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Soldering tips?
RayB:
Some tips: Never hold the iron on the part for very long. Let's say you're soldering a wire to a microswitch, you wouldn't want to heat up the metal tab so much that it starts melting the plastic inside the switch. It might not cause big problems, but this does cause damage if you're soldering something close to electrical parts, especially chips.
What I do is I just heat up the wire just long enough for solder to melt, and then you take the iron away and then blow on the solder to immediately cool it down. This is the quickest way to make sure you don't over-melt, or move the wire around and get it not in the right spot, etc... Be precise and be quick.
I'd also recommend buying a solder sucker. You use those to suck off excess solder when you F*** up.
Bgnome:
ive found desoldering braid is pretty good too and may be cheaper than a sucker/pump. and you can also get heat sinks if you are working around heat-sensitive components..
Grauwulf:
I find braid usefull, but it can allow you to transfer too much heat to a component. I do have both a roll of braid and a solder sucker on my bench. You can get a decent sucker at an electronics shop for around $20. Make sure you get one with replaceable tips, as you will eventually wear them out. I usually use the sucker to get the majority of the solder and get the component loose and then follow up with a quick swipe of the braid on the board to clean up extra solder if it's needed. One thing I do find the braid especially handy for is cleaning up terminals and de-soldering wires/terminals on solinoid and switches in pinball machines