More soldering tips - Redwings - Tweakers' Asylum

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More soldering tips

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I read further down, an ongoing discussion about soldering. I am what the Navy refers to as a 2-M technician. (miniature/microminiature repair.) The school I attended was created by NASA after a space accident investigation revealed a cold solder joint as the cause.
Here are a few pointers:
1. Contrary to previous posts, hotter is not always better. Only use as much heat as you need. Too much heat can measel the CCA, thus weakening it, and you are also more likely to lift a pad.
(Instead of cranking up the heat, use a tip that allows more surface contact with the component.)
2. When de-soldering, If you don't have a vaccum extractor, many times, re-flowing the connection while adding new solder before extraction will help. Wick works well, but it works best if you add some liquid flux.
3. Clean! Clean! Clean! A simple pencil eraser works great for cleaning component leads and pads before soldering.
4. Terminate your leads before soldering, thus leaving no exposed copper when the job is done.
5. Avoid the "bigger the blob, the better the job" concept. A proper solder connection for maximum strength should be a concave fillet which extends about half way up the lead, which by the way, should be no longer than one and a half times the radius of the pad.
6. If you are soldering to a double sided board, (pads on both sides) you should solder from the non-component side, and if you need to, put a heat sink on the component lead to help draw the heat for better flow to both sides.
7. If you clinch the leads, (bend the lead down to the board) always bend it in the direction of the foil run.
8. I could go on forever with this stuff so I'll shut up now, but feel free to e-mail me with any questions.
Thanks, Brian

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Topic - More soldering tips - Redwings 13:41:12 11/14/02 (14)

excellent post - PeterS 06:47:21 11/16/02 (0)

..and the best solder for audio is? [nt] - chris.redm0ond2@bushinternet.com 13:47:44 11/15/02 (1)

Re: ..and the best solder for audio is? [nt] - Redwings 18:12:04 11/15/02 (0)

"Measel the CCA"? - Allen Wright 09:02:00 11/15/02 (5)

Re: "Measel the CCA"? - Redwings 09:32:27 11/15/02 (4)

Re: "Measel the CCA"? - Allen Wright 03:00:59 11/16/02 (3)

ugly solder joints - PeterS 06:41:42 11/16/02 (2)

Re: ugly solder joints - Allen Wright 03:49:42 11/17/02 (1)

Re: a fluxing we will go - PeterS 04:24:01 11/17/02 (0)

Re: More soldering tips - puppyslugg 20:46:03 11/14/02 (0)

Re: More soldering tips - SamL 19:10:46 11/14/02 (1)

Re: More soldering tips - Redwings 20:21:02 11/14/02 (0)

Excellent post Redwings. (nt) - Jerry P 16:08:06 11/14/02 (0)

Thanks, great tips (nt) - HD Audio 15:49:59 11/14/02 (0)

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