If your looking for "helping hands" or a soldering iron harbor freight has them on sale.
Share your Soldering Tips Here
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I went to order helping hands and a T-Handle Reamer.. $7 total and $15 for shipping! no thanks!I got my helping hands from Fred Meyer for $13 here in Juneau. Harbor Freight looked good until the shipping. I do live in Alaska tho... maybe that is why it was so much.
I didnt even look at shipping prices as I have a store where I live, that is a lot to ship.
ebay has them also.
I don't build mods but I spent a few years doing electronic assembly, so I can probably be of help on this thread, lol. You do have to be careful with the braided solder remover because if you over use it you can fry components and melt things you don't want to melt. A manual solder vacuum is also handy to have. They are pretty cheap, but take some practice to use.
Amazon.com: SOLDER SUCKER DESOLDERING PUMP DESOLDER REMOVAL VACUUM: Home Improvement
Here's a video showing how to use one.
Ebay has a good set up for a home hobbyist here:
SOLDERING STATION KIT 50W HIGH POWER WICK,SUCKER,2 TIPS on eBay!
SOLDERING STATION KIT 50W HIGH POWER WICK,SUCKER,2 TIPS on eBay!
Using epoxy is a good idea. I used to use a ton of that when I was building wire assemblies for some read out boxes I used to build. It provides some protection from moisture as well. I wouldn't know where to start in designing the electronic connections for mods, but I could build them really fast with blueprints/schematics.
The epoxy I have been using on my mods is a Marine grade epoxy. It is more expensive than normal epoxy. I would probably just use a standard grade. I just have about a gallon left from my 10' wooden rowing dory I built last summer. It is very stinky but no odor at all after full cure (same as normal epoxy I am sure).
If all you need are the schematics then you are good to go! There are lots of those around here.
If all you need are the schematics then you are good to go! There are lots of those around here.
I don't have any tools of my own. All of that was at my job at the time. I actually had 3 different jobs where I soldered all day. Maybe my interest in building mods will increase later on, but right now I'm just not really too interested. I've just got too much going on with being a full time college student, working part time (hopefully full time soon) and I'm thinking about becoming a vendor. Maybe I'll get into building mods later on if I do end up starting an online store.
I posted some stuff on another forum. It tends to generate some responses, so I decided to post about it in a separate thread so as not to derail this one at all.
My soldering station collection
My soldering station collection
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Here's a few basic tips.
- Wear a long sleeve shirt, long pants or skirt, and shoes--neatly fitting, not excessively tight or loose. Some people solder with a towel on their lap and a lab coat--either of which can be removed quickly should they become hot with solder. Also, make sure you're comfortably seated or standing, and there's nothing dangerous nearby to upset. The natural jerking reaction to accidental solder splash is potentially more dangerous than the danger from the solder itself.
- Wear goggles or eye glasses.
- Ventilate the area when you solder. Ideally, solder near a window fan that visibly vents the fumes to the outside.
- If you don't have something fancy to hold the circuit board steady, place the board on a towel to stabilize it.
- A high temperature (450-500F) silicon baking mat will protect your table top from stray solder and other mishaps. You don't need a higher temperature mat to protect against accidental splashing or momentarily laying down the iron, but don't use the low temperature (200F) mats.
- Use needle nose pliers to bend parts--put the pliers near the part and bend the lead by hand. You risk breaking the internal connection if you bend the leads without some kind of stable support.
- Get some solder flux paste (in a small container) or tip cleaner ("tinner") to clean the tip. If you don't have any, liberal use of liquid flux or flux core solder can help clean the tip. Don't use sandpaper if you can help it. Use this in conjunction with a sponge or one of those brass things--brass preferred because a wet sponge can cause thermal shock leading to premature tip failure.
- Get a solder sucker (bulb) or desoldering braid before you start to clean up any mistakes. They both have their advantages & disadvantages. Suction is less precise and can lift traces, while you risk overheating damage using braid.
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all my hamradio stuff i used only rosin core solder. flux is in it allready in there
clean parts ...no problems!
never used silver solder so then look in to the appropiet flux
i cant see using silver solder ecept on an unsealed power conector
i dont open my box and lick on the wiring for the taste of lead ha ha
rolf
clean parts ...no problems!
never used silver solder so then look in to the appropiet flux
i cant see using silver solder ecept on an unsealed power conector
i dont open my box and lick on the wiring for the taste of lead ha ha
rolf
Always use eutectic rosin core solder (I prefer 63/37), this eliminates plastic state.
Buy a flux pen, a little goes a long way. Always use flux and clean with ISO and a stiff bristle post soldering.
Always clean connections, typist erasers work excellent!
Fresh tin everytime! Only reflow solder twice after that desolder and start again.
Heat both connections and use the solder to create a thermal bridge.
If anyone has specific questions, just shoot me a MSG.
jZ
Buy a flux pen, a little goes a long way. Always use flux and clean with ISO and a stiff bristle post soldering.
Always clean connections, typist erasers work excellent!
Fresh tin everytime! Only reflow solder twice after that desolder and start again.
Heat both connections and use the solder to create a thermal bridge.
If anyone has specific questions, just shoot me a MSG.
jZ
Forgot to mention, I don't work with Pb-free solders so I wont be much help there. anything else though.
jZ
jZ
I am in the process of using the guts of my old black plastic LavaTube to make a wooden box mod, something I can stick in my back pocket and take to work, with the DCT enclosed in the box, this way nothing to snap off, hopefully will be very sturdy. Anywho, for the carto connector I'm using one I ripped off an old eGo battery. Nice solid chunk of metal. I've got a digital Weller here, with 40w and 15w pens for it, and I also keep a 100/140w Weller gun nearby, to do the large work. So I go to solder a wire onto the outer body of the connector, which is going to take a lot of heat. I'm using a small pair of Vice Grips to hold the connector, as it is just large enough to not fit into my helping hands. Of course, the Vice Grips are acting as a heatsink here........So I'm beating my brains out trying to think of how I can insulate the stupid connector AND keep it steady at the same time, and then it hits me: I've got a bunch of perfect insulators laying around. Carto condoms....Made of high temp silicone. Stuck one on the top of the carto connector, back in the Vice Grips, and voila! Worked like a charm, so hopefully someone can make use of this info besides me...
1. flux is your friend
2. flux and tin each surface to be soldered
3. heat the surface to be soldered then apply solder
4. Never apply solder to the iron then try to solder with it "solder should be applied to the tip to clean it only"
5. keep a clean well tinned soldering iron at all times
6. Have fun and patients
2. flux and tin each surface to be soldered
3. heat the surface to be soldered then apply solder
4. Never apply solder to the iron then try to solder with it "solder should be applied to the tip to clean it only"
5. keep a clean well tinned soldering iron at all times
6. Have fun and patients
On a new iron , make sure you tin it while it's heating up and not when it reached its working temperature or else it won't stick , trust me on this one
The desoldering iron that radio shack sells works surprisingly well. It's basically one of their standard wall-plug 45 watt iron with a different tip that has an air tube and a bulb-style pump towards the handle.
Figured it was worth a shot for $11. One-handed operation, tried it on a bunch of different junk boards with thru-hole components and got them out pretty quickly with ease. Which means less heat on the pcb and surrounding components, better chance you might get some working components off of old or broken stuff. Will definitely come in handy for repairing things. This along with a good temp regulated soldering station are a very good start for our purposes. If you're getting frustrated with soldering despite trying proper techniques found in tutorials and whatnot, good tools make a world of difference.
RadioShack® 45-Watt Desoldering Iron - RadioShack.com
Figured it was worth a shot for $11. One-handed operation, tried it on a bunch of different junk boards with thru-hole components and got them out pretty quickly with ease. Which means less heat on the pcb and surrounding components, better chance you might get some working components off of old or broken stuff. Will definitely come in handy for repairing things. This along with a good temp regulated soldering station are a very good start for our purposes. If you're getting frustrated with soldering despite trying proper techniques found in tutorials and whatnot, good tools make a world of difference.
RadioShack® 45-Watt Desoldering Iron - RadioShack.com
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