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Soldering question
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MattM:
OK, before I get into it again I just want to say that I really appreciate everyone helping me out!

I've had another little attempt and failed once more. I've tried rubbing the contact points with methylated spirits and that didn't seem to work. I've tried scrapping back the contact point so it's a little more shiny and that didn't seem to work.

It is those uncoated contact points that BobA mentioned that I've been trying to tin, that's why I'm a little surprised that nothing is happening. I must still be doing something obviously wrong.

It's not even that the solder melts but doesn't take to the points, like I've read other people have problems with. It's that the solder doesn't even begin to melt. It just stays in it's original form.

Any other ideas? Are my explanations even making sense, I'm starting to confuse myself, hahaha.  ???

Thanks again!
BobA:
Maybe your soldering iron is not working properly.   How many watts is it and can you melt solder on its tip?
MattM:
The iron is 25W. This is the one I bought: http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/49fc984a0ba78c06273fc0a87e0106ab/Product/View/T2304

It's working fine as far as I can tell. I can melt solder on the tip and I can fairly easily tin lengths of wire.
BobA:
Make sure you tin the tip.  It should have a thin coating of solder on it so it can wet properly when put against a solder joint.  Aside from that all I can think of is that you are not holding it against the joint long enough.
SG Jaycurl:
If you're tinning the tip first, it sounds like you're probably taking the right approach. Have you tried soldering to anything else, just for practice? If not, I might recommend doing that a little bit until you get the feel for it. It could be something as simple as soldering two wires together. Or, if you have some scrap electronics (like an old VCR), take that apart and try to solder some things together or whatever.

I was a total n00b to soldering until about a month ago myself. This is the process that worked for me when I wanted to solder a wire to a PCB contact point.

1. Tin the iron (melt a small amount of solder on the end of the iron).
2. Tin the wire. I held the wire in a fly-tying vise, heated the exposed end and melted a dab of solder to it.
3. Tin the iron again.
4. Hold the iron on the contact point of the pcb for a couple seconds, then apply solder. It should melt and stick fairly easily.
5. Hold the tinned end of the wire to the tinned contact point and press your iron on it briefly. Should melt together quickly and easily.

The biggest thing I learned (after killing one PCB myself) was the importance of tinning the iron tip. It makes such a huge difference for conducting heat.

Good luck.
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