Soldering Tips

1. Buy a good soldering ironHe who buys cheap, buys twice or more times. Cheap bargain soldering irons don't have quality tips, and these tips end up deforming and can end up making an apparently simple job a nightmare. Also, the temperature and wattage rating can vary considerably where, for example, a 40 Watt quality soldering iron will be very close to or exactly 40 watts.

2. Use the proper solderYour local electronic components supplier will know what type of solder you need for the particular job you intend to do. Make sure that it has flux in the core.

3. Tin the tip
Especially when using your iron for the first time, you must tin the tip:

1. Using a bit of steel wool or very fine sandpaper, rub it on the tip so it will take solder.

2. Plug it in and wait for about 5 minutes until it can melt solder.

3. Apply solder to the tip and wipe it with a paper napkin or anything similar.

4. Repeat this process until the whole tip is shiny with solder.

5. Solder away!

*the next time you need to use your iron, you usually have to just wipe the tip before the job.

4. Heat the lead of the component, not the solder
The lead of the component and the land on the PCB will only take solder when it's hot. If necessary, melt some solder on the tip of the iron so it transmits heat to the lead and the land better.

5. Don't overdo itEspecially when soldering semiconductor devices, the more time you spend heating the lead, the more heat gets to the component and you'll blow it.

If you're a novice solderer, take some needle nose pliers, put an elastic band on the handle and grab the lead of the component on the component side of the PCB before soldering. This will dissipate the heat and protect the component. You can also buy heat sink clamps for this purpose at you're local electronic components dealer.

All this said, remember that with semiconductor devices, don't take more than about 5 seconds to solder a lead with a clamp on it. If you hear a 'click', you blew it!

6. Avoid draughts if possible (outdoors = not possible)Gusts of air or draughts lower the temperature of the iron making it take longer for you to do a particlar job. This endangers the components you are soldering.

Additional Comments:If you don't know what type of soldering iron to buy, I would strongly advise you to buy a 40 watt iron if you're going to do work on your guitar or amplifier and most jobs on effects pedals, and a 20 to 30 watt iron for more delicate work like on IC's, diodes and transistors.