I hate burning my fingers....

[ark_ader]

I bought a Keywiz last week and silly me I got the solder version, when I ment it to be the solderless one.     Duh!

I got the pins from maplins and getting ready to fire up my finger burner to get these soldered.

Any one have any good tips on soldering?

I am only soldering 8 connections, but I'm lethal with my iron and anything electronic especially this cool keywiz.

Is there any alternative to soldering?

Can any pros help me out please?

[deadkenndys1105]

Im really bad with a soldering iron but I can give you some good info.  Were shoes.  I stepped on a iron once and lets say I wasn't so happy for a while.  My brother found it funny as hell though.

[Loki]

Practice

[Apollo]

Soldering isn't that hard really, all you have to do is make sure you are heating the parts not the solder and make sure you have plenty of desoldering wick/braid.

[SithMaster]

Somebody (not me) is going to have fun with the title of this thread.

Get a stand with a clamp so you dont have to juggle everything.  and use a little solder at a time and use electronic solder.

[mountain]

A lot of people fail to tin both pieces. After applying solder to both surfaces, add solder to the tip of the iron. Hold the two pieced together and touch the iron to both surfaces at the same time. Once they reach temperature the solder will flow. Once the solder flows remove the iron and wait a few seconds for the solder to cool before you let go.

The biggest tip for soldering can be summed up in two words - heat transfer. The best way to get good heat transfer is to tin the tip of the iron before trying to heat up the surface (wire). Hold the iron to the wire and apply solder to the area of the tip closest to the wire. When the solder melts it will flow around the tip and the surface at the same time. Try to make contact with the most area of the tip as possible. If you are trying to heat up the wire and the area to be soldered with the very tip of the iron, it can take a long time. The longer you hold the iron on there, the two pieces become hot and the heat travels up the wire and burns you. The problem is, it might not be hot enough for the solder to flow. Using the most surface area along with effective heat transfer by tinning the wire and the tip, you should be soldering like a pro in no time.

[ringram]

keep a damp sponge or rag nearby. Do a quick swipe of  the tip of the soldering iron on the wet sponge to clean off the oxidized solder. Then add a bit of solder to the tip of the iron, this will make a solder bridge when heating up the parts/wires which will give better heat transfer. Pre-tin the wires. Add a bit of solder to the connection when the pre-tinned parts start to flow. Pull the soldering iron away in a a sweeping motion to avoid any solder bridges. Use only just enough solder, too much is too much. Don't over heat the traces on the pcb, otherwise, they will lift up. Practice.

[Kaytrim]

I have tried one of those cordless models recently and they work very nicely.  One thing to remember, DON'T PRESS DOWN HARD or you will break the tip.  Here is a link to the shack.    Best thing is you almost can't burn you fingers with this thing.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[KenToad]

Yeah, with soldering, it's all about practice and knowing that speed matters, since the stuff oxidizes and I guess the flux burns up quickly, so you should pretin the wires and the contacts on the PCB, then position them and finally, wipe the tip of the soldering iron with the damp sponge just before you apply the heat to the joint.  Then make sure that you stick the solder itself where you want the joint to be formed, not on the tip of the iron. 

Good luck. 

[Level42]

The trick to soldering is to let the solder (tin) do the work.....

I NEVER use a wet-sponge, I hate it, it get's messy and cools down the tip.

If I ever have access solder I "throw" it away by sweeping the iron. Of course pointing at a spot that's harmless

Also, if you ever need to de- or re-solder old solderings, add a little NEW soldertin first. The flux has gone from the old solder so it won't flow even if you heat it to oblivion....by apllyng A LITTLE bit of new tin, the flux will get the old solder flowing...

[Zeppo]

I got one of those cold-heat solder irons.
I just don't have much luck with it.
Tried it on a few things and couldn't get the hang of it.
Then once it got a piece of solder stuck between those points at the tip and burned up the tip.
I bought a new tip after that, but still I switch back to my old butane iron.

Good luck.

[blueznl]

Don't save money, buy a good soldering iron. I have a Weller temperature controlled station, and that's essential for good soldering works.

[RandyT]

It's not too difficult.  Just make sure you don't have an iron bigger than the job dictates (no soldering guns!)  A small 15watt with a reasonably small tip in good condition is the best bet.

Make sure you are using some decent, small diameter, flux core electronics solder.  Don't try to tin the 40-pin header, as you might not be able to get it inserted into the board.  Once the header is in the board, you can hold it in place with a clothespin, if necessary, while you solder the opposing corners of the connector.  Then you can remove the clamp.

Then place your iron on each pin for a second or two before touching it with the solder.  The solder should melt and wick it's way into the junction point of the metal surfaces.  You don't need a lot, but a enough to make a nice conical shape is preferred.  If two pins get bridged together, don't worry.  This can often be remedied by simply sliding the tip across the bridge and adjacent pins.  This will have the effect of distributing the excess solder, and/or collecting it on the tip so long as you don't have large blobs on your connections.  If all else fails, solder wick will be handy to have for this as well.

Like anything a little practice can do wonders, but as long as you don't overheat the connections and take your time, you should do fine.  If you have any questions, you can email me as well.

RandyT

*edit*

And DON'T try to use one of those "cold heat" contraptions.  If a metal pad positioned between the prongs of that thing gets 800+ degrees in a second, what do you think will happen inside the processor when you accidentally bridge two of the wrong connections leading to it's pins?  IMHO, there is no way these things are safe for delicate electronics work.  Save them for making antenna connection at the top of a pole, or fixing the battery terminal of your camping lamp (while camping).  Otherwise, use the correct tool for the job, which is a real soldering iron.

[Kaytrim]

And DON'T try to use one of those "cold heat" contraptions.  If a metal pad positioned between the prongs of that thing gets 800+ degrees in a second, what do you think will happen inside the processor when you accidentally bridge two of the wrong connections leading to it's pins? 

point taken Randy.  I have actually lit LEDs doing this.  At least they didn't blow.

Kaytrim

[ChadTower]

Im really bad with a soldering iron but I can give you some good info.  Were shoes.  I stepped on a iron once and lets say I wasn't so happy for a while.  My brother found it funny as hell though.

I have to wear shoes at my testbench for a different reason.  The outlet on my testbench isn't grounded.  The floor is concrete.  If I am soldering and touch bare/socked feet to the floor, I complete the ground loop, and I can feel the current in the hand holding the iron.   

[ark_ader]

Thanks for the help guys.

I will practice a bit before I get started.

My pet project entails a 365x Thinkpad Vertical sub-mini cab which is two feet tall.  Incidentially I was asking around for a joystick for it, and I hacked one of those TV Pacman controllers and it fits perfectly.  I'm documenting it and will submit when done.

I just hope I don't fry the keywiz, or Randy will get to see more of my business, preferable with the solderless version.  I' think I will buy some bandaids first. 

I want to take the time to thank Randy for his comments and the superb shipping of my Keywiz.  I got it within 5 days from the US to the UK.  You cannot get better than that! 

Thanks Randy!