Share your Soldering Tips Here

[TheLizinator]

I've been soldering stained glass professionally for 25 years. I currently have a 100 watt Weller that has an internal thermostat that keeps it running at a steady temperature. My previous favorite iron was an Essico that still has a tip seized inside. The iron heats fine, I just can't get the tip out anymore. It's a shame because that was a wonderful soldering iron (and I have a large collection of tips). I also have a rheostat I could use with my Weller, but it still seems to put out more heat than I like soldering small electronic connections. There is an anti-seize product that keeps your iron from "seizing" the tip. It can happen, and a tiny amount applied to the base of the tip will prevent this from happening. You can throw your soldering iron away when the tip is permanently bonded to the iron.

The cheapy 25-30 watt irons are the worst excuse for soldering irons I've ever seen. I would prefer using my $100 Weller with a rheostat than messing with these $15-$25 pieces o' crap.

I've never soldered without using flux and paste flux for my iron tips (yeah, that is supposed to corrode the iron tip, but after many years of using it I cannot see it has done any harm). A sal ammoniac block is a great thing to have on hand, it's very cheap, lasts practically forever, and will keep your tip clean. Stained glass suppliers sell tons of soldering equipment, tools and flux that are well worth the investment. Warner Stained Glass, Delphi glass and Glass Crafters are three of the top suppliers.

Liz in Indy

 

[ThePuck]

I've seen this breifly mentioned but it is important. Soldering is just for holding together physical joints between two or more wires, contacts, etc. So for to have a good connection, you must make sure you have a really good physical connection. Twist your wires together. Twist wires onto contacts.

I know it's hard sometimes when you're working with very small spaces in mods and I'm guilty of sometimes soldering a wire to a lug without wrapping it around but... the proper way to do it is to have a circuit all connected that will work even if no solder is applied. Once you have physical connections like this, all the solder has to do is make sure the connections stay tight. That is the purpose of solder. It is mainly more of a "glue" (even though it's not) that holds connections together than making the connection itself.

This is the way I was taught in electronics class to do it. Make sure your physical connections are good and work before you even think about applying solder.

When we did projects in electronics class years ago, one of my teachers would have you build a section of the project by wiring it together but not soldering it yet. He would have you bring your project up to him when your section was phyically connected together and he would pick it up and jerk it a bit by the wires. If a wire came loose, you had to start over. If no wires came loose, you were free to start soldering that section of your project together. This imbedded that into my brain and has been there ever since. But it's a good lesson to learn. Solder can break, but good physical connections... not so much.

 

[misterD]

im trying to solder into this TI booster im afraid im gonna ruin my last one. the solder just wont stick to it. what do i use to clean it? acetone? flux? its frustrating to say the least... im never gonna get my variable box done

 

[guitarman023]

im trying to solder into this TI booster im afraid im gonna ruin my last one. the solder just wont stick to it. what do i use to clean it? acetone? flux? its frustrating to say the least... im never gonna get my variable box done

I actually use a fiberglass body pen. It's a pen shape with fiberglass bristles coming out one end that is used to sand paint chips before painting. Before I tin anything, I just clean it with that. I get mine from the automotive section at walmart, or autozone. 8 bucks last time I checked.

 

[misterD]

like this one?

i'll try that! thank you!

 

[guitarman023]

bingo, mine is made by 3m

http://photos.e46fanatics.com/data/500/medium/ebay_001.jpg

 

[misterD]

couldnt find the fiberglass pen. been to walmart, autozone and another auto parts with no luck. was going to ask if lowes or home depot would carry it but is this one at harbor freight do it?
Spot Sanding Prep Pen

 

[guitarman023]

yup, that's what you're looking for

 

[Matt79jd]

I bought some 510 battery connectors from MadVapes and I'm having trouble with the soldered wire staying. My last mod is lasting me a couple days so far but it takes along time to get it soldered to the connector. Any advice for me?

 

[guitarman023]

I bought some 510 battery connectors from MadVapes and I'm having trouble with the soldered wire staying. My last mod is lasting me a couple days so far but it takes along time to get it soldered to the connector. Any advice for me?

Pull the middle pole out of the connector, to keep from melting the insulator, and scuff it up a little bit. Put solder on the wire and the connector, and then solder them both together.

 

[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