Soldering tips and tricks to make your job easier

There are two types of solder:

Lead based and lead-free. Lead solder has a lower melting point but contains a harmful substance called lead. Lead-free solder has a higher melting point but may not be as easy to work with. Solder comes in different diameters, so choose the one that matches your project. For thicker wires like 12 gauge, use solder with a larger diameter.

Two techniques are used to apply the solder. Hold the solder in your non-dominant hand, giving it about an inch and a half of length. Touch the solder to the metal prong. With your dominant hand, hold the soldering iron and promptly touch it to the metal prong and the solder. This needs to be done quickly to avoid forming a large glob of solder, which is undesirable. The cooled solder should resemble a Hershey's Kiss.

Here are some tips for solder excess removal:

Use a solder sucker or braid tape to remove excess solder. Start with the solder sucker and then use braid tape for better cleaning. Only using braid tape can be wasteful and expensive. If using a hot air station, be careful not to directly heat connectors to avoid damaging plastic cases. Twist the board and heat the area below the connector for a clean connection. When using solder paste, be cautious of the quantity to avoid excessive connections. If you don't have a hot air station, you can strip and apply flux and solder to a braided cable to extract connectors. Using flux makes soldering easier and forms strong bonds between electronics or wires. When soldering an SMD capacitor, use flux and quickly heat each side. Avoid excessive pressure to prevent damage to the capacitor pad. Applying thermal paste and wiping off the excess can help identify component names. When soldering small components with a hot air station and solder paste, choose a low air flow to prevent blowing away the component. For ICs with many pins, start soldering from the corner pins. When replacing high power components, use a thicker iron tip and apply flux to activate the old solder. Add more solder for efficient replacement.

Make sure no solder is touching anything if your project isn't working and you suspect that it might be your soldering. A short circuit would result from this. Additionally, you need to ensure that each prong has a enough amount of solder; otherwise, the prongs might not bond to the circuit board.

Surface Preparation:

To get a robust, low resistance joint, a clean surface is crucial. Steel wool and a solvent of some kind should be used to clean all surfaces that are going to be soldered. Laquer thinner is a useful tool. Some people prefer to use sand paper, but I prefer to use steel wool because I believe it is just too simple to sand through circuit board traces. Component leads may have accumulated glue from shipping and rust from incorrect storage, so make sure to clean them thoroughly.

Component Placement:

You are now prepared to mount the component on the board after cleaning both the component and the board. Insert the component through the appropriate holes on the board, bending the leads as needed. You might wish to bend the leads on the bottom of the board at a 45-degree angle to retain the item in place as you solder.

Once you are sure that the component is properly placed, you can start by applying tiny solder to the iron's tip. This helps in transferring heat to the board and component, but the joint will not be formed by the solder. It's now time to really heat the board and component. Position the iron point so that it presses against the board and the component lead. Larger components and larger soldering pads on the board can lengthen the time it takes to heat up a component enough to solder. Generally, this process takes one or two seconds.

You are prepared to apply solder once the solder pad and component lead have reached a temperature. Don't touch the iron's tip; instead, touch the solder strand's tip to the component lead and solder pad. The solder should flow easily around the lead and pad if the temperature is high enough. You can stop adding solder and take the soldering iron off of the pad once the entire surface has been covered. Give the solder a few seconds to cool before moving the joint. You will experience what's known as a "cold joint" if you do move the second joint.