My experience learning to solder properly

[Ahoy9]

I watched probably six hours of soldering tutorials before my joints started looking right. The things that actually changed my technique was using flux even when the solder wire is rosin-core (especially for rework and for stubborn joints), using the right tip size (most beginners use too small a tip which loses heat on contact), and heating the pad and component together rather than just touching the iron to the solder. The bad joint look is cold solder and it's almost always from not enough heat contact time, not from wrong temp. A proper joint is shiny, smooth and volcano-shaped. What resource actually clicked for you when you were learning?

 

[Phil]

What finally clicked for me was realizing I was starving the joint of heat. Bigger tip and heating pad + lead together made everything instantly more consistent. Flux everywhere helped too.

 

[barfle]

Well, I went to a day-long class when I first started working at Hughes. I’d tried soldering many hears before thet, mostly using my dad’s Weller soldering gun. It turns out, that was way too hot, and the tin would actually evaporate before I could get done.

They taught (and I used for about the following three years) a Weller TCP pencil with a 700 degree F tip. Keep it tinned, clean it before the soldering, not after.

While I learned to solder well at that class, the biggest lesson Imlearned was not to fight your tools. Get tools that help you, not fight you. I’ve been following that rule now for 55 years.

 

[Alan]

I watched probably six hours of soldering tutorials before my joints started looking right. The things that actually changed my technique was using flux even when the solder wire is rosin-core (especially for rework and for stubborn joints), using the right tip size (most beginners use too small a tip which loses heat on contact), and heating the pad and component together rather than just touching the iron to the solder. The bad joint look is cold solder and it's almost always from not enough heat contact time, not from wrong temp. A proper joint is shiny, smooth and volcano-shaped. What resource actually clicked for you when you were learning?

For me, it wasn't a specific resource, it was finally seeing the solder flow onto a properly heated joint and once that clicked, everything else started making sense.

 

[Alan]

Well, I went to a day-long class when I first started working at Hughes. I’d tried soldering many hears before thet, mostly using my dad’s Weller soldering gun. It turns out, that was way too hot, and the tin would actually evaporate before I could get done.

They taught (and I used for about the following three years) a Weller TCP pencil with a 700 degree F tip. Keep it tinned, clean it before the soldering, not after.

While I learned to solder well at that class, the biggest lesson Imlearned was not to fight your tools. Get tools that help you, not fight you. I’ve been following that rule now for 55 years.

That's a great lesson. The soldering skills are valuable, but “don't fight your tools” is one of those principles that applies to just about every hobby and profession.