Soldering tips?

[Onji]

Hey guys. I'm going to be doing Minwah's mousehack ( http://mamewah.mameworld.net/mousehack.html ) tonight on a happs 3" blue translucent trackball i just got.
The only other soldering i have done, was for the lights on my coin door. I got the job done, but it came out ugly and the solder was clumped up etc.
I would rather do a better job on this, does anyone have any tips on soldering? I searched the boards but didnt really find anything.
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

[Bgnome]

use a little bit of flux every time and dont let the solder directly touch the iron.  it also helps to coat the iron in fresh solder and tin the wires..

[Onji]

use a little bit of flux every time and dont let the solder directly touch the iron.  it also helps to coat the iron in fresh solder and tin the wires..

As you can tell, i'm a noob in this department. If i dont touch the solder directly to the iron, how do i melt it? and what do you mean by tinning the wires.
Thanks

[SirPeale]

There are many resources on the 'net to give you advice with soldering.  All you need do is search.

[Onji]

thanks...

[Bgnome]

generally, its considered bad practice to actually touch the solder wire to the iron.  it tends to make it more messy and may leave you with cold joints, (solder that didnt actually stick so it doesnt actually connect the circuit), or oxidized solder, (kinda overcooked, solder looks dull when its supposed to be shiny).  you are supposed to heat the joint and the wire with the soldering iron and then touch the solder wire to the joint and allow it to melt on.
tinning the wire means that you put some solder on it first before attaching it to something.  this is easily done by dipping it in a little flux first.

[Onji]

Thanks so much Bgnome, that makes alot of sence. The only thing i dont have is flux, i'll be picking up some of that tonight.
Thanks alot.

[Lance]

IMO there is really no need to by extra flux, all the solder I've ever used has a center core of flux (rosin core solder).  I'm pretty sure this is quite common.

Also if you do get flux make sure you do NOT get acid flux or acid core solder, it is for soldering pipes and stuff like that not electronics.

[Bgnome]

i also use the rosin core flux.  but I have a little experience from modding ps2s/xboxes and knew some others that did also and we all recommend having extra flux around.  it may not be necessary per say, but it does make the job much easier and can help get solder to "stick" when its being stubborn.

[TalkingOctopus]

I found extra flux to be EXETREMELY useful when hacking a TV remote and Dreamcast controllers.  Without it, it was very difficult to solder the wires direcly to the PCB.

[rdagger]

Make sure your iron tip is smooth, tinned and clean.  Use a moist sponge to clean it often.  An adjustable part holder is helpful to hold the pieces in place while you solder.  You also want a good lamp and adequate ventilation.  Extra flux is helpful for low gauge wires.  

Practice...

[IceCold]

I found extra flux to be EXETREMELY useful when hacking a TV remote and Dreamcast controllers.  Without it, it was very difficult to solder the wires direcly to the PCB.

Hacking a TV remote?  For what?(I'm curious now)

[TalkingOctopus]

Hacking a TV remote?  For what?(I'm curious now)

Unfortunately, my TV would not auto power on, so I connected the a cheap universal TV remote's power button to an arcade pushbutton and extend the IR emitter to in front of the TV.  So when I press the pushbutton, the TV powers up and with the help of the smart strip everything else powers up as well.

[crashwg]

Make sure your iron tip is smooth, tinned and clean.

What exactly is "tinned"?

I for one keep my dremel with the wire brush-lookin' wheel handy and zip everything right off the tip whenever it gets dirty and that has worked out fairly decently...

[danny_galaga]

when you tin an iron tip (or a piece of wire for that matter) you are covering it with a clean new film of solder. if the tip is in good condition, just wipe it on a damp cloth when its hot (im a slob, i just you use my shorts while wearing them!) and then feed a bit of solder on it. the idea being 1) the tip wont oxidize as quickly
                 2) heat is transferred more efficiently.

If the tip is badly corroded, you will need to file the tip back to its original shape first (normally conical or wedge shaped). File away all pits in its surface. Then tin as above.
have you ever watched a movie where a pilot talks down a passenger flying a plane? not the best way to learn!! same here. i suggest busting open an old radio or something and start practicing on different aspects of soldering/desoldering. desolder caps and resistors and solder bits of wire back in their place etc.

dangerous but highly effective tip # 1: when i was an apprentice auto electrician we often had to desolder much larger things than a circuit board hole. for instance rectifiers, field windings, solenoid caps etc. what did we do? as soon as we took the iron off the part, we blasted the molten solder with an air gun! utterly clean job. if you were to do this at home, wear goggles and dont aim it at anything/one you dont want coated in a film of hot lead! its not too bad on skin but eyes would of course be badly damaged.

[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