank you in advance.
Heres a good ??... if you are replacing a couple of small gauge wire on a small PCB (+ & - from battery pack) the old solder is removed, will it make a difference if you use lead/tin solder, but the old may be lead-free? Thanks
is it a good idea to use a small flame solder for wires? i tend to use flux but the copper still suffer a bit of oxidation, i sometimes use an 8mm or 10mm, no solder can heat that.. i also have a big gas oprated copper slant welder where it heats a lump of copper and use that to heat the wire, but that still oxidize the wire sometimes.. how do i stop this? i do use flux, not helping
Great. I use lot's of Aoyue stations (Aoyue is chinese version of Akko who are japanese). I use Weller soldering station too. Aoyue are not expensive, and give very high quality result. In this match, Weller are not the number one anymore. Aoyue model regulated sharp soldering iron : 80 dollars the same build by Weller : 400 dollars...
Thank you so very much for the very informative video and instructions. It would be nice if we lived in a world of positive feedback instead of negative feedback!!! If any of the people below could have done a better job, then maybe they should post their master piece!! Other wise, be encouraging. And again, thank you for the very informational video!! Nice job!!
There is flux in the center of the solder hence the "Rosin Core Solder". Generally if you are soldering good quality wire or circuit boards you don't need flux. Some non standard metals may require flux.
When you tin the switch terminals, it looks like you just tin one side of it. It also looks like you're applying the solder to the tip of the gun and letting it drip onto the terminal, as opposed to how you solder two wires together..... right?
Why can't I be able to tin my solder tips? I tried many tutorials in YT such as applying a layer of flux, coil the solder around the tip and lastly turn on the iron for the solder to melt right on to the tip which ends up miserably where most of the solder fell off while the remaining became black on the tip. Please enlighten me, cheers.
How physically strong is the connection between the two wires when they're not twisted together? What's the disadvantage to twisting the wires together and then soldering them. Thanks!
Why would you make a tutorial if you don't even know the basics? Very bad overall soldering job. The first sample was not cold joint. Cold joint is when the solder doesn't bond with copper.. + that's not how you solder 2 wires properly.. any vibration would break them apart. Your explanation at end why solder isn't bonding is just ridicolous - ever heard of oxidation and how to use flux?? I wouldn't recomend anyone watching this..
Looks good but whenever you're soldering an external component its best to make a mechanical connection with the wire before soldering it. Not always necessary but it's in good form
other videos say never rely on just the solder to hold the wires together but always have a physical joint first like twisting the wires together first?
+Mohammed Ali (ResourceUK) Solder without a mechanical connection is an established and accepted practice. Try soldering 2 wires together without twisting and pull on the wires. For gauges under 12 AWG the wires should break before the solder.
+taohawaii problem is a bad solder that goes unnoticed = wires flapping around. depending on the voltage/what else in in the box/application this might not be the end of the world; but its still best practice to make a mechanical connection first.
Good idea to have the fan suck the air that works however I have to ask a question... A few people have criticized me for blowing the smoke in my face instead of away... my face is not in the video how do you know where it is lol? There was a camera in the way of my favorite face place too...
@Slidinsidewayz2009 In my 43yrs of living, it's always been pronounced "sodder", even by my electronics teachers at two different high schools and my Father-In-Law. Maybe it's a regional, U.S. or generational thing. I've never heard anyone say "soLder" up until today. BTW, great vid. It's been a while since I've done this and I have to do it to rewire a couple of turntable tonearms. Nice refresher!!!
It seems like I'm completely unable to heat solder through the wire to tin the wire. If the iron isn't touching the solder directly, it wont melt. It's a 40w iron if that helps. What could I be doing wrong?
ok. here is my few bits of criticism (no offense meant). I think that 390 degrees C (734 F) is a bit too much. The tin oxidates too fast on the iron. I keep it about 250-260 and I rise it only if I solder something bulky. Also the fan is blowing the smoke in your face. I put it close (10 cm/4 inch) to the soldering place and then make it suck the air - turn it around. it actually works. Also don't rely only on the resin in your tin. Get some good flux. It helps with not-perfectly-clean wires.
I used to do that and I've damaged my iron like that (a $10 iron, not an expensive one like his). The metal is weaker when it's hot, and the sudden motion puts lots of acceleration on it (which is why the solder flies off). And if you hit the tip on the table, you damage it and possibly the iron.
Those wires have an enamel coting, I don't know how the professionals do it but you can use a knife or razor blade and scrape the enamel off or use a lighter to carefully burn the enamel.
You can buy solder with flux - either flux coated or flux cored. I've been using RS Components 60/40 Tin Lead Alloy solder for years. Easy, clean and pre-fluxed.
When I studied soldering (like 30 years ago) they told me to use a small alligator clip on the leg of the transistor to keep the transistor from getting too hot when soldering it (does anybody still do that?), the other way was to hold the leg of the transistor with needle nose pliers for the same purpose (as a heat sink between the transistor and the soldering iron).
so when do I use flux? And why arent you? im soldering tattoo machine wires and im told to first "strip away the reddish insulation" bfore soldering. is this the same as "tinning"/? In the other vid I saw he looked as if he was using the iron to burn away layer, but he was also using solder at the same time./??? thanx for post!
Either way, the fumes are being blown out of the way. A fan can be more useful sometimes as it has a greater effective distance, while you have to solder right next to a fume extractor.
I have one of those basic RadioShack 15-30 watt irons, and after about 5 uses my tips only heat on one side and it gets a big cavity in it. When I buy new tips I always tin them before and after use and I am usually using the 30watt mode. Why is this happening???
The first thing you do, is re-strip your wire if it has been sitting around and has oxidized, you can usually tell as it will be dull not shiny and new. Never try to solder a wire like this, it won't take the solder easily if at all and your connection will be iffy. And if you are dealing with thin wires you can twist them together then tin them, or you can twist the wires on end and will make them thicker once tinned.
