soldering help

R

rusomon

So, I've been doing some practice soldering in anticipation of the arrival of the parts kit for an ACA I'm going to be building. (The case for same has already come; very nice quality.)

What I've mainly been doing is soldering dohickeys of one kind or another to a pcb board and I've reached the point where I'm feeling fairly comfortable doing that. Where I'm running into trouble is soldering heavier gauge wire to a tab. The solder just doesn't seem to be spreading very evenly or very far for me. What the heck?

Any ideas on where I'm going wrong? Do I need to use a broader tip, or extra flux, or exercise more patience whilst applying heat, or just what?

I'd really appreciate any help you kind folks might share. Thanks.
 
Both pieces need to be equally hot. Patience doesn't work because the parts need to conduct heat fast. You don't want to stay in one spot too long. Clean the tip on a regular basis. Parts need to be free of oxidization. Hot fast and close.
 
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Wet (tin) your tip before applying heat to the article...this will help in assuring the piece heats up properly and fully.
Clean the tip off with a damp sponge after each use.
 
Celt said:
Wet (tin) your tip before applying heat to the article...this will help in assuring the piece heats up properly and fully.
Clean the tip off with a damp sponge after each use.
Click to expand...
This. I was going to write exactly this, but... well, some Peanut Head beat me to it.
 
Thanks, everybody.

I've really been enjoying slapping together the cheap-o practice kit I picked up from Parts Express. I think it's some kind of trivia game signal board for players with impossibly miniscule hands, or, anyway, something like that; mainly it was a lot of parts and a pcb for not much money.

Along the way I've already learned a few things. Yes, the iron has to be hot enough. Tinning does help. Lingering in one place is a mistake. (Not going to say exactly how I learned this last thing, but I did get to practice repairing traces, so that's good, right?) Anyway, I'd reached the point where I was feeling pretty stinking confident... and that's when I decided I'd knock off a few heavier wire to tab practice runs with a few stray bits I had lying around....

So, it looks like more practice is definitely in order, and as recommended I'll try a heavier tip, which I'll have to order. While I'm at it I might as well go ahead and get more solder because this building stuff thing is beginning to look like it's going to be a real problem. Seriously, I haven't even built anything yet and already I'm thinking about the next project. And the one after that. (Would it have killed you guys to warn me this could happen?)

Thanks again. Pretty likely I'll be back begging for more help in the not so distant future.
 
If the practice kit supplied lead free solder, you might want to try some Kester or other brand of 60/40 rosin core. The difference ain't subtle. The evil leaded solder is much easier to deal with. Other members with more experience might have some other suggestions.
 
airdronian said:
If the practice kit supplied lead free solder, you might want to try some Kester or other brand of 60/40 rosin core. The difference ain't subtle. The evil leaded solder is much easier to deal with. Other members with more experience might have some other suggestions.
Click to expand...

+1, lead free solder absolutely sucks.

Kester 60/40 is very good stuff, or if you wanna get fancy, Cardas Quad Eutectic (1/4 lb roll = $29) and WBT 0800 (1/8 lb. roll = $44) are both outstanding.
 
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airdronian said:
you might want to try some Kester or other brand of 60/40 rosin core.
Click to expand...

I did order some Kester 60/40 at the same time as the kit but I also already had some Harbor Freight solder on hand. Being a cheapskate I thought I'd use the Harbor Freight stuff on the crummy kit and save the Kester for the ACA. Somewhere along the line, though, I started thinking I should probably practice some with the same solder I'd be using on the ACA. I don't know if the HF solder is lead free or not but I can say for sure the Kester made a huge difference. Melted faster, flowed way better. In the end I used the Kester the rest of the way-- on the kit.

And then, naturally, I did the dumb thing. Rather than stick with what was working so well I switched back to the Harbor Freight solder when I was practicing with heavier wire and tabs. (Didn't want to waste my good solder; did I mention I was, um, frugal?) Anyway, the HF solder was undoubtedly part of my problem, and operator error the rest.

So, I've ordered the following: more Kester solder, an assortment of new tips, and a cheap TPA3122 amplifier kit. By the time I get the little Class D amp together I think I'll be ready for the ACA. (As far as I know diyaudio is still on track for a 7/31 (or possibly earlier) ship date for the ACA.)

The trivia board kit is finished. (It works!) Now I'm stuck waiting on the TPA3122 amp kit. What to do in the meantime? I guess I'll be scrounging around the house for more random crap to solder. (That's how much I'm enjoying this stuff.) Can a fork be soldered to a doorknob? I guess I'll be finding out.

The cat is looking decidedly uneasy.

Thanks, everybody.
 
Time for an update.

I'll begin by telling you about an e-mail I received from the guys at diyaudio yesterday. In it they said they were considering some sort of ACA contest. Best build, most customized, worst soldering, those sorts of things. And guess what, even though I finally put together an ACA this weekend I ain't entering any of them.

Best build? Um, no, not going to even pretend. Most customized? Here I'm assuming they mean intentional customizing, so that's out too. Which brings us to the point (finally) that's actually germane to this thread: worst soldering. And here's the thing, folks, I'm actually fairly certain it wasn't me. How about that? Who'd have guessed?

Thanks again for the tips and support, everybody.
 
opa1 said:
How bout some pic's? :)
Click to expand...

Sorry, as much as I'd like to oblige that probably isn't going to happen. I've only posted pictures once on an Internet forum. No, that isn't true. My wife posted pictures for me. Because I don't know how. Which is a little embarrassing, I suppose. But, hey, otherwise I get by okay. Pretty sure my ACA isn't all that picture-worthy anyway.

Basically, what I put together looks pretty much like every other assembled V1.6 ACA kit, with the following exceptions: one jacked up connection to the PCB (soldered wire to the wrong hole, tried to desolder, couldn't, cut wire, soldered correct wire to stump, not pretty, works); one self tapping screw on the lid that is just skewed enough to bug me, but no big deal, really, so why can't I stop looking at it?

Anyway, a fun assembly job. Now I suppose I should try to spend some time actually listening to it.
 
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