Does anyone use conductive adhesives?

[lcmgadgets]

I hate soldering. Hate it hate it hate it. It doesn't help that I'm terrible at it. Burned fingers, burned boards, trying to keep that damn iron away from anything flamable, surfaces that refuse to be soldered, despite doing everything right--I swear!, messy flux, okay, you get the idea. I still do it if I have to, of course but, does anyone out there have much experience with conductive adhesives? Are any of them any good--& by that I mean, could you, without trading the issues I've mentioned with bigger problems, replace some of your soldering needs with an adhesive?

[BobA]

Nothing is a good as a good solder connection.  All it takes is cleanliness, flux and practice, practice, practice.   You also have to have the right equipment.   The poor results you seem to be having are probably due to too hot an iron.   A 35 to 40W iron is about all you need.  Conductive solder pastes will not give you long lasting results. 

[BadMouth]

Soldering tutorials: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129317.msg1322370.html#msg1322370
The videos I posted turned me from a lead-booger dribbler into a pad hacking machine.

[MonMotha]

Good equipment really does do wonders.

Conductive adhesives are a step in the wrong direction.  About the only thing they're good for is EMC tape.  They definitely won't hold mechanically, and they're electrically pretty meh.  You might get by with it electrically for something that's very low current like a pushbutton signal, but you will not be able to move power with it.  If you really want to electrically and mechanically connect two metal pieces, you really need to solder it (or weld it, if it comes to that - totally different process, of course).

In other words, get a halfway decent soldering iron (spend $15, not $1.50), some decent solder (63/37 moderately active flux core - if you're in Europe and stuck with lead-free, get this stuff or find somebody who has the good ol' leaded stuff), and a bunch of scrap boards.  Practice.  Practice.  Practice.  It's about 90% skill and 10% having decent tools, but if you lose that 10% you're still sunk.

[Monkeyvoodoo]

I was soldering for years with good and mostly bad results before I was taught how to do it properly in the navy. Most helpful tip I received was to heat the point to be soldered and apply the solder to that and not the tip of the iron. Changed the way I worked completely.


Sent from a pineapple under the sea

[Monkeyvoodoo]

Not sure how I doubled posted...

[Fursphere]

Hot solder will not "stick" to a cold electronic part.  You need to (slowly) pre-heat whatever you are going to solder (which is basically brazing in welding terms)

Flux can be very important - although I normally just use rosin core solder (nasty fumes, good solder joints). 

Practice makes perfect.  Don't be afraid to get a set of "third hands" to help you too.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/a4bb/

[yotsuya]

After testing it out at an arcade repair party, I just bought a Hakko Soldering Station as well as a Hakko desoldering gun. +1 on using quality equipment.

[shponglefan]

I used to hate/suck at soldering until I learned how to do it right.  Mainly from following the information in these YouTube vids:





And +2 to having decent equipment.  Bought a Hakko FX-888D soldering station to replace my cheapy Home Depot soldering iron and haven't looked back.

[Maximus]

After testing it out at an arcade repair party, I just bought a Hakko Soldering Station as well as a Hakko desoldering gun. +1 on using quality equipment.

I also use a hakko station. A quality iron took me from completely useless to recapping my own monitors and doing other everyday electronics repair and builds. Just another example of a quality tool making your life a thousand times easier.

[Monkeyvoodoo]

After testing it out at an arcade repair party, I just bought a Hakko Soldering Station as well as a Hakko desoldering gun. +1 on using quality equipment.

I also use a hakko station. A quality iron took me from completely useless to recapping my own monitors and doing other everyday electronics repair and builds. Just another example of a quality tool making your life a thousand times easier.

Never skimp on your tools. You do get what you pay for.


Sent from a pineapple under the sea

[lcmgadgets]

Thanks guys. Sigh. I knew these were the kind of responses I'd get. I actually went from an el-cheapo iron to a portosal (I think mines the Propiezo 75). I use sal ammoniac to clean/retin my tips--awesome stuff but watch out for the fumes. I've learned to use a liquid flux--much easier to work with. I use lead-free solder--could this b part of why it seems to take a long time for the solder to melt/flow? That's my final, biggest complaint--it seems to take a lot longer for me to get the damn solder to melt & flow than in the videos. I've watched the tutorials, I've read, I've practiced--I guess it's just going to take more practice. Another issue--I use a 3rd hand tool, & other clamps when I can, but I often find myself having a hard time to get the part & wire to stay in contact while I heat/solder them. I guess I just have shaky hands. Any other ideas for dealing with this issue?

[shponglefan]

I use lead-free solder--could this b part of why it seems to take a long time for the solder to melt/flow? That's my final, biggest complaint--it seems to take a lot longer for me to get the damn solder to melt & flow than in the videos.

Yup, lead-free is going to be more difficult.  Just get some tin/lead solder (60/40 or 63/37) in the thinnest diameter you can find.

[walkera]

Feel sorry for you,but i am in the same condition!

[PL1]

Two more considerations that haven't been mentioned in this thread yet:

1. Greater surface area making contact means faster heat transfer.

If only the pointy end of the tip is making contact, the heat will transfer slower than if the side of the tip near the point is used.

2. Many commercial boards have protective coatings added after the solder.

If you don't remove the protective coating from the work area, it may be difficult or even impossible to solder properly on that part of the board.


Scott

[Rigby]

There are two or three things about soldering that people never seem to figure out on their own:

• Spend $100 on an adjustable temperature soldering iron.  The Radio Shack $25 irons will lift traces off your boards just as fast as a bench grinder can grind them off.  Ok, not quite that fast, but holy crap those irons are useless.
• Heat what you're soldering, NOT THE SOLDER.  Heat the legs & copper pad, not the solder.  Once the things you're soldering together are hot, touch cold solder to them.  The heated parts will melt the solder themselves, flow the solder correctly, and they will all cool together, forming a very good joint.
• Use a chisel tip, not a conical tip, for most work.  Using a conical (looks like a sharpened pencil in shape) tip makes it harder to heat up and convey the heat to your components.

That said, read up and/or watch videos on soldering.  It is not hard at all, and there's no reason whatsoever that you should ever let soldering get the best of you.

[lcmgadgets]

Yeah, I've suspected that another thing that'd help would b a chisel tip. A project I completed a while ago (nothing arcade related) required a really tight/tiny board, which meant I needed a really tiny soldering tip to get in there (yes, it was that tight). I've stuck with that tip since.

Time to spend a few bucks.