Soldering 101 or How Not to Brand Yourself
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
Reply With Quote
