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Help with solder

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SithMaster:

i was planning on gettng a third hand someone posted a link to for harborfreight.  but i did find out the board works only thing is the wires i did get soldered snapped off so i have to try again.

i did try tinning originally and when i did tin it worked however i wouldnt get a position key in keyhook.  im pretty sure the solder can conduct electricity?yes?  otherwise should i be trying to not get solder between the wire and the contact.

peale how many years have you been soldering?  like 11enty?  me like 4 days for like an hour each day.  jeez you just have to gloat in front of a beginner dont you. ;)

bvicarious:

http://homearcade.org/BBBB/conectas.html#edge

Might be easier to solder to those. Anyway, if you're just learning to solder, starting with something unconventional might not be the best way to learn.


SithMaster:

i dont mean it has to be fully mapped and all i just it to allow a key to be viewed in keyhook.  as long as one shows up then thats fine otherwise the more the better.

daywane:

good luck on your soldering.

just to let you know ( " i want to try to solder (IE practice) then why not.  this way if i get the keywiz i wont f it up. " )

I have the GP wiz
no soldering involved. Plug in a IDE cable, snip one end off. strip them, put wires in terminal block,
run more wires from terminal block to CP or 25 pin connectors like I am

I tried 3 key board hacks never got it right.
Game pad hacks work well. Side winder or PS1 gamepads are simple to solder
20 min. and you are done.




Level42:

OK, being an electronics service repair man, here are my soldering tips:

1) NEVER use flux when soldering electronics !!!! Flux is for soldering water pipes !!!

2) The flux is inside of the solder. Because the solderings on that keyboard PCB are probably reasonably old, the flux on the outside of the soldering is gone. My pro tip that I learned at school: Take some solder and "re-solder" the old solderings. The flux in the new solder you hold to it will make the old solder go fluent. USE ONLY A TINY BIT OF SOLDER to do this !!!! Just enough to get it fluent, then remove the new solder immediatly, and remove soldering iron as soon as the old solder is completely fluent.

Work this way on all the solderings you want to make.

3) Pre-solder (don't know how to call it really in English) the wires you want to connect to the old solder spots. Your wires are stripped down WAY too long by the way, but actualy that is good now. First, twist the wires round with your thumb and indexfinger, so that you make it a "single" core. Next take some new solder and hold it to the wire, and hold the soldering iron to the wire (not the solder), You can "play" with this a bit if the solder doesn't start running, but the basic thing is that you let the solder do the work. Actualy it is a physical thing called "capular effect". Because of the air between the wires, the fluent solder gets drawn in "automaticaly". This is a basic thing you need to understand and apply, let the solder do the work, no smearing etc.

A good solder spot is never a ball, but always a "fuji" (yes like Atari's). So NOT like this:



You get these balls by using TOO much solder.

OK, when you prepaired all the wires this way, cut them with a good (sharp) pliers, and let the length be minimal, so minimal that they cannot short-circuit to eachother or the PCB's other solderings. I'd say 4 mm is ok.

Now WITHOUT using any new solder, hold the wires to the "old" solderings and use your soldering iron. Remember, don't solder too long, never more than 5 seconds.

Because you "renewed" the old solderings and because you pre-soldered the wires, it should now be easy to solder them together.
However, soldering wires in this way to a PCB it is very likely they get loose. Contrary to what a lot of people think, in electronics, a soldering is NOT a mechanical connection ! This is why a part is resting on a PCB, etc. SO you will have to fix the wires to the PCB in some way, so they won't move. A glue gun could be an option.

However, I'd still suggest to use a connector. My tips work with connectors too by the way, first solder the connector lip, then the wire, then without adding new solder, solder them together....



Jeeez, there's a lot of "solder" in this posting :D

More soldering info:
http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/solderfaq.htm

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