Soldering 101 or How Not to Brand Yourself

[SpeedRacer888]

First you need to get yourself a soldering Iron and some solder that is suitable for soldering electronic components (flux core solder). Don't make the mistake of getting the plumbing kind it will work however its much harder to work with and you need flux to get the solder to flow (but we will not go there hehehe). You can get this almost anywhere. I recommend getting a soldering pencil type iron and not the soldering gun. The guns are usually big and heavy. The wattage is not important if your working on Pachislo Machines as the wiring in them is not all that thick. So just about any soldering iron will do. In Canada we can get a pretty good soldering iron for around $10 and about $5 for the solder. (this amount of solder you get for $5 will do many jobs).

- Radio Shack (also known as "The Source" here in Canada)
- Walmart (yes they do carry them here in Canada LOL!)
- Sears
- K-Mart


Next bring your new toy home and practice on some old wire. Plug your soldering iron in and place it on a ceramic plate (thats what I use so I don't burn anything. The soldering iron depending on the wattage will take some time to get hot enough to melt the solder. (it can take up to 3 minutes to heat up) Get a couple of peices of wire strip (or bare the ends) and twist them together. Check to see if you soldering iron is hot enough to melt the solder by feeding the solder to the tip of the soldering iron (this is called tinning the iron). If it melts and it sticks to the soldering irons tip then your ready to try it. place your wires on the plate and touch the soldering iron the bare part of the wires you twisted together and then with your other hand feed some solder near where the soldering iron is making contact to the wire. You should see the solder melt and start to cover the wire. If this works then remove the solder you were feeding to the soldering irons tip and the wire. Remove the soldering iron and place the soldering iron back on the plate. Take your fine piece of work and blow on it to cool it down. (This will only take about 5 seconds). Then pick up your work and admire it.
Your good to go.

In some cases you can get what they call a cold soldering joint this is usually caused by your soldering iron being too cold. In this case to rectify the problem let it heat up longer before using it. This can also happen if the soldering irons tip is loose so its a good idea to make sure its tight before plugging the iron in. Somtimes the solder will not stick to the wire if you notice some corrosion on the wire use a piece of sandpaper to clean it. Just sand the ends of the bare wire (flod the sand paper over the wire and draw the wire through until its shiney). Always remember to unplug your soldering iron after your done as it remains hot for a long time (about 30 minutes). If you feel your not confident enough try doing it again and again and with in no time you will be the soldering master of your house. Soldering is not hard and it comes in handy to know how to do it.

I want to personally Thank Arbycoffee for the thumbs up on me posting this and I hope alot of people get some use out of this info.

Regards,
Tony

[arbycoffee]

Cool, nice about the cleanning tip.

[SpeedRacer888]

Cool, nice about the cleanning tip.

Thanks Arby!

I forgot to mention that if the soldering irons tip gets dirty you can fold over some sandpaper and clean it that way too. Just make sure it is not hot or plugged in.

Regards,

Tony

[alstonj1]

one big suggestion !!!!! when reaching for your iron PLEASE look at the iron grabbing the wrong end is not a noticeable problem till you smell a unique smell and then realize its flesh burning then it hits you its YOUR flesh burning .Also that this should hurt and in a second or so it does ........(personal experience with years of experience at the time ).so please pay attention where the iron is at all times .......also make sure the solder is rosin core solder not acid core (plumbers solder) it does tend to eat components like printed circuit boards......with a little practice this is as easy to do as anything else .....

[jwegger]

We got one of those new cordless instant cool soldering irons ($15.00 at costco) recommend sticking with the plug in type, they seem to work better and give you a better joint. The tip is a split electrode and you need to have both sides touching your work for it to work.

[drcrippen324]

that cant be good there has to be some current flowing through there may damage sensative components

[RKnarr01]

jwegger,

is that the coldheat iron?

I had one of the cold heat irons and it was terrible it would even melt the solder for me

[jwegger]

I beleive that is the correct name. The tip looks like it's made of graphite, kind of like the hoof on a cow. You have to have both sides on the material you are soldering for it to allegedly work. I did get it to solder a wire but it was more trouble than it was worth and I ended up pulling out the regular iron to get a good connection.

[RKnarr01]

yea thats the one i had. i know one guy who it works for an he likes it but when i bought one it was nothing but a headache for me. On the informercial they make it look so easy and convenient

[arbycoffee]

yea thats the one i had. i know one guy who it works for an he likes it but when i bought one it was nothing but a headache for me. On the informercial they make it look so easy and convenient

All informercials everything is easy, convenient, and cheap too.

Sounds like McDonalds or some of the women in my life where I was young, dumb too . . . . . . . .

Lets not regress here

[SpeedRacer888]

I have one of those cold tip irons.. I guess I am old school and never got the hang of it. It seems to work but not that well for me when I was doing surgery on an antique radio or Jukebox. For the smaller stuff it was ok. I think my problem was positioning the tip correctly to make proper contact with the thing I was soldering.


Tony

one big suggestion !!!!! when reaching for your iron PLEASE look at the iron grabbing the wrong end is not a noticeable problem till you smell a unique smell and then realize its flesh burning then it hits you its YOUR flesh burning .Also that this should hurt and in a second or so it does ........(personal experience with years of experience at the time ).so please pay attention where the iron is at all times .......also make sure the solder is rosin core solder not acid core (plumbers solder) it does tend to eat components like printed circuit boards......with a little practice this is as easy to do as anything else .....

You right that is nasty stuff.. besides I don't think there is any copper pipe in these machines.. so nothing to go wrong with the plumbing here.. Could you imagine someone with a plumbers type soldering iron or even worse a propane torch??? Hahahaha... what a mess that would be.

Tony

[luckydog]

Or you could use a propane torch

[drcrippen324]

what your not ment to use a torch in the back of your pachis
how else do you solder a lcd controler in then

[SpeedRacer888]

what your not ment to use a torch in the back of your pachis
how else do you solder a lcd controler in then

How about a flame-thrower? Hehehehe!


Tony

[d mowery]

That will fire up the Pachies fer sure

[SpeedRacer888]

That will fire up the Pachies fer sure

I bet it would hehehehe.. while listening to the Inkspots version of "I don't want to set the world on fire"

Tony

[d mowery]

Hey I had a cousin that sang some with the Ink spots in Ohio and she was a white girl would ya beleive that

[SpeedRacer888]

Hey I had a cousin that sang some with the Ink spots in Ohio and she was a white girl would ya beleive that

Oh my god that would have been a treat.. those guys are great!! I have just about everything they did on 78's

She might have been a big fan and those guys were a nice as they come.. that would probaby answer the question why she was allowed to sing with them..



Regards,
Tony

[d mowery]

There may have been a we bit of alcohol involved along the way but she was a fine singer

[jerry kosch]

Question speaking of soldering: If I change a two amp transformer to a four amp, I have a black and white wire, I believe this is the power cord, that hook to black and white, and the other two yellow wires go to the machine. My question is does it matter if the two yellow wires interchange or do they have go to the specific place ? I know I read somewhere that you can't mix them or you will fry the machine.I am thinking this would be the power cord side but maybe the yellows don't matter. Thanks for any help.