Share your Soldering Tips Here

[misterD]

hey, guitarman!!! that pen works wonderfully!! thank you!
now, i had my box ready. all that was left off was to epoxy everything in place and i effed up the sliding switch with epoxy
so now i have to re-do the atty/batt connector, change the switch...
scratch fiberglass pen. i love it!!

[guitarman023]

yup, they're pretty useful

[Para]

For tight spaces, I love this torch/soldering iron. The fine tip and temp controls make it easy to get into cramped spaces. Runs on butane so you don't have to worry about cords and such.



Wal-Mart or any hardware store

[Covetous]

A lot of good information here one thing i didnt see addressed tho is what tips the beginners are using. For us guys that have been soldering for 10+ years its usually not a big deal as we can usually solder about anything with about anything but the beginners probably arent in the same boat. i would highly suggest that the people just starting out use chisel tips ( shaped like a flat head screwdriver). The Weller SP40LK comes with 2 chisel tips and a pointed tip... the smaller chisel would be perfect for most e-cig mod jobs. That gun is ~18$ at lowes / home depot and is actually really nice for all it is and very durable ( mine gets dropped steped on or ran over almost constantly being an auto collision tech ). Another thing is how the wires are put together before you solder....really dosent matter in the E-cig world. I say this because of the million ways manufacturers reccomend splicing. Car manufactures for example, some want you to mash the wires together so the strands are all intertwined (just annoying and stupid IMO) some want the tinned tips side by side and some want them wound together, so unless you legally have to do it one way its personal preference. Myself i like to flux both wires then wind them together and use the ball of solder on the gun technique for jobs like we would need. I have found it to be WAY easier than other methods even if it does tend to eat on your tips pretty hard. keep in mind if you have some epic mod that requires a PCB or something like that the pointed tips are going to be required. I think im gonna make a video to demonstrate my easy "newbie" method and link it for anyone interested.

and a video demonstration: youtube /watch?v=NZqqLf0mny0
or you can just look up my user name: Ganjastaar
hope it helps

[lynleestar]

great info in this thread~!

[rannox]

I agree about the chisel tip. It may be that I just switched from a 30w Harbor Freight POS with a conical tip, to a Weller WLC100 (Highly recommended for starters btw, only $50), I havent even switched out the chisel tip it came with cus I like it .

The Conical tips are nice and straight forward, but a chisel tip thats about a wide as a pcb slot, perfection.

For all my mods I use simple .022 62/36/2 Rosin Core from Rat Shack.

My basic method: Let it heat up for 5-10 mins, Wipe off your tin, Little dab on the tip, touch one side, solder on the other, 1-2 seconds, re-tin tip, put it away and turn it off.

[forthwith]

A couple of things that really help me: a couple of alligator clips on goosenecks or a jeweler's "third hand" or some cross-locking tweezers to hold your project while soldering really helps! even an old board with some various sized holes put in it to hold, say a battery clip while soldering. And if you want to keep your tip from eroding, you can tin all you want, but if you don't neutralize the acid in the flux on your iron, it's gonna decay pretty fast. Dip in water, dunk in baking soda, clean and dry.

[ScottinSoCal]

Just saying explicitly what was alluded to a couple of times in here...

I'm the soldering instructor for my company (in the NASA standard mentioned on the first page of this thread). Matching the soldering tip to the component/wire being soldered is going to give you the best success. When soldering the wire to the atty mount, a wide chisel tip is best. When soldering to the regulator IC, a narrow chisel tip, or even a pointed tip, will work best. Angle the tip to give maximum contact, keep the tip in contact with the joint only as long as you have to for the solder to flow well, and allow the joint to cool by itself, don't wipe it with a wet finger or sponge. That leads to something called a disturbed joint, and it's a rejectable condition, but the basic reason is it put stress lines into the solder joint that will eventually cause microcracks and failure of the solder joint.

[Koman]

For tight spaces, I love this torch/soldering iron. The fine tip and temp controls make it easy to get into cramped spaces. Runs on butane so you don't have to worry about cords and such.



Wal-Mart or any hardware store

Oh, I got to get that.

[Para]

Putting it in this thread since it's a tip......best value for a soldering iron I've seen. 15 bucks and an extra 5 for a tip assortment.

Stahl Soldering Station