That's great! I was a bit worried that you owerheat the components when you hold your tip for too long, but after reading comments, I realized that it's not that big of a deal. It all depends on what are you soldering. What is most important, I had a soldering station at home and I was upset that I have only soldering iron, but no hot air gun and I had to buy it separately and all and all. But after watching your video, I realized that I don't need to buy the whole new station, just a part that is connected to my soldering station that is called hot air gun... It may sound simple, but for some reason I had no idea about it before... That's crazy! Thank you again! :-D
Great video. 6:05 I'd like to see a workup of that work area you have there maximizing that corner space and window light. 18:40 tell us more about the solder pump, and what happens with the solder
Another useful way of cleaning the tip is denim. If you're wearing jeans a quick wipe across your leg will do the job, but I keep a piece of jean leg in my tool bag specifically for this. Doesn't need to be wet so doesn't drop the temp, and I lay it open to work on top off which protects surfaces under it. Good instructional, you got most of the important stuff in there.
When soldering ICs, I’m always concerned about overheating and damaging the IC by holding the tip on the pin too long. How tolerant to the heat are typical ICs and how concerned should I be about this?
ICs are pretty resilient to heat. They are designed to be run through big reflowing ovens. If you look at the data sheet you'll find more information about temperature exposure. Holding your iron on one pin shouldn't hurt your IC
Wish I had this guide when I started. Soldering is the key skill and all it takes is a few expensive failures and practice. Then it's fun. I'll have to stop soldering in the closet with the door closed and finally get one of those fume extractors.
Yeah I was going to say... my biggest tip for maintaining a good iron tip is the first time you start using it use a lot of solder on the tip to prevent oxidation of the metal tip. Also every time you clean the tip add a little bit of solder to cover the tip otherwise it will oxidize and you will have issues with heat transfer and the tip won't be able to hold onto the solder.
Super great overview! You covered all the bases very well👍 I hadn't come across the poster putty tip before, definitely going to add that one to the arsenal. Also, did that microscope come with that arm? The ones with the heavy base take up so much desk space and that looks like a great alternative. Mind dropping a link to that?
@@bytesizedengineering thanks :) It's really tough since I'm trying to solder a resistor to a pushbutton but the pins on the button are so short haha so it's a nightmare trying to hold it in place. Love the content by the way!
@@MACHINEBUILDER I know exactly what you mean. If you can somehow position both parts so that they're resting in place without you having to hold them there, that will help a lot. That way you can just apply the solder and let it cool without gravity trying to undo your hard work!
@@bytesizedengineering thanks for the tips! Yeah it's a struggle haha. And I 3d printed a housing for this thing but I didn't leave much extra clearance for where the button goes so I don't have room for my usually huge solder joints haha. Guess I'll just need to reprint. Thanks again
I soldered with wet sponges for YEARS and nothing in the world would make me go back since changing to brass wool. I recently had someone helping me with a project and their soldering tip was corroded to the point that they couldn't melt solder with it. They were saying they'd have to go and buy a new tip, but with a little bit of flux and a few seconds of tough love with the brass I had them up and running again straight away. Not to mention that you never have to stop what you're doing and go find a splash of water to wet your sponge with.
If I want to learn more about making my own Trackball mice, keyboards, and such, should I start electrical engineering? are there any beginner tutorial guides to help me get started? or is this something that takes years to learn even though I'm only interested in building theses few things?
I would take the approach of learning just what you need to complete the project you are excited about. Start by looking at other people who have built their own trackball mice and keyboards. There's no reason to learn all of electrical engineering just to complete a couple of projects.
Heey nice video. I bought a new iron for my solder station. after repairing a led strip (5050 SMD Led) for a fish tank. I was soldering soms other stuff and it smelt bad and when I started to solder a part i noticed that te iron was red hot. The shop is nog helpen after mailing them. Do you have any tips how to fix this. Thank you
Once the iron is up to temperature the base station will cycle the power on and off to maintain the right temperature. If that base station isn't working correctly, the iron will just remain on 100% of the time and heat up and up and up. That would make your iron red hot.
When it comes to heating up the boards so the solder will flow - sometimes it looks like I'm burning or damaging the board so I'm wondering how to make sure I don't do that
Solder made for plumbing, if it has flux included, will have acid flux. Also, the ratio of tin to lead in the solder may be very different than that used for electrical/electronics work. NEVER use solder intended for plumbing on anything but plumbing. Not even in a situation where you don’t have anything else. Nothing good will come of it, and you very likely will do irreparable damage to the electronic item. Non lead-free solder for electronics will most often be an alloy consisting of 60% tin, 40% lead. There are other tin-lead alloys used, but 60-40 is most common. Another common tin-lead alloy is used 63% tin, 37% lead. This is called “Eutectic solder,” because this ratio of tin to lead provides the lowest possible melting temperature for tin-lead alloy solder. It is used is delicate work. When soldering to ceramic terminal strips, a silver-lead alloy was used, and you should never use common tin-lead solder in this application. Any common tin-lead alloy used in this application will weaken the bond to the ceramic, and with repeated heating will destroy that bond. Silver alloy soldering requires special techniques, and shouldn’t be attempted by the untrained. This was rare in ‘the old days,’ and may not be in use at all, today. It was used by a well-respected manufacturer of oscilloscopes and other rest equipment, and this equipment is still around and in use today.
That's great! I was a bit worried that you owerheat the components when you hold your tip for too long, but after reading comments, I realized that it's not that big of a deal. It all depends on what are you soldering.
What is most important, I had a soldering station at home and I was upset that I have only soldering iron, but no hot air gun and I had to buy it separately and all and all. But after watching your video, I realized that I don't need to buy the whole new station, just a part that is connected to my soldering station that is called hot air gun... It may sound simple, but for some reason I had no idea about it before... That's crazy!
Thank you again! :-D
Thank you for posting this, a lot of things about soldering just clicked in my head.
That makes me happy to hear that!
Great video! Absolutely perfect and answered all my questions. Thank you!
Great video.
6:05 I'd like to see a workup of that work area you have there maximizing that corner space and window light.
18:40 tell us more about the solder pump, and what happens with the solder
Another useful way of cleaning the tip is denim. If you're wearing jeans a quick wipe across your leg will do the job, but I keep a piece of jean leg in my tool bag specifically for this. Doesn't need to be wet so doesn't drop the temp, and I lay it open to work on top off which protects surfaces under it.
Good instructional, you got most of the important stuff in there.
Very informative video. I learned a lot that I will definitely be using in the future! Thanks for posting!
I'm glad my rambling was useful!
Hey Zach, Great video. Solid info here. Glad I was already doing things properly
When soldering ICs, I’m always concerned about overheating and damaging the IC by holding the tip on the pin too long. How tolerant to the heat are typical ICs and how concerned should I be about this?
ICs are pretty resilient to heat. They are designed to be run through big reflowing ovens. If you look at the data sheet you'll find more information about temperature exposure. Holding your iron on one pin shouldn't hurt your IC
Awesome vid! Thanks
Wish I had this guide when I started. Soldering is the key skill and all it takes is a few expensive failures and practice. Then it's fun.
I'll have to stop soldering in the closet with the door closed and finally get one of those fume extractors.
It's quite satisfying once you get the hang of it.
I literally just bought my first soldering set yesterday - what a timing :D Great video, very helpful!
That's awesome! What are you planning on soldering?
@@bytesizedengineering I'm using the soldering set for my electrical components in an arcade machine I'm building :)
@@neozai2139 that's sounds awesome! Good luck and have fun!
Awesome video! A lot of great info!
Yeah I was going to say... my biggest tip for maintaining a good iron tip is the first time you start using it use a lot of solder on the tip to prevent oxidation of the metal tip.
Also every time you clean the tip add a little bit of solder to cover the tip otherwise it will oxidize and you will have issues with heat transfer and the tip won't be able to hold onto the solder.
Nice info, great tips!
This is great!
Super great overview! You covered all the bases very well👍 I hadn't come across the poster putty tip before, definitely going to add that one to the arsenal. Also, did that microscope come with that arm? The ones with the heavy base take up so much desk space and that looks like a great alternative. Mind dropping a link to that?
I was trying to solder something yesterday but gave up because I was struggling with it. The timing of this video is insane
I hope you give it another shot! Let me know if I can help you
@@bytesizedengineering thanks :)
It's really tough since I'm trying to solder a resistor to a pushbutton but the pins on the button are so short haha so it's a nightmare trying to hold it in place. Love the content by the way!
@@MACHINEBUILDER I know exactly what you mean. If you can somehow position both parts so that they're resting in place without you having to hold them there, that will help a lot. That way you can just apply the solder and let it cool without gravity trying to undo your hard work!
@@bytesizedengineering thanks for the tips! Yeah it's a struggle haha. And I 3d printed a housing for this thing but I didn't leave much extra clearance for where the button goes so I don't have room for my usually huge solder joints haha. Guess I'll just need to reprint. Thanks again
I soldered with wet sponges for YEARS and nothing in the world would make me go back since changing to brass wool. I recently had someone helping me with a project and their soldering tip was corroded to the point that they couldn't melt solder with it. They were saying they'd have to go and buy a new tip, but with a little bit of flux and a few seconds of tough love with the brass I had them up and running again straight away. Not to mention that you never have to stop what you're doing and go find a splash of water to wet your sponge with.
If I want to learn more about making my own Trackball mice, keyboards, and such, should I start electrical engineering? are there any beginner tutorial guides to help me get started? or is this something that takes years to learn even though I'm only interested in building theses few things?
I would take the approach of learning just what you need to complete the project you are excited about. Start by looking at other people who have built their own trackball mice and keyboards. There's no reason to learn all of electrical engineering just to complete a couple of projects.
Heey nice video. I bought a new iron for my solder station. after repairing a led strip (5050 SMD Led) for a fish tank. I was soldering soms other stuff and it smelt bad and when I started to solder a part i noticed that te iron was red hot. The shop is nog helpen after mailing them. Do you have any tips how to fix this. Thank you
Once the iron is up to temperature the base station will cycle the power on and off to maintain the right temperature. If that base station isn't working correctly, the iron will just remain on 100% of the time and heat up and up and up. That would make your iron red hot.
When it comes to heating up the boards so the solder will flow - sometimes it looks like I'm burning or damaging the board so I'm wondering how to make sure I don't do that
Off topic, but what bench top power supply do you have?
You know, I have one from circuit specialist that I've had for about 8 years. It has recently gone down hill. I'm looking for a replacement.
Let me know what you end up picking. I'm sure you'll get one that's a little nicer than what I need, but I would like to get one for my prototyping.
For the brass sponge can i use the silver colour?
I don't think I've ever come across one that was silver in color.
@@bytesizedengineering i have one at home
Solder made for plumbing, if it has flux included, will have acid flux. Also, the ratio of tin to lead in the solder may be very different than that used for electrical/electronics work. NEVER use solder intended for plumbing on anything but plumbing. Not even in a situation where you don’t have anything else. Nothing good will come of it, and you very likely will do irreparable damage to the electronic item.
Non lead-free solder for electronics will most often be an alloy consisting of 60% tin, 40% lead. There are other tin-lead alloys used, but 60-40 is most common. Another common tin-lead alloy is used 63% tin, 37% lead. This is called “Eutectic solder,” because this ratio of tin to lead provides the lowest possible melting temperature for tin-lead alloy solder. It is used is delicate work.
When soldering to ceramic terminal strips, a silver-lead alloy was used, and you should never use common tin-lead solder in this application. Any common tin-lead alloy used in this application will weaken the bond to the ceramic, and with repeated heating will destroy that bond. Silver alloy soldering requires special techniques, and shouldn’t be attempted by the untrained. This was rare in ‘the old days,’ and may not be in use at all, today. It was used by a well-respected manufacturer of oscilloscopes and other rest equipment, and this equipment is still around and in use today.
#1 Don't treat this like a paint brush. You really shouldn't lick the tip at any time when soldering...
Wait, do you lick paint brushes? 😁😉
@@bytesizedengineering How else do you get that pristine tip?
@@TheLukemcdaniel 😂 I'll have to give that a try
chapter 1: "tell me you haven't heard of the Pinecil without saying you haven't heard of the Pinecil" ;)
I wonder if that woman in the picture at 4:41 fried her fingers holding the HOT end of the soldering iron...
You gotta love stock photos!
Do pronounce it soLdering....