Re: Desoldering chips

Sam Gillett wrote:
"Martijn van Buul" <pino@xxxxxxxx> wrote ...

* winston19842005:
Any tips for soldering wires together? I always seem to have trouble
getting the solder to flow to the wires - it would rather stick to
the iron.

Just a few ideas:

You gave some good tips. Hope you don't mind if I add a few more
details.
* Always tin the wires individually before trying to solder them
together. While doing so, make sure to melt the tin on the wire
being tinned, don't try to transfer it from the soldering iron to
the wire. (In other words: "Heat wire, then apply tin to wire"
instead of "Melt tin on iron, then try to cover wire with it").

When tinning wires be sure to allow the iron to reach full working
temperature before starting. Then clean and lightly tin the tip of
the iron. Place the wire to be tinned against the iron and apply a
small amount of solder to the point where the wire is touching the
iron. This is to provide good heat transfer. Wait just a moment,
then apply solder to the wire. After the solder flows over the
surface of the wire remove the iron.
If you get too much solder on the wire the excess can always be
removed. The end result should be a very thin coating of solder
evenly distributed over the surface of the wire. Practice on some
scrap wire before tinning the wire that you will actually be using.

* If possible, twist wires before soldering.

Yes! :-)

When joining wires, I always twist the wires together before soldering.
Applying the heat to the join and feeding the solder into it has always
worked very well for me and I have not found a need to pretin the wires.

* Make sure both wires are stationary. Using a 'third hand' can be
really useful sometimes.

Yes again. Soldering is usually best done with the iron in one hand
and solder in the other. Do not use the solid solder plumbers use to
join pipes. Use the rosin core solder designed for use with
electronics.
At times it may be desirable to place the soldering iron in a vice,
then hold the item to be soldered in one hand, and solder in the
other. Another tip... if you are right handed, apply the solder to
the joint with your right hand (when practical).

I find that to be rather awkward but then I'm largely ambidextrous and most
people are not so that may be easier for most.

Rather than a separate reply to another post in this thread, let me
say that I like to use a 40 watt iron with a small "screwdriver"
style tip. For applications where this tip does not transfer enough
heat quickly enough I like a slightly larger "pyramid" style tip.

Also, Ray Carlsen has an article on desoldering chips on his website.

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/cbm/desolder.txt

Desoldering and soldering is one of those things that you suddenly just
"get" with lots of practice and then you kind of develop your own techniques
as you keep getting better at it.



.

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