I need to start practicing again your stuff always helps me set a reasonable goal for the day or the hr thanks so much for your time

Good bits here, thanks!

Some good tips, thank you

Thank you.

havent even heard of metcal until now, that % indicator would have come in very handy multiple times.

@scottdebruyn7038

2 жыл бұрын

The company I worked for many years ago used Metcals. Personally, I like a Weller controlled station.

I love my metcal stss station it is great

Would love more info on your flux removal process. Is the flux you are using water soluble?

Amaizing tips! 😁

Interesting like

JBC makes some kickass equipment, but I always bite my tongue when I have to buy new tips or even accessories. A non complete JBC stand without soldering pen costs more than a good complete soldering station, but then again, the quality of work that these stations can do is superb....

I don't have the habit of cleaning flux AFTER I solder. I wonder whether that is bad, because I see others, especially those that do electronics professionally, religiously clean up the flux with special solutions after they're done. I see this as an extra step that is more esthetics than the actual physics of the joint and traces. Correct me if I'm wrong.

@bald_engineer

2 жыл бұрын

No-clean flux does not (usually) need to be cleaned. It is supposed to be inert. However. I've still had issues where there was just a little bit of conductivity in the flux residue to active a high-impedance input. In general, if I'm adding flux to a board, then I clean it after. Not always thoroughly, but enough to make sure the majority of residue is gone. If I'm not just using the flux that's in the solder core (and it is no-clean), then I don't usually bother.

@cdyoutoob

2 жыл бұрын

@@bald_engineer Oh my god that couldn't be more incorrectly interpreted. No-clean flux is the worst chosen name, the worst interpreted name or both. You will nearly always want to clean away No-clean flux if it's at all possible to clean. Residues do have some degree of conductivity, but they all remain sticky. Stickiness will cause many things to adhere, most of which will be very conductive. All of which will be bad in the long run. This is why we clean as best we can, when we can. Whilst many will clean for aesthetic reason it's not being doing solely for aesthetic reasons. @Desert Vox's questions about cleaning flux after they are done. It's certainly very good practice to clean up after you're done, but also clean up during the soldering process.Flux is not necessarily beneficial functioning flux because you can still believe you see flux present. A lot of fluxes have a short 'active life' as heat is injected into a bond point and the flux does it's thing and is done. If the existing residue is expired flux, then wiping this away from the bond point and adding new flux will improve your ability to solder and make great joints. For beginners please choose fluxes that do not blacken, darken, carbonise, dry up, or burn with repetitive heating. Beginners commonly overwork joints with poor skill and inexperience, and are commonly handed A flux like this, with the bad soldering iron they bought. These fluxes are mostly more corrosive when left on PCB, and also harder to clean. Several more reasons beginners should try to avoid them. Some modern fluxes do not degrade continuously or quickly, with more heat. They still create a separation barrier between the metal working surfaces and the oxygen in the atmosphere.

Everything I know about soldering I learned from Louis Rossman, lol. All the flux!

A tip regarding... well... tips. Before setting your iron down in its stand after soldering, tin the tip by at least melting a droplet (blob) of solder onto the tip and leave it in place while it rests. This causes that droplet of solder to oxidize instead of the tip. A light tap of the iron removes the blob when you pick it up (into a metal tray works best) and a quick wipe on a wet sponge leaves you ready to carry on. Also, before shutting down your iron for the day, leave a similar blob to harden onto the tip in the holder for that same tip oxidation prevention. When you come back the next time, fire up your iron and you'll know when the iron is hot, as well as protecting the tip. If you're like me, the iron is often on well before I'm ready to start soldering. Last tip - tip, is to avoid tinning too far up the tip. Most quality tips have a base metal and a quality metal on the soldering area of the tip. Don't tin past the tip alloy up onto the base metal. Solder flows well on the tinned portion and it can and will cause you to use more solder and/or draw more of your solder away from your joint. I'm not a believer, but the saying 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness' when it comes to tip care is apropos. (Although I'd just say it's good damn idea!). As my father once said to me... 'Son, try to learn from my mistakes. You can't possibly live through them all yourself...' :)

@cdyoutoob

2 жыл бұрын

Nice. Cleaning the iron with good quality brass wool is preferred to wet sponges. It's due to brass removes excess solder, including dross but leaves a decent skin of clean solder on the tip (assuming a clean well tinned tip). Wet sponge tends to cause thermal shock and makes your iron tips corrode faster. They do tend to clean better but with a shorten apparent life. They leave a lesser solder skin than brass. This reduces transfer of heat into the work material when you touch the tip to the work area. It sort of pushes you to needing to feed the solder wire in to make the heat transfer happen faster. I fully concur with your leave some solder on the tip. Tap or wrist flick to remove the solder. Great practice! Clean your tip with brass wool before working on your joint. Not when you return iron to the stand. Don't do both times. Prepping to ensure you get clean melted solder onto your stright out of the packet tips at the very microsecond they are first heated sufficiently is the key to tinning your tips. Caveats: All brass wool is not the same. You can get bad stuff that has alloys in it you don't want to be there. Never use brass if it's a scouring pad (yes it looks like one) or sandpaper. Doing so will not help. Wet sponges also vary but are commonly filled/wetted with tap water by the user. Tap water contains things you do not want to be cleaning heated metal with.

@scottdebruyn7038

2 жыл бұрын

@@cdyoutoob I forgot to mention that I use distilled water for my sponges. The other bit is that I slit the sponges with an razor blade about a 1/2" deep, so 1 or 2 quick wipes clears most of the flux containing the contaminants and have tips that have mega-hours (years) on them, so haven't seen the thermal shock issue of which you speak.:)

@cdyoutoob

2 жыл бұрын

@@scottdebruyn7038 Yes that slit in the sponge is a great tip i've only recently discovered. Seems so logical once you do it though. Thermal shock is hard to see, just read lots about it and moved to using the brass way more. Tips/Cartridges do last a lot longer now. I get my brass wool only from electronics vendors and not generics. Too concerned I'll be getting something that is cheap and nasty instead of just cheap.

Before storing your iron, clean the tip with Tin Tinner, then coat the tip with solder just before powering it off. Leaving the tip coated with solder means it can't oxidize and corrode. The next time you fire it up, clean the old solder off the tip once it's melted and the tip will be ready to go.

@bald_engineer

2 жыл бұрын

Well, no. You should very rarely use Tip Tinner. That should ONLY be used on a tip that has nasty oxidation that you want to clean off. The flux used is significantly more aggressive than the flux you normally solder with. Just cleaning a tip with a sponge and putting fresh solder on it is enough for storage.

@MikeBramm

2 жыл бұрын

@@bald_engineer Well, I've been using this process for over 20 years and my tips easily last 5 years.

For most component and pcb the flux in the solder will do the job, you should always use clean pcb bad and component. You can always apply external flux for those component that is hard to transfer heat to like fine pitch IC or big wires, and clean after as you should do anyway. Flux is not a must.

@scottdebruyn7038

2 жыл бұрын

'Flux is not a must.'.. Not for a single joint with a well tinned iron, no. But I'd disagree on not using flux on more joints than 1... maybe 2 at a time. Of course you can always clean your tip between each and every joint or 2. I noted that the presenter tended to flood with flux and preheat the joints with with just flux before soldering, that's not necessary. Just a fine tipped flux applicator and a quick pass over each joint to add no more flux than you will be adding solder is best. Then solder with the raw flux in place in one step. :)

@REALIVH

2 жыл бұрын

@@scottdebruyn7038 still again you do not need so much flux that they swim in it. take a soldering cause and you know what Ia am talking about. I see lot of youtubers that use lot of flux just because they have seen other youtubers use lot of ot. but it not necessary.

@scottdebruyn7038

2 жыл бұрын

@@REALIVH I agree with you that no flux at all works if you have a clean iron (properly tinned) and rosin core solder. But again, too many fail to get good solder joints by failing to clean their iron and using only the rosin in their solder. The impurities build up after 3-6 joints. The addition of small amounts of flux extends that to 15-20 joints between cleanings of the iron. I've been soldering since my late teens (now 63) and have made every mistake and tried most every combination from flooded with flux on fine pitch SMT to solid core solder on copper braid with a match. When it comes to flux, A little dab will do ya, but none for a big job sucks.

I just wanted to add that soldier can get too old from oxadition . the same is true for aluminum welding wire , it goes bad much faster.

Soddering! 😂

"Tips to Improve Your Soldering Skills" Step 1: buy a $495 soldering station 🥴

@MrRobot-lm2lo

Жыл бұрын

To much, 150 is ok

If you're going to use flux you need something to capture the fumes. That smoke coming off the solder? It's flux and it's pretty bad for you

Great tips, but personally I think drag soldering shouldn't be a thing, it's all too easy to cause shorts across multiple pins, especially on very fine pitch devices. Oh, and why do people call it soddering? It's soLdering.