I'm so excited. I'm turning 17 next month and I bought one of these usb soldering irons because Clive thought they were good for another project, and normally for my birthday I have a hard time figuring out what I want, but this year I'll be getting a bunch of soldering kits from ebay to learn how to solder the right way and have some fun along the way. I do have to give a big thanks to big Clive, because his kindness and wanting to share the world of electronics has really been something that has always inspired me. I've learned a lot from his videos, and I continue to learn more, and I hope one day I'll be able to reverse engineer things the way he does, because electronics have always fascinated me, and I understand what basic components do, but I'm still quite puzzled by the way that they work together in order to create a circuit. That's the next thing I want to learn as I start assembling the kits that I get :)
You sound very smart. I worked in a small electronic factory when I was young. I did a few types of soldering and spot welding components. Im old now and forgot most of it but lately wanted to work on a guitar. I bought a small soldering kit and gonna try practicing a bit. Its good that your interested in something positive and learning skills. Good for you !
@@neyoid they're under the same general topic yet they're not exactly comparable forms under that topic. I watch both. Perhaps @T C stated what he did for rhetorical purposes, such as to highlight the humor in the differences. Just a hunch. My hat is off in appreciation for Great Scott as well. He is quite meticulous and exacting in his methods, yet is (per video posts as evidence) not without abandon should circumstance warrant it. Similarly, Clive has undertaken some painstaking and tedious activities toward his pursuits as well. IMO
When you talked about burning yourself on the soldering iron, I had flashbacks to my youth. I was already into electronics back when I was a young child and was using my dad's iron (similar to your old 25 watt thermally balanced one) to build a kit. Then I accidentally knocked the hot iron off the table and instinctively caught it. Haven't burned myself on an iron since and the times I dropped it I sure as hell didn't try catching it again.
Haha, when I was a wee lad I absentmindedly picked up the iron by the metal shaft... ooh, boy were those some big blisters!! I've never done that again, but I have burned myself a fair few other ways hahaha
Happened to me when I was about 7 years old, my brother used to use soldering iron on our shared bedroom floor, my dad was ill at the time so quite grumpy and was telling me off one day in the doorway and I dropped something, he told me to pick it up and I said no and he thought I was being rude, so I put my hand on floor got a severe burn that got infected and my skin swelled took about a month to heal, Because of that, mixed with a similar experience with hot glue when I was 12 put me off to a year or so ago (im 38 now) now I feel like an old dog.
Try putting your hand right on top of a very hot 30 watt iron. I was fix the speaker connection on my guitar amp then sat the iron on top of it when I was finished. I then proceeded to get up and not paying attention I put my hand on top of the amp for leverage and BAM! Hand goes right on the very hot iron. Needless to say I had a nice soldering iron shaped scar on the palm of my hand for about a week.
@@ale6242 I did the same thing when I was a child, we had woodworking lessons in primary school and sometimes we worked on electronics, and one time without thinking I just grabbed the tip of the iron like a pencil and it was painful for days I doubt they would let kids solder completely unsupervised anymore like we did back then, those soldering stations had holes melted through them all over the place and I think one time someone poked the iron deep enough to short it out and it cut the power to the class
Clive, videos like this are so important to growing interest and lowering barriers into electronics. Even us poor folk need help getting started. Thank you for what you're doing, keeping it fun, and being so patient. Long Live Big Clive!
I've always held the belief that it's not necessarily the paintbrush that makes a good painting, it's the painter who uses the paintbrush. Despite this, I was still shocked that dinky little 8W USB iron had the ass to solder anchor leads on a mini USB port. I might have to pick one of those up just for the novelty. I have all sorts of fancy equipment these days, but I often find myself having more fun using less-ideal equipment. It sort of adds a challenge to it, I guess. Great video bigclive.
In SOME ways though even in function alone for what you use it for IT IS SUPERIOR, I mean come on you can be out in the sticks if you want to and still solder away for days with one of those and proper banks...
@@bluetrinityhaloseven7244 I agree entirely, I've done some pretty crazy work with some of the cheapest tools. It's just as much your own skill in using the tools as it is the tools themselves. Of course there is an eventual breaking point, 8W is still 8W and if you need 20W to deal with a ground pin, there's no way to break the laws of thermodynamics. But it's still satisfying when you manage to do good work with the cheapest of tools.
Clive, I have been soldering since the ~Late 50's~ I was in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1968, doing Avionics Communication Repair, and I MUST SAY, this is "The BEST" beginning Soldering Course I have ever seen! Thanks for showing the "new electricians" ~How Its Done~ !!!
This was a really good video! I absolutely adore videos that demonstrate, especially for beginners, that they don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get into this wonderful hobby. Thank you for demonstrating the point so clearly. I really think videos like this are what will help the hobby grow and bring more curious but discouraged people into it!
I'm not a fan of the type of screwdriver that has a handle+bits, most aren't a perfect tight fit, I feel a 'disconnect' between myself and what I'm screwing (oo-er!), something I think is quite important because over-tightening can lead to bad things happening.
These are built to disposable levels of quality in my experiance, the bits tend to be pretty easy to distort. That said, worth the £1-ish they sell for as a back up.
I remember starting at the phone company in '70. First day there my new boss took me out to the distributing frame where there was a 240 lug practice block mounted. He watched me do the first few and left, every time I completed wiring the whole thing he'd inspect it then have me unsolder and clean it all. Did that for the whole day, filled a whole bag with wire scraps. Then for the next year I lived on a rolling ladder wiring like that all day. Ever since then soldering has seemed very easy.
That's why the telcos went from solder to wire wrap -- to speed up things and reduce the time and materials. Solder is great, but when you're connecting many 25 pairs, nothing beats a punch-down tool.
My son’s an electrician so I’ve “ acquired “ quite a quantity of his tools and a fluke meter as well. I keep nudging him to buy a soldering station but that’s work in progress. In the days before electric soldering irons , at least in our household, dad used to have a series of copper irons ranging from small to humongous heated by the old kerosene blowtorch. Used to be a bit of muttering when said torches jets became sooted up and blocked. Happy days though.
I live in WI, USA and I haven't seen any of those extra shipping charges on eBay so far. I still recommend that my students get a 25 watt Weller or another brand of soldering iron that is UL rated and outlet powered as their first iron just for safety, longevity and that many of the Weller and Radio Shack irons include a small amount of solder. I still have all of the soldering irons I have ever purchased and so far they all still work even with some having thousands of run hours. The only one I have ever had issues with is the temperature-controlled station and that was due to the cable on the iron developing a break. Replacing the cable to the unit brought it back to being useful and I made the cable about 3 feet longer so I could have the station on a shelf above the work area. I guess I can see the point of starting out with a very cheap iron but I never want very cheap tools to spoil a new person's entry into the world of electronics.
The saying I go by is that you should only ever buy a tool twice. First time get it cheap. Then when a tool gets destroyed, get a more sturdy version of it since you clearly use it a lot.
Also a tip for starters: If you have smaller gauge solder, you can use a Butane lighter (preferably a jet flame one, but any grill lighter that has a longer neck will work well) to do some rougher cable soldering jobs. Simply put both sides of the to-be soldered cables together, and wrap the solder around them a few times. It will make a pretty solid connection, and you can follow it up with some heat shrink tubes. There are also heat-shrink solder butt connectors, that are just a normal heat shrink tube with solder in the middle. Clive made a pretty good video about them as well, I can recommend it if you want to work with them. But beware: if you use the heat shrink butt connectors, some of them that are lower quality can't make a proper contact and will not dispense enough solder for a solid connection. So if you want to buy a cheap butt connector that you will use for higher currents, or just don't need the convinience of them, just use normal solder instead.
Such a gem to the community! Slowly getting through your vast library of videos, and like many, I want to learn as well. (For my r/c hobby) Thank you for this one especially
About the 1.18$ shipping tax: One of those Chinese sellers contacted me (on their own, after an order didn't arrive) and told me that the 1.18$ shipping tax has been added for europe because of the current situation. many of the shipping companies these sellers used stopped shipping to europe, or had big problems doing so. They changed to SpeedPAK just for that reason, to make sure you get your stuff. I noticed that since then the tracking works better aswell
I ordered an rf generator in China the first half of this year, and paid. Got the confirmation that it had been shipped, but after 12 days the status of the tracking changed to 'The seller has cancelled the order. . . '. I contacted the seller, and he announced that I had to pay about € 40.00 before he would resend the item. He said that due to 'the situation' he could not afford the free shipment anymore. Got my money back.
RebornRockerVids - because you are breathing air in and out. The air you breathe out is warmer and more humid compared to the air in the room. Hence the flux fumes will tend to drift towards you, as your breathing in sucks air towards you and the breath you expel tends to drift upwards... I use a cheap 12V DC 120mm fan (like used for PC and electronic equipment) running off a 9V DC power supply to suck the flux fumes away from me.
This is so good, learning to solder from a master. It took me a long time to learn to solder well: it was in the 80s, I had the wrong tools, and there was nobody to teach me.
By the time I got to electronics in school, I was vastly better than my teacher. About 2 months in to the school year, he apologized said that he had nothing to teach me and told me just to turn up for tests and he would pass me.
I grew up on heathkit projects in the US. My father would buy them for his college classes, then draft us youngsters to build them for him. I still go out every few years and buy some small random kits like led flashers, jack-o-lantern candles, etc. One of my bigger projects last year was to build a 9x9x9 led cube.
Ben Heck is totally independent again BTW! My advice would be to just solder a lot. You can get giant practice PCBs. Start out with through hole and work your way to surface mount. Don't be afraid of messing up too! That's how you learn. An essential tool for me is a pair of helper arms as well!
I haven’t burnt myself with a soldering iron yet, but I have attempted to take a hot bar out of a fire, and attached my hand to the live connection of a tumble dryer door catch when changing it. Top tip on that one, unplug the dryer, and not the washing machine 🙄😅
Daniel, you are a prime example of the saying "every cloud has a silver lining". Although you have had some dodgy experiences, you've now turned them into comedy gold for the rest of us! Cheers! 😄
@@almostanengineer Ouch, did you at least gain some superpowers like for example writing somewhat readable with your left hand? And yeah after recovery it does can become a good story (assuming a full/good recovery), sucks at the time though to go through that.
I had the opportunity to test out soldering, I breathed in the flux vapor. I had the smell in my nose for roughly two days. So your tipp to breathe out slowly while soldering is a huge help form me and I can´t understand why didnt came to this idee on my own. Thanks for the video, you reignited my interrest for elektroniks.
Well Clive, I started with a wood burning iron. It was terrible but it made a joint. I later bought a cheap Weller (us) It was quirky.. and while I fixed THOUSANDS of USD worth of medical equipment, microsopes, and vehicle components, and other random- the iron was cheap and pitiful. It constantly tried to self destruct. It paid for itself but I loathed it. Thanks to your teaching, I moved up to a Yihua 939 with the digital temp display and enough electronic paraphrenalia laying around that I'm quite comfortable. Your videos helped me more than anything. Watching you solder a million things I absorbed the basics. It gave me confidence. I tried some things when I was a kid... with a huge "gun" iron and the wrong type of solder. Its no wonder I spent many years thinking it was some sort of dark art. Nope.. just need the basic CORRECT materials and some practice.
And that single important bit of not carrying solder to the joint, but applying the fresh solder into the joint so the flux is released at the right time.
my goodness, my soldering looks ace now! I never thought of the 'do one lead, and then reposition it' trick to ensure all was flush.i used to use bread-board for doing nanos etc, id stick the header pins in and solder away. they were always wonky afterwards. now i manually solder 1 pin, then check and move it, so it is perfectly flush, then solder the rest. i do the same with everything now. my soldering looks so professional now. cheers!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video, bigclive (the comments around 13:03 and 14:47 are important too!). "You never forget your first .... soldering iron"
I've been playing with this stuff my whole life...decades. Yet in this short 23 minute video I JUST LEARNED how to properly solder a circuit board with ease WITH ONE WATCH (though I will revisit it later likely before initiating my first project perhaps). So of coarse I had to thumb this video up, been watching this channel years too...so pretty happy with some of this new content!
I love that iron! Still working through delicious 90's era 60/40. Yes! Build stuff or alternately un-build stuff. That's what I did and still do, only now I get paid for it as well as for a hobby. Excelcior!
@@patriksezerins9517 63/37 is superior. Slightly lower melting point (183 vs 188c) and doesn't have a semi-solid state. It just snaps from liquid to solid.
These videos are priceless Clive. Thank you so much for adding more educational/inspirational videos to your channel. Please continue you to make videos of this nature. I am by no means a beginner, but still greatly enjoy videos demonstrating the fun of electronics, with a low barrier to entry. Keep up the great work
I ordered 2 rolls of 'Leaded-solder' from a ReSpectable company in 2019 and they sent 'Lead-free' solder instead. I argued with them on the phone about it and they sent a ream of new requirements for 'Lead-free' provisions and legislation. Look after what 'Lead-based' solder you have, if that's what is preferred, and also the tins of flux, which may be next; it being the greater 'vapour raising' substance in the soldering process. Cheers Clive. Keep Well, sir!
@@GodzillaGoesGaga Thank-you Gazza. Military and NASA say lead-free is no use! I see Rapide selling ordinary leaded solder in 100g rolls. I'm a hobbyist and even after saying that to the company I dealt with down the phone, they wouldn't sell me ordinary electrical solder with any lead content. There must be a worry that I'll try and eat it or something of that idiocy or scale of stoopid!
I want to thank Big Clive for making me aware of these usb soldering irons, They have saved me hours by being able to solder on site. Godbless you Clive.
Pretty good video for anyone wanting to start out. One think i think you should mention for any younger people that may be doing this there whole life, fume extractor. One can be made from a simple pc fan pointed away from you. I personally dont solder every day so I'm not worried about the vapor from the flux. As you said i just learned to breath before the smoke rises. But for beginners i think a fan pulling the smoke away from them could help then concentrate on learning to solder easier if smoke is not going in there face.
agreed. get lots of cheap solder kits to start with. especially ones that are for beginners. practice practice practice. This was one of your best videos. Really should promote this video again to users.
2 years of soldering and thinking I couldn't solder for crap. And this one video just made me realize I was using lead-free solder the whole time making the joints look cold...
I remember starting out with a $15 RadioShack iron. The tips were huge, it took forever to heat up, it couldn't desolder anything substantial (I was replacing capacitors on an LCD monitor), but it opened my eyes to the awesome world of DIY electronics / repair. I still use my cheap Chinese station (the same one as Clive has, only under a different name). My first meter was a GE2524, it still works and I still frequently use it at home. I have young guys I work with who see my Fluke 117 and they think that if they go out and buy an expensive meter they'll somehow become better technicians. Nothing can be further from the truth. Nice tools are just that, nice. If you're in the U.S. you can get the free Harbor Freight meter and it works absolutely fine for DIY work. If anything, save hundreds on meters and actually invest in a good set of test leads for whatever meter you have. The most expensive meters are still garbage if the leads you have are crap. When starting out, I'd say the most important thing is learning technique. There have been a lot of people who never learn good technique, spend hundreds on the "best" equipment, and still can't produce good looking (and functioning) joints. Starting out with cheap equipment just gives you an appreciation for good equipment once you actually know what you're doing and have practiced.
For the people in the UK, the best option would be to get the handskit kit from Amazon. £13.99 for a soldering iron (surprisingly with a switch), tip cleaner and stand, solder, snippers solder sucker, 2 different tips tweezers and more. Really hard to beat that value, and yes, I have it and I'm happy with it.
Thanks for this video. I recently built a Stereo Valve Amplifier over these past months. It was quite a challenge as I had no prior electronics experience. I used many of your videos to help me get a grasp of electronics. THANK YOU!
BTW: I had an audio tech check out my wiring logic and work since there were Capacitors involved in the final testing. Overall, I had done a competent job. However, the main problems were with multiple cold solder joints. I reviewed your videos on "How to Solder" (amongst many other youtube videos and I did multiple small kits before doing the Amp). I thought I was doing a good job. So, I was wondering if you could do a video about how to avoid doing Cold Solder joints. The tech said that I needed to work on proper technique. I am unsure if it might have been the solder? Also, I did some SMD kits and I was paranoid about burning the parts. I guess that larger parts require much more heating of the solder? Looking for very practical knowledge about achieving good solder joints.
The timing for this is impeccable. I'm about to start a project for university in which I intend to use some basic electronics, so this is exactly the information I needed - trying to work out what to get to start with has been a bit daunting!
He and Element14 parted ways a couple of years ago. Element took over the channel (thebenheckshow) and Ben Heck is now independent (benheckdotcom) but isn't as active. This was part of his decision - the production schedule became too much.
i remember one of my first irons. soldering a set of speakers, and hearing the 60 hz humm come out of the speaker. my second(electric) one had a ground pin. sometimes you can get a free meter from harbor freight tools. not great, but they do work. nothing like getting distracted and transferring the iron from one hand to the other as if it were a pen.
The thing that impressed me the most about that cehapie USB iron is that it heats up to working temperature faster than any other iron I have in my collection.
thanks for showing me this, i've looked at many tutorials already but none of the ones i found were any good. i guess i just like to listen to you, and it helps me that you go into detail a lot. thanks!
Excellent instructional video! The US postal costs have gone up because people noticed that because of a treaty, it was cheaper to send a package from China to the US than it would be to get a package sent from your next door neighbor. The treaty assumed that countries would be sending roughly the same amount of stuff back and forth. Not allowing lead in solder is pretty funny. We used to use tin loaded paint on ships to prevent biofouling but they made it illegal because it was leaving a trail of death in the ocean. Lead is pretty inert unless you ingest it...
I bought a kit off eBay for £12 and haven't used it yet. Will try it out today and I bought a small amplifier to solder together for my first try. Will let you know how I get on and thanks for making it not seem daunting or dangerous. Thanks for your videos Clive, also I saw a guy who looked just like you but thought it must not be you as you are in Isle of Mann and I live in England :)
I've had pretty much zero soldering experience, apart from looking over Dad's shoulder as a boy, but I've recently managed to make my own bench power supply from an old desktop PSU, as normally I'd only need 12v or 5v for things. I think I've wired the LEDs wrong as they don't work now lol, but I've got binding posts with 12v 5v 3v and ground in there. Saved me a few quid, and really fun to do, plenty of TH-cam guides.
Thanks a million for helping to get people interested in electronics projects. I wouldn't say this the cheapest, but it is one of the least expensive ways. I've seen some rinky-dink amateur videos where the guy uses a nail clipper to trim the leads, so that could save a few bucks/quid. There is one video of a guy who built his soldering iron so that could save money. This past summer I tried to solder with a magnifying glass and bright sunlight. It worked but I had spots in my eyes even though I wore sunglasses. 😵
I started my Radio and TV servicing apprenticeship in 1960, always remember the perfumed Tin/Lead solder(apparently carcinogenic!,) supplied by Radiospares, and have a reel on my bench to this day. We used transformer irons, (Presumably the fore runner to the Weller instant gun), but we used 16SWG tinned copper for the element/tip, but this was the days of valve equipment with big tag boards and valve bases to unsolder. When PCBs and semiconductors came in we used weller temperature controlled irons W61s and PU60ds(60 watt).
you get a 3$ 25w soldering iron here in India which is obviously not thermally balanced, but there are even cheaper versions available close to a dollar or two which suck. For its price it gets the job done but surely not good for most work. I myself started with it and upgraded to the yihua 939bd+, which is amazing and also had a real neat wiring and a clean double-sided PCB inside.
That USB soldering iron would be fantastic to take "out in the field" when you don't have access to mains power and just need to do some basic soldering. As someone else mentioned, this kind of content lowers the barriers for those like myself to get their feet wet in soldering, without breaking the bank account.
Years ago I installed a light dimmer and AC pigtails in a plastic switch box for controlliing soldering pen temperature. It is wonderful for prolonging the tip life on 20+ watt irons.
I was never really taught to solder, just kinda figured it out for myself from the instruction cards that came with the equipment. Did a pretty good job of it too. Managed a video game arcade and my stuff always held up well. I'm glad to see I was doing it correctly too. Now I just enjoy watching Clive and Louis Rossmann making it all look easy. :D "Things worthy of note": I wish Louis Rossmann would blow more things up. :D
I ran into the same issue when ordering lead based solder, my favorite brand (Cynel) is now in short supply on ebay so I ordered 1kg of it from TME and had to sign up as a company for them to sell it to me, not big deal as all I had to do was select "Company" and fill in the usual personal details :)
I was impressed with the cheapo USB soldering iron, Been soldering over 60yrs and even took a NASA certified soldering course. Bottom line, PRACTICE ! 73 & tnx 4 upload!
Another good search term for ebay kits is “high voltage diy” they cost around $3 and are straight-forward and fun to build. Just be aware that the high voltages involved are potentially dangerous so exercising caution and taking appropriate safety measures is a must.
They can be useful, but also limiting, cos it's a nightmare trying to get the optimum angle for you to solder the joint and actually be able to see what you're doing.
It's literally the only thing I'm missing. It will probably only come in handy occasionally but when it does come in handy it's nice. Sadly I don't have one. I have some alligator clips and I'll probably just end up making my own
My experience with cheap multimeters is that they have dodgy rotary switches. One I have measures 0V, wiggle wiggle, oh look 240Vac - lovely! Another one requires you to press a button to select continuity mode. I have to mash the button over and over before it chooses continuity. Its not a faulty button as it steps through the options, just quirky. So after many years I decided to splash out and buy the EEVblog Bryment 235 - I'm happy!
A really good iron to use is the TS-100. I chose that over a Hakko 888 and it's absolutely awesome. I can run it either on a laptop power supply (12-24v) OR I can use it with a +3C battery pack. There's also the TS-80 which is USB-C powered, but it's a little more weak compared to the 100. But both give you digital temperature, shutoff, current, and lots of other options. And the firmware is open source IIRC. There are some good firmwares online. Lots of great reviews on youtube, as well. I think even Louis Rossman got one and said it was awesome.
one simple handtool I have always included, is a pair of Transverse Endcutters. They can also double as a crude heatsink, aid against heat/flux backflow up under wire insulation if you didn't have any anti-wicking heatsink clamps. Primary addition to a soldering kit, is a pair of safety glasses, especially if you are doing desoldering, and snipping wire/component wire ends that fly off in random directions...
I couldn't agree more with this video. I have the previous touch usb solder iron for unexpected jobs and to avoid using extension cords, the same bad "Paleto" cutter, but already mooved to local high quality lead based solder tin, and also have a generic T12 temperature controlled soldering station. Also started myself with some random suite kits, to then moove to other slightly more advanced kits (there's a 10€ power supply, a component tester and an oscilloscope quite good for practice, that gives you something useful once you finish). However, the best thing i "inherited" from you was the skill to hold both the soldering wire and the components with just one hand, that's the most useful thing, I'm already used to the harmless burnt sensation. I'd dare to say that you increase some products demand after your videos.
One comment: I have discovered that buying a good quality fluxed solder saves a lot of time. Cheaper solder doesn't flow quickly.. if at all. Thanks Clive
I remember getting a blob of solder on my hand it dug a pretty good hole in my hand. That spot hurt for the next couple of weeks after that. And still got the scar from it I was 13 at the time it happened.
That solder must have been rather cool, whenever I dripped extremely hot solder on my limbs it would just roll of leaving a trail of minor burns that would stop hurting after a day.
So I actually bought a set and practiced for the first time on one of those “suites” yesterday. It’s safe to say the joints were dreadful, alas, it worked as intended! I count that as a pretty strong start.
Op probably meant actual tip cleaner compound/re-tinner 🤔. Those are useful for recovering tip's wetting. Especially if you use lead free solder or forget the iron on and burn/oxidize the tip.
Cellulose sponges in a tray and a metal scrub pad for the stubborn stuff, the plain kind without the embedded soap. I bought scrub pads that look bronzish at the dollar store that work pretty good. Just stuff them in a metal tin or a V8 can nailed to a board.
I bought my soldering equipment mostly from a local (German) electronics store and probably went slightly overboard for first-timer equipment, but it works fine xD Temp-controlled soldering station with swappable tips, a roll of quality solder (Stannol HS10, SN60Pb39Cu1), Knipex side cutter (though I mostly use the cheap Chinese one that came with my 3D printer...), Jokari Super 4 Plus cable stripper (definitely agree with what others mentioned about automatic strippers, it tends to remove parts of the copper core on thin wires). Rest of the equipment came from Amazon/Ebay. My multimeter looks almost identical to your TackLife one, got it mainly because it is (or at least claims to be) a CAT III model, so you can also check/measure wall sockets, light switches and other equipment that runs directly on mains voltage. Once you start working with perf boards to put together small circuits it also doesn't hurt to get a crimping set for dupont (or similar) connectors. And I support keeping at least a few of those snipped-off resistor (etc) legs, they make quite decent "bridges" if you want/have to cross tracks on a perf board ^^
I got one of those expensive USB TS100 soldering irons and I was initially impressed, but I got a Yihua and fell in love with it. I don’t do anything major, just trashy projects but in doing that I could feel the difference. It’s worth it to spend a bit on it.
I've been soldering for more than 20 years and I'm still on the same reel of Maplin solder. It has one of their very old logos on it. I used to use an Antex 18W iron, but a few months ago it blew up in a shower of sparks whilst it was in a cradle, been using the same 25W since.
Do Maplins still exist ? I used to get their catalog every year. Always looked forward to seeing the new devices and hobby stuff. Back in the early 80's IIRC.
Gazza-in-the-usa Yes, but online-only; their range is much smaller though since then. If you're looking for actual individual components for projects, you'd be better off looking at RapidOnline, CPC Farnell etc. Hope this helps.
The video comes just as I did this around a week ago. I'd recommend a fan too to vent the fumes. Ideally you'd be in a well ventilated area, and with your face far from the solder, but I noticed that I ended up leaning too close withouth noticing. More than I anticipated. The experience was more or less the same as you described, went to aliexpress, got the cheap 5-7 euros mains voltage soldering iron kit, reused the side cutters from my 3d printer, got the same 6 euros clock kit you did 3 years ago or so (the one with the acrylic laser cut case), a spool of solder for another 5 euros from my local supplier and off to the races. Certainly not the easiest for a beginner, wasted the first tip inmediatly (didn't knew I had to prep the tip), in one spot the traces started to show, my fingers are burnt in a few places and the work ain't pretty, but the clock works mighty fine, that is for sure. My (mild) regret is not getting a usb powered one, since it probably would have made my life easier, cable wise.
The extra shipping is for speedPAK which is fast shipping (1-2 weeks). If you use regular china post now it takes 6-8+ weeks. I assume a lot of sellers don't bother with slow post as they will get complaints
As far as measuring stuff in industrial cabinets goes, at work I have a set of VFDs that are powered by a common DC bus, 565V (capable of delivering 400A and quite exposed to get touched once you open the cabinet) you can see a little spark when touching the probes to the terminals, a proper meter is definitely a must-have in such a case... For hobby stuff, pretty much any meter will work
I've got a lovely SeeD brand soldering iron. More expensive than necessary maybe but has served me well. Did give myself a wonderful burn with it. I get hand spasms sometimes and one cause me to let go of the iron and immediately clamp round the tip as the cable pulled it back. Big sizzle, much pain. Not much moving of finger or thumb for some weeks
I scrapped out a small 32vDC 2A power supply from something(don't remember how it got in the junk pile) and bought a cheap DC-DC converter board. Took the trimmers off the board and wired in some pots. Added a Volt Amp meter and some binding posts. Now I've got a pretty good power supply that delivers about 28VDC at 2As to let the magic smoke out of stuff with for about 15 bucks. :D
There is a long list of what could be added to basic soldering equipment, Flux pen, bottle of flux liquid (Topnik TK83), flux paste, tip cleaning sponge or brass wire wool, helping hands stand with crocodile clips, desoldering pump, higher wattage iron for higher thermal mass jobs, to name a few :)
I love this guy from Isles of Men. long live the Scott! May he continue to get the same things we buy from China and take em all to bits exposing those only who dare to ship things which were not up the standards of sir clive.
I have one of the older USB irons, with the 555Timer touch switch, to solder high mass connectors and such I found a trick. An ebay buck convert, and a usb socket, Juice it up around 6+volts and it will flow some pretty large terminals. I'm sure it cuts the life of the element, but i've done it a dozen times and its still going.
For the long run, I used to do console modifications with a £6 USB soldering iron off ebay and some cheapo lead free. Worked great and did everything I needed. I have upgraded now however, with a nice Hako FX888D station and some decent 60/40.
I like how he actually use a cheap but functioning tools, unlike most TH-cam channels if it is not JBC or Hakko it is garbage. The professional are definitely spoiled by their expensive tools and forgot how the started.
I've been using that exact cheapo USB soldering iron a lot these past few years, it's actually pretty much ideal for the odd soldering I do. I know there's probably better out there and eventually I'd like to set up a workbench area for electronics, soldering etc. but right now I need all my fixing-electronics stuff to fit in a box I put in a cupboard and that little iron is ideal, I like the size for working on small stuff too but it's surprisingly cable given its low power.
Great soldering Clive. Back in the day when I learned soldering we had to use a heat sink for transistors. Nice soldering iron, not too complicated. I totally agree with you about cheap solder wire, it can be more trouble than it’s worth.
Great Video for anyone starting out, My missus has recently enjoyed watching me make all sorts and wanted to learn solder, i got her a little soldering kit from CPC and now she's away making 12v LED String Lights (xmas lights) and some cheap ebay kits. I had a go with her solder and hated it, I personally use loctite multicore 309 60EN 60/40 solder, i'm now intrigued on what other pro and hobbyist users like??
I started learning with a soldering gun. I even have a nice brand new one in a case in the garage. For me, one of my 'most used' tools is a solder sucker. I've never had good luck with solder wick. I use no-clean rosin lead based solder.
@M Harris - I just bought three cheap ones; the bodies are still aluminum, the tip is nylon or teflon, and they have pretty good force. I suspect that they'll gum up before things actually fail. My last cheap one took 10 years to die.
That USB soldering iron is a great little standby even for professionals, I constantly need more soldering irons even though I have a dozen or so - you can't have too many soldering irons. I wish I could get them here in Australia at that price.
This is a great cheap way to get into it soldering and hobby projects. I have one of the usb rigs like this with the motion sensor in my emergency tech kit. Comes in SO handy fixing the odd wire here or there. Small enough that I have done some simple trace repair. Certainly not a lot of watts but goodness does it work well for what it is.
Desoldering wicks and suction pump in neat addition , if you made bad joint or added too much solder to joint. Also , there are cheap soldering training kits , so you don't have to worry if you blew up your project. :)
It's also worthy of note that the mini soldering iron has a very small tip and a thin shaft to the tip, so very handy for intricate wiring jobs where a traditional iron would be too cumbersome and too big for the solder pads.
Man this video is awsome, ur straight up and humble, ive seen so many videos that say you NEEd And expensive digital iron and desodering iron and i just needed something simple to explain some things better cuz im a hobbyist RCs and speakers mostly, genuinely fire video
@@bigclivedotcom understood and thanks, but frl I'm not messing with any like car audio just PC, home theare, and some Bluetooth speakers here and there
I just got materials to start practicing soldering this week! I had much more budget to work with so I went with: RadioShack Flux, 60/40 solder, and wick. $20 Yihua 852D+ : $61 Mastech MS8268, $34 Although, I'm not sure if I need a bench power supply yet. I was thinking of getting some secondhand ones that colleges occasionally sell but unsure if I should even spend that much without having practiced enough on my soldering.
For a bench supply you could get a computer or even server power supply off ebay. For the ATX computer ones there are actually chinese breakout boards, that allow you to just break out the 3.3, 5 and 12V rails from the supply. Alternatively you can modify it yourself.
@@3vIl3aGl3 I use computer power supplies That I take out of old machines, mostly for the high amperage 12 volt section. You just have to make sure it's grounded unless you put it in a plastic case and remember that the green wire has to be grounded to power it up. I've been using one supply for my subwoofer amp since it can supply up to 17 amps at 12 volts.
i'm in the US and got a kit and a little class, on how to solder from company called Heath Kit. Came with a case, soldering iron, wire stripper, solder, wire cutters, pliers of different sizes, I think some sort of circuit board to practice with and I had it for a long time. Not sure if they are still in business but I should probably look because my ex husband stole all my stuff.
8786D is still very much available, although mine took 3 months to arrive from China, via Poland. I got my 60/40 solder from CPC without any problems. Element 14 seem to be calling themselves AVNet now. Keep your tip in a vice!
I'm so excited. I'm turning 17 next month and I bought one of these usb soldering irons because Clive thought they were good for another project, and normally for my birthday I have a hard time figuring out what I want, but this year I'll be getting a bunch of soldering kits from ebay to learn how to solder the right way and have some fun along the way. I do have to give a big thanks to big Clive, because his kindness and wanting to share the world of electronics has really been something that has always inspired me. I've learned a lot from his videos, and I continue to learn more, and I hope one day I'll be able to reverse engineer things the way he does, because electronics have always fascinated me, and I understand what basic components do, but I'm still quite puzzled by the way that they work together in order to create a circuit. That's the next thing I want to learn as I start assembling the kits that I get :)
Haha he didn't reply 😂😂😂😂😂
You sound very smart. I worked in a small electronic factory when I was young. I did a few types of soldering and spot welding components. Im old now and forgot most of it but lately wanted to work on a guitar. I bought a small soldering kit and gonna try practicing a bit. Its good that your interested in something positive and learning skills. Good for you !
@@crypticnxnja you’re mean 😡
@@williamsykes7803 boo hoo
@@crypticnxnja stupid as well hey? 😐
Great scott: "And I need an oscilloscope, and a signal generator..."
Big Clive: "99p soldering iron and a spudger ought to do it"
Great Scott's idea is for genuine exact electrical engineering. Clive's way of engineering is a calculator and fucking about and bodging.
@@neyoid they're under the same general topic yet they're not exactly comparable forms under that topic. I watch both. Perhaps @T C stated what he did for rhetorical purposes, such as to highlight the humor in the differences. Just a hunch. My hat is off in appreciation for Great Scott as well. He is quite meticulous and exacting in his methods, yet is (per video posts as evidence) not without abandon should circumstance warrant it. Similarly, Clive has undertaken some painstaking and tedious activities toward his pursuits as well. IMO
When you talked about burning yourself on the soldering iron, I had flashbacks to my youth.
I was already into electronics back when I was a young child and was using my dad's iron (similar to your old 25 watt thermally balanced one) to build a kit.
Then I accidentally knocked the hot iron off the table and instinctively caught it. Haven't burned myself on an iron since and the times I dropped it I sure as hell didn't try catching it again.
Haha, when I was a wee lad I absentmindedly picked up the iron by the metal shaft... ooh, boy were those some big blisters!!
I've never done that again, but I have burned myself a fair few other ways hahaha
I also do know that reflex, first happy I caught it but there was an instantly regret
Happened to me when I was about 7 years old, my brother used to use soldering iron on our shared bedroom floor, my dad was ill at the time so quite grumpy and was telling me off one day in the doorway and I dropped something, he told me to pick it up and I said no and he thought I was being rude, so I put my hand on floor got a severe burn that got infected and my skin swelled took about a month to heal, Because of that, mixed with a similar experience with hot glue when I was 12 put me off to a year or so ago (im 38 now) now I feel like an old dog.
Try putting your hand right on top of a very hot 30 watt iron. I was fix the speaker connection on my guitar amp then sat the iron on top of it when I was finished. I then proceeded to get up and not paying attention I put my hand on top of the amp for leverage and BAM! Hand goes right on the very hot iron. Needless to say I had a nice soldering iron shaped scar on the palm of my hand for about a week.
@@ale6242 I did the same thing when I was a child, we had woodworking lessons in primary school and sometimes we worked on electronics, and one time without thinking I just grabbed the tip of the iron like a pencil and it was painful for days
I doubt they would let kids solder completely unsupervised anymore like we did back then, those soldering stations had holes melted through them all over the place and I think one time someone poked the iron deep enough to short it out and it cut the power to the class
Clive, videos like this are so important to growing interest and lowering barriers into electronics. Even us poor folk need help getting started. Thank you for what you're doing, keeping it fun, and being so patient. Long Live Big Clive!
I've always held the belief that it's not necessarily the paintbrush that makes a good painting, it's the painter who uses the paintbrush. Despite this, I was still shocked that dinky little 8W USB iron had the ass to solder anchor leads on a mini USB port. I might have to pick one of those up just for the novelty. I have all sorts of fancy equipment these days, but I often find myself having more fun using less-ideal equipment. It sort of adds a challenge to it, I guess. Great video bigclive.
In SOME ways though even in function alone for what you use it for IT IS SUPERIOR, I mean come on you can be out in the sticks if you want to and still solder away for days with one of those and proper banks...
@@bluetrinityhaloseven7244 I agree entirely, I've done some pretty crazy work with some of the cheapest tools. It's just as much your own skill in using the tools as it is the tools themselves. Of course there is an eventual breaking point, 8W is still 8W and if you need 20W to deal with a ground pin, there's no way to break the laws of thermodynamics. But it's still satisfying when you manage to do good work with the cheapest of tools.
Clive, I have been soldering since the ~Late 50's~ I was in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1968, doing Avionics Communication Repair, and I MUST SAY, this is "The BEST" beginning Soldering Course I have ever seen!
Thanks for showing the "new electricians" ~How Its Done~ !!!
This was a really good video! I absolutely adore videos that demonstrate, especially for beginners, that they don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get into this wonderful hobby. Thank you for demonstrating the point so clearly. I really think videos like this are what will help the hobby grow and bring more curious but discouraged people into it!
This is like the video of my dreams! I've wanted to find that damn screwdriver for years! Cheers, Clive!
I'm not a fan of the type of screwdriver that has a handle+bits, most aren't a perfect tight fit, I feel a 'disconnect' between myself and what I'm screwing (oo-er!), something I think is quite important because over-tightening can lead to bad things happening.
These are built to disposable levels of quality in my experiance, the bits tend to be pretty easy to distort.
That said, worth the £1-ish they sell for as a back up.
I remember starting at the phone company in '70. First day there my new boss took me out to the distributing frame where there was a 240 lug practice block mounted. He watched me do the first few and left, every time I completed wiring the whole thing he'd inspect it then have me unsolder and clean it all. Did that for the whole day, filled a whole bag with wire scraps. Then for the next year I lived on a rolling ladder wiring like that all day.
Ever since then soldering has seemed very easy.
That's why the telcos went from solder to wire wrap -- to speed up things and reduce the time and materials. Solder is great, but when you're connecting many 25 pairs, nothing beats a punch-down tool.
My son’s an electrician so I’ve “ acquired “ quite a quantity of his tools and a fluke meter as well. I keep nudging him to buy a soldering station but that’s work in progress. In the days before electric soldering irons , at least in our household, dad used to have a series of copper irons ranging from small to humongous heated by the old kerosene blowtorch. Used to be a bit of muttering when said torches jets became sooted up and blocked. Happy days though.
I live in WI, USA and I haven't seen any of those extra shipping charges on eBay so far. I still recommend that my students get a 25 watt Weller or another brand of soldering iron that is UL rated and outlet powered as their first iron just for safety, longevity and that many of the Weller and Radio Shack irons include a small amount of solder.
I still have all of the soldering irons I have ever purchased and so far they all still work even with some having thousands of run hours. The only one I have ever had issues with is the temperature-controlled station and that was due to the cable on the iron developing a break. Replacing the cable to the unit brought it back to being useful and I made the cable about 3 feet longer so I could have the station on a shelf above the work area.
I guess I can see the point of starting out with a very cheap iron but I never want very cheap tools to spoil a new person's entry into the world of electronics.
The saying I go by is that you should only ever buy a tool twice. First time get it cheap. Then when a tool gets destroyed, get a more sturdy version of it since you clearly use it a lot.
Also a tip for starters: If you have smaller gauge solder, you can use a Butane lighter (preferably a jet flame one, but any grill lighter that has a longer neck will work well) to do some rougher cable soldering jobs. Simply put both sides of the to-be soldered cables together, and wrap the solder around them a few times. It will make a pretty solid connection, and you can follow it up with some heat shrink tubes. There are also heat-shrink solder butt connectors, that are just a normal heat shrink tube with solder in the middle. Clive made a pretty good video about them as well, I can recommend it if you want to work with them. But beware: if you use the heat shrink butt connectors, some of them that are lower quality can't make a proper contact and will not dispense enough solder for a solid connection. So if you want to buy a cheap butt connector that you will use for higher currents, or just don't need the convinience of them, just use normal solder instead.
Such a gem to the community! Slowly getting through your vast library of videos, and like many, I want to learn as well. (For my r/c hobby) Thank you for this one especially
About the 1.18$ shipping tax: One of those Chinese sellers contacted me (on their own, after an order didn't arrive) and told me that the 1.18$ shipping tax has been added for europe because of the current situation. many of the shipping companies these sellers used stopped shipping to europe, or had big problems doing so. They changed to SpeedPAK just for that reason, to make sure you get your stuff. I noticed that since then the tracking works better aswell
Haven't noticed the price or missing items from Ali. Had about 50 shippings coming in this year.
I ordered an rf generator in China the first half of this year, and paid. Got the confirmation that it had been shipped, but after 12 days the status of the tracking changed to 'The seller has cancelled the order. . . '. I contacted the seller, and he announced that I had to pay about € 40.00 before he would resend the item. He said that due to 'the situation' he could not afford the free shipment anymore. Got my money back.
I constantly buy stuff from China via AliExpress and except of some price increases which mostly have leveled off again I don't notice any changes.
Can you explain why the flux smoke ALWAYS heads straight for your nose, no matter where you are compared to whatever you're soldering? 😂
Because your body is warmer than ambient, and that makes an airflow up at the skin. And that sucks in the smoke.
RebornRockerVids - because you are breathing air in and out. The air you breathe out is warmer and more humid compared to the air in the room. Hence the flux fumes will tend to drift towards you, as your breathing in sucks air towards you and the breath you expel tends to drift upwards...
I use a cheap 12V DC 120mm fan (like used for PC and electronic equipment) running off a 9V DC power supply to suck the flux fumes away from me.
There are similarities if you watch how the airflow of clouds being blown over mountains hug the curvature of the rockface .
@@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse It follows the uprising warm air that comes from the rock that is warmed daily by the sun.
It's called "Murphy's Law of Soldering". There are many other versions of Murphy's Law, and they apply to just about every aspect of modern life! 😉
This is so good, learning to solder from a master.
It took me a long time to learn to solder well: it was in the 80s, I had the wrong tools, and there was nobody to teach me.
By the time I got to electronics in school, I was vastly better than my teacher. About 2 months in to the school year, he apologized said that he had nothing to teach me and told me just to turn up for tests and he would pass me.
Common disasters and their possible remedies.
I grew up on heathkit projects in the US. My father would buy them for his college classes, then draft us youngsters to build them for him.
I still go out every few years and buy some small random kits like led flashers, jack-o-lantern candles, etc. One of my bigger projects last year was to build a 9x9x9 led cube.
Ben Heck is totally independent again BTW!
My advice would be to just solder a lot. You can get giant practice PCBs. Start out with through hole and work your way to surface mount. Don't be afraid of messing up too! That's how you learn. An essential tool for me is a pair of helper arms as well!
pcb holder...
those arm thingies are not all that great for holding boards while appling a bit of force while soldering they tip over easily
I haven’t burnt myself with a soldering iron yet, but I have attempted to take a hot bar out of a fire, and attached my hand to the live connection of a tumble dryer door catch when changing it. Top tip on that one, unplug the dryer, and not the washing machine 🙄😅
:)
Daniel, you are a prime example of the saying "every cloud has a silver lining". Although you have had some dodgy experiences, you've now turned them into comedy gold for the rest of us! Cheers! 😄
K C when I did it I wasn’t best impressed, six months of not being able to use my right hand wasn’t fun, but I find it funny now 😂
@@almostanengineer Ouch, did you at least gain some superpowers like for example writing somewhat readable with your left hand?
And yeah after recovery it does can become a good story (assuming a full/good recovery), sucks at the time though to go through that.
Extra stuff nope, just a scared finger, arm and lack of tactile touch in that finger 😔
I had the opportunity to test out soldering, I breathed in the flux vapor. I had the smell in my nose for roughly two days. So your tipp to breathe out slowly while soldering is a huge help form me and I can´t understand why didnt came to this idee on my own. Thanks for the video, you reignited my interrest for elektroniks.
Well Clive, I started with a wood burning iron. It was terrible but it made a joint. I later bought a cheap Weller (us) It was quirky.. and while I fixed THOUSANDS of USD worth of medical equipment, microsopes, and vehicle components, and other random- the iron was cheap and pitiful. It constantly tried to self destruct. It paid for itself but I loathed it. Thanks to your teaching, I moved up to a Yihua 939 with the digital temp display and enough electronic paraphrenalia laying around that I'm quite comfortable. Your videos helped me more than anything. Watching you solder a million things I absorbed the basics. It gave me confidence.
I tried some things when I was a kid... with a huge "gun" iron and the wrong type of solder. Its no wonder I spent many years thinking it was some sort of dark art. Nope.. just need the basic CORRECT materials and some practice.
And that single important bit of not carrying solder to the joint, but applying the fresh solder into the joint so the flux is released at the right time.
my goodness, my soldering looks ace now! I never thought of the 'do one lead, and then reposition it' trick to ensure all was flush.i used to use bread-board for doing nanos etc, id stick the header pins in and solder away. they were always wonky afterwards. now i manually solder 1 pin, then check and move it, so it is perfectly flush, then solder the rest. i do the same with everything now. my soldering looks so professional now. cheers!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video, bigclive (the comments around 13:03 and 14:47 are important too!).
"You never forget your first .... soldering iron"
I've been playing with this stuff my whole life...decades. Yet in this short 23 minute video I JUST LEARNED how to properly solder a circuit board with ease WITH ONE WATCH (though I will revisit it later likely before initiating my first project perhaps). So of coarse I had to thumb this video up, been watching this channel years too...so pretty happy with some of this new content!
I wanted to say thanks. I just finished my first soldering job! I couldn't have done it without the tips you give out in your videos.
As the saying goes: if it smells like chicken, you're holding it wrong.
Sizzles like bacon
More like burnt chicken feathers....
pork. it always smells like pork. If it smells like chicken you're I'm not even sure what.
@T C If it smells like pork, then what are you???
If it's not on fire, it's a software problem
I love that iron!
Still working through delicious 90's era 60/40.
Yes! Build stuff or alternately un-build stuff. That's what I did and still do, only now I get paid for it as well as for a hobby.
Excelcior!
Yeah the 60/40 is the best. Well in my country u can mostly only buy that. And it is very cheap.
@@patriksezerins9517 63/37 is superior. Slightly lower melting point (183 vs 188c) and doesn't have a semi-solid state. It just snaps from liquid to solid.
@@skrenos I havent heard of 63/36.
Does it have 63%tin and 36%lead?
These videos are priceless Clive. Thank you so much for adding more educational/inspirational videos to your channel. Please continue you to make videos of this nature. I am by no means a beginner, but still greatly enjoy videos demonstrating the fun of electronics, with a low barrier to entry. Keep up the great work
I ordered 2 rolls of 'Leaded-solder' from a ReSpectable company in 2019 and they sent 'Lead-free' solder instead. I argued with them on the phone about it and they sent a ream of new requirements for 'Lead-free' provisions and legislation. Look after what 'Lead-based' solder you have, if that's what is preferred, and also the tins of flux, which may be next; it being the greater 'vapour raising' substance in the soldering process. Cheers Clive. Keep Well, sir!
Lead free is shit. It's doesn't bond and creates so many issues
You can still get leaded solder. You just can't use it for production. As a matter of fact for military and aerospace you have to use leaded.
@@GodzillaGoesGaga Thank-you Gazza. Military and NASA say lead-free is no use! I see Rapide selling ordinary leaded solder in 100g rolls. I'm a hobbyist and even after saying that to the company I dealt with down the phone, they wouldn't sell me ordinary electrical solder with any lead content. There must be a worry that I'll try and eat it or something of that idiocy or scale of stoopid!
I want to thank Big Clive for making me aware of these usb soldering irons, They have saved me hours by being able to solder on site. Godbless you Clive.
I just started college classes for Computers and electronics tech, your channel has been an inspiration for me to continue my education.
thanks dad
Pretty good video for anyone wanting to start out. One think i think you should mention for any younger people that may be doing this there whole life, fume extractor. One can be made from a simple pc fan pointed away from you. I personally dont solder every day so I'm not worried about the vapor from the flux. As you said i just learned to breath before the smoke rises. But for beginners i think a fan pulling the smoke away from them could help then concentrate on learning to solder easier if smoke is not going in there face.
agreed. get lots of cheap solder kits to start with. especially ones that are for beginners. practice practice practice. This was one of your best videos. Really should promote this video again to users.
2 years of soldering and thinking I couldn't solder for crap. And this one video just made me realize I was using lead-free solder the whole time making the joints look cold...
I remember starting out with a $15 RadioShack iron. The tips were huge, it took forever to heat up, it couldn't desolder anything substantial (I was replacing capacitors on an LCD monitor), but it opened my eyes to the awesome world of DIY electronics / repair. I still use my cheap Chinese station (the same one as Clive has, only under a different name). My first meter was a GE2524, it still works and I still frequently use it at home. I have young guys I work with who see my Fluke 117 and they think that if they go out and buy an expensive meter they'll somehow become better technicians. Nothing can be further from the truth. Nice tools are just that, nice. If you're in the U.S. you can get the free Harbor Freight meter and it works absolutely fine for DIY work. If anything, save hundreds on meters and actually invest in a good set of test leads for whatever meter you have. The most expensive meters are still garbage if the leads you have are crap.
When starting out, I'd say the most important thing is learning technique. There have been a lot of people who never learn good technique, spend hundreds on the "best" equipment, and still can't produce good looking (and functioning) joints. Starting out with cheap equipment just gives you an appreciation for good equipment once you actually know what you're doing and have practiced.
For the people in the UK, the best option would be to get the handskit kit from Amazon. £13.99 for a soldering iron (surprisingly with a switch), tip cleaner and stand, solder, snippers solder sucker, 2 different tips tweezers and more.
Really hard to beat that value, and yes, I have it and I'm happy with it.
Thanks for this video. I recently built a Stereo Valve Amplifier over these past months. It was quite a challenge as I had no prior electronics experience. I used many of your videos to help me get a grasp of electronics. THANK YOU!
BTW: I had an audio tech check out my wiring logic and work since there were Capacitors involved in the final testing. Overall, I had done a competent job. However, the main problems were with multiple cold solder joints. I reviewed your videos on "How to Solder" (amongst many other youtube videos and I did multiple small kits before doing the Amp). I thought I was doing a good job. So, I was wondering if you could do a video about how to avoid doing Cold Solder joints. The tech said that I needed to work on proper technique. I am unsure if it might have been the solder? Also, I did some SMD kits and I was paranoid about burning the parts. I guess that larger parts require much more heating of the solder? Looking for very practical knowledge about achieving good solder joints.
PS: I got the Amplifier working!!!
The timing for this is impeccable. I'm about to start a project for university in which I intend to use some basic electronics, so this is exactly the information I needed - trying to work out what to get to start with has been a bit daunting!
He and Element14 parted ways a couple of years ago. Element took over the channel (thebenheckshow) and Ben Heck is now independent (benheckdotcom) but isn't as active. This was part of his decision - the production schedule became too much.
i remember one of my first irons. soldering a set of speakers, and hearing the 60 hz humm come out of the speaker. my second(electric) one had a ground pin.
sometimes you can get a free meter from harbor freight tools. not great, but they do work.
nothing like getting distracted and transferring the iron from one hand to the other as if it were a pen.
The thing that impressed me the most about that cehapie USB iron is that it heats up to working temperature faster than any other iron I have in my collection.
Not sure, but maybe the 5V needs less safety standards, which will place the heater in a more efficient place.
@@erikdenhouter I suspect the lack of thermal mass in the tip plays a large part in it.
thanks for showing me this, i've looked at many tutorials already but none of the ones i found were any good. i guess i just like to listen to you, and it helps me that you go into detail a lot. thanks!
Excellent instructional video!
The US postal costs have gone up because people noticed that because of a treaty, it was cheaper to send a package from China to the US than it would be to get a package sent from your next door neighbor. The treaty assumed that countries would be sending roughly the same amount of stuff back and forth.
Not allowing lead in solder is pretty funny. We used to use tin loaded paint on ships to prevent biofouling but they made it illegal because it was leaving a trail of death in the ocean. Lead is pretty inert unless you ingest it...
I bought a kit off eBay for £12 and haven't used it yet. Will try it out today and I bought a small amplifier to solder together for my first try. Will let you know how I get on and thanks for making it not seem daunting or dangerous. Thanks for your videos Clive, also I saw a guy who looked just like you but thought it must not be you as you are in Isle of Mann and I live in England :)
I've had pretty much zero soldering experience, apart from looking over Dad's shoulder as a boy, but I've recently managed to make my own bench power supply from an old desktop PSU, as normally I'd only need 12v or 5v for things. I think I've wired the LEDs wrong as they don't work now lol, but I've got binding posts with 12v 5v 3v and ground in there. Saved me a few quid, and really fun to do, plenty of TH-cam guides.
Thank you for this. As a viewer that has been watching for years but never attempted anything electrical this sure helped to finally give it a go
Thanks a million for helping to get people interested in electronics projects.
I wouldn't say this the cheapest, but it is one of the least expensive ways. I've seen some rinky-dink amateur videos where the guy uses a nail clipper to trim the leads, so that could save a few bucks/quid. There is one video of a guy who built his soldering iron so that could save money. This past summer I tried to solder with a magnifying glass and bright sunlight. It worked but I had spots in my eyes even though I wore sunglasses. 😵
You taught me the "two handed claw" method 5 years back, in the "make a ghost detector" video. Yet I will watch this video, beginning to end.
I started my Radio and TV servicing apprenticeship in 1960, always remember the perfumed Tin/Lead solder(apparently carcinogenic!,) supplied by Radiospares, and have a reel on my bench to this day. We used transformer irons, (Presumably the fore runner to the Weller instant gun), but we used 16SWG tinned copper for the element/tip, but this was the days of valve equipment with big tag boards and valve bases to unsolder. When PCBs and semiconductors came in we used weller temperature controlled irons W61s and PU60ds(60 watt).
you get a 3$ 25w soldering iron here in India which is obviously not thermally balanced, but there are even cheaper versions available close to a dollar or two which suck. For its price it gets the job done but surely not good for most work. I myself started with it and upgraded to the yihua 939bd+, which is amazing and also had a real neat wiring and a clean double-sided PCB inside.
That USB soldering iron would be fantastic to take "out in the field" when you don't have access to mains power and just need to do some basic soldering. As someone else mentioned, this kind of content lowers the barriers for those like myself to get their feet wet in soldering, without breaking the bank account.
Years ago I installed a light dimmer and AC pigtails in a plastic switch box for controlliing soldering pen temperature. It is wonderful for prolonging the tip life on 20+ watt irons.
I was never really taught to solder, just kinda figured it out for myself from the instruction cards that came with the equipment. Did a pretty good job of it too. Managed a video game arcade and my stuff always held up well. I'm glad to see I was doing it correctly too.
Now I just enjoy watching Clive and Louis Rossmann making it all look easy. :D
"Things worthy of note": I wish Louis Rossmann would blow more things up. :D
I ran into the same issue when ordering lead based solder, my favorite brand (Cynel) is now in short supply on ebay so I ordered 1kg of it from TME and had to sign up as a company for them to sell it to me, not big deal as all I had to do was select "Company" and fill in the usual personal details :)
I was impressed with the cheapo USB soldering iron, Been soldering over 60yrs and even took a NASA certified soldering course. Bottom line, PRACTICE ! 73 & tnx 4 upload!
Another good search term for ebay kits is “high voltage diy” they cost around $3 and are straight-forward and fun to build. Just be aware that the high voltages involved are potentially dangerous so exercising caution and taking appropriate safety measures is a must.
Every time I solder: "don't forget to buy one of those 3rd arm holders". Next time I solder, still no holder.
They can be useful, but also limiting, cos it's a nightmare trying to get the optimum angle for you to solder the joint and actually be able to see what you're doing.
same
@@penfold7800 The are a must for someone with shaky hands like mine
@@kaikart123 I hear ya... I solder like Michael J Fox
It's literally the only thing I'm missing. It will probably only come in handy occasionally but when it does come in handy it's nice. Sadly I don't have one. I have some alligator clips and I'll probably just end up making my own
My experience with cheap multimeters is that they have dodgy rotary switches.
One I have measures 0V, wiggle wiggle, oh look 240Vac - lovely!
Another one requires you to press a button to select continuity mode.
I have to mash the button over and over before it chooses continuity.
Its not a faulty button as it steps through the options, just quirky.
So after many years I decided to splash out and buy the EEVblog Bryment 235 - I'm happy!
A really good iron to use is the TS-100. I chose that over a Hakko 888 and it's absolutely awesome. I can run it either on a laptop power supply (12-24v) OR I can use it with a +3C battery pack. There's also the TS-80 which is USB-C powered, but it's a little more weak compared to the 100. But both give you digital temperature, shutoff, current, and lots of other options. And the firmware is open source IIRC. There are some good firmwares online. Lots of great reviews on youtube, as well. I think even Louis Rossman got one and said it was awesome.
one simple handtool I have always included, is a pair of Transverse Endcutters. They can also double as a crude heatsink, aid against heat/flux backflow up under wire insulation if you didn't have any anti-wicking heatsink clamps. Primary addition to a soldering kit, is a pair of safety glasses, especially if you are doing desoldering, and snipping wire/component wire ends that fly off in random directions...
I couldn't agree more with this video. I have the previous touch usb solder iron for unexpected jobs and to avoid using extension cords, the same bad "Paleto" cutter, but already mooved to local high quality lead based solder tin, and also have a generic T12 temperature controlled soldering station. Also started myself with some random suite kits, to then moove to other slightly more advanced kits (there's a 10€ power supply, a component tester and an oscilloscope quite good for practice, that gives you something useful once you finish). However, the best thing i "inherited" from you was the skill to hold both the soldering wire and the components with just one hand, that's the most useful thing, I'm already used to the harmless burnt sensation. I'd dare to say that you increase some products demand after your videos.
One comment: I have discovered that buying a good quality fluxed solder saves a lot of time. Cheaper solder doesn't flow quickly.. if at all. Thanks Clive
I bought my first Antex in 1983. It has 15W and is working until now. I like it because it is like a pen.
Places like PCBWAY support Shared Projects, you get a small cut if others order your project. (lots of neat projects a click away)
have you ordered from PCBway ? I am looking at getting some circuit boards made up for a project
Always admire your one handed soldering. Extreme skills there Clive.👍
I remember getting a blob of solder on my hand it dug a pretty good hole in my hand. That spot hurt for the next couple of weeks after that. And still got the scar from it I was 13 at the time it happened.
That solder must have been rather cool, whenever I dripped extremely hot solder on my limbs it would just roll of leaving a trail of minor burns that would stop hurting after a day.
@@emilychb6621 I'm not sure I just know when it hit my hand it hurt
So I actually bought a set and practiced for the first time on one of those “suites” yesterday. It’s safe to say the joints were dreadful, alas, it worked as intended! I count that as a pretty strong start.
That's fine. The only way to learn is to do it.
What about adding a soldering iron tip cleaner and flux pen. They're pretty cheap on ebay or Banggood.
Tip cleaner: Old cotton rag dampened with clean water. An old sweatsock will do the deed brilliantly.
Ive used a wet klenex for years and only very recenty bought flux seperatly.
Op probably meant actual tip cleaner compound/re-tinner 🤔. Those are useful for recovering tip's wetting. Especially if you use lead free solder or forget the iron on and burn/oxidize the tip.
Cellulose sponges in a tray and a metal scrub pad for the stubborn stuff, the plain kind without the embedded soap. I bought scrub pads that look bronzish at the dollar store that work pretty good. Just stuff them in a metal tin or a V8 can nailed to a board.
I'm still kind of a hobby level electronics guy, but I will say that a flux pen is AWESOME. Instantly makes any solder joint beautiful.
I bought my soldering equipment mostly from a local (German) electronics store and probably went slightly overboard for first-timer equipment, but it works fine xD Temp-controlled soldering station with swappable tips, a roll of quality solder (Stannol HS10, SN60Pb39Cu1), Knipex side cutter (though I mostly use the cheap Chinese one that came with my 3D printer...), Jokari Super 4 Plus cable stripper (definitely agree with what others mentioned about automatic strippers, it tends to remove parts of the copper core on thin wires). Rest of the equipment came from Amazon/Ebay. My multimeter looks almost identical to your TackLife one, got it mainly because it is (or at least claims to be) a CAT III model, so you can also check/measure wall sockets, light switches and other equipment that runs directly on mains voltage.
Once you start working with perf boards to put together small circuits it also doesn't hurt to get a crimping set for dupont (or similar) connectors. And I support keeping at least a few of those snipped-off resistor (etc) legs, they make quite decent "bridges" if you want/have to cross tracks on a perf board ^^
I got one of those expensive USB TS100 soldering irons and I was initially impressed, but I got a Yihua and fell in love with it. I don’t do anything major, just trashy projects but in doing that I could feel the difference. It’s worth it to spend a bit on it.
I guess Dave the Kangaroo would vomit during the part on cheap multimeters. Thumbs Up!
I've been soldering for more than 20 years and I'm still on the same reel of Maplin solder. It has one of their very old logos on it. I used to use an Antex 18W iron, but a few months ago it blew up in a shower of sparks whilst it was in a cradle, been using the same 25W since.
Do Maplins still exist ? I used to get their catalog every year. Always looked forward to seeing the new devices and hobby stuff. Back in the early 80's IIRC.
Gazza-in-the-usa Yes, but online-only; their range is much smaller though since then. If you're looking for actual individual components for projects, you'd be better off looking at RapidOnline, CPC Farnell etc. Hope this helps.
I started with a cheap draper from B&Q. I'd get through irons quite often. Usually because the tips would corode away.
I really like that spring steel thing you use to "disect" plastic enclosures
It's an iSesamo spudger. The copies are nowhere near the quality of the original one.
The video comes just as I did this around a week ago. I'd recommend a fan too to vent the fumes. Ideally you'd be in a well ventilated area, and with your face far from the solder, but I noticed that I ended up leaning too close withouth noticing. More than I anticipated. The experience was more or less the same as you described, went to aliexpress, got the cheap 5-7 euros mains voltage soldering iron kit, reused the side cutters from my 3d printer, got the same 6 euros clock kit you did 3 years ago or so (the one with the acrylic laser cut case), a spool of solder for another 5 euros from my local supplier and off to the races. Certainly not the easiest for a beginner, wasted the first tip inmediatly (didn't knew I had to prep the tip), in one spot the traces started to show, my fingers are burnt in a few places and the work ain't pretty, but the clock works mighty fine, that is for sure. My (mild) regret is not getting a usb powered one, since it probably would have made my life easier, cable wise.
The extra shipping is for speedPAK which is fast shipping (1-2 weeks). If you use regular china post now it takes 6-8+ weeks. I assume a lot of sellers don't bother with slow post as they will get complaints
Always love the building of kits that you do...and the accompanying monologue that is in you nice soothing voice.
As far as measuring stuff in industrial cabinets goes, at work I have a set of VFDs that are powered by a common DC bus, 565V (capable of delivering 400A and quite exposed to get touched once you open the cabinet) you can see a little spark when touching the probes to the terminals, a proper meter is definitely a must-have in such a case... For hobby stuff, pretty much any meter will work
I've got a lovely SeeD brand soldering iron. More expensive than necessary maybe but has served me well. Did give myself a wonderful burn with it. I get hand spasms sometimes and one cause me to let go of the iron and immediately clamp round the tip as the cable pulled it back.
Big sizzle, much pain. Not much moving of finger or thumb for some weeks
I learnt to solder thirty years ago.
I learnt to solder well from Bigclive in the the last few years.
I scrapped out a small 32vDC 2A power supply from something(don't remember how it got in the junk pile) and bought a cheap DC-DC converter board. Took the trimmers off the board and wired in some pots. Added a Volt Amp meter and some binding posts. Now I've got a pretty good power supply that delivers about 28VDC at 2As to let the magic smoke out of stuff with for about 15 bucks. :D
There is a long list of what could be added to basic soldering equipment, Flux pen, bottle of flux liquid (Topnik TK83), flux paste, tip cleaning sponge or brass wire wool, helping hands stand with crocodile clips, desoldering pump, higher wattage iron for higher thermal mass jobs, to name a few :)
I was trying to start with the absolute minimum. That lets people try soldering, and if they take a shine to it they can then evolve their kit.
I love this guy from Isles of Men. long live the Scott! May he continue to get the same things we buy from China and take em all to bits exposing those only who dare to ship things which were not up the standards of sir clive.
I have one of the older USB irons, with the 555Timer touch switch, to solder high mass connectors and such I found a trick. An ebay buck convert, and a usb socket, Juice it up around 6+volts and it will flow some pretty large terminals. I'm sure it cuts the life of the element, but i've done it a dozen times and its still going.
For the long run, I used to do console modifications with a £6 USB soldering iron off ebay and some cheapo lead free. Worked great and did everything I needed. I have upgraded now however, with a nice Hako FX888D station and some decent 60/40.
I like how he actually use a cheap but functioning tools, unlike most TH-cam channels if it is not JBC or Hakko it is garbage. The professional are definitely spoiled by their expensive tools and forgot how the started.
I've been using that exact cheapo USB soldering iron a lot these past few years, it's actually pretty much ideal for the odd soldering I do.
I know there's probably better out there and eventually I'd like to set up a workbench area for electronics, soldering etc. but right now I need all my fixing-electronics stuff to fit in a box I put in a cupboard and that little iron is ideal, I like the size for working on small stuff too but it's surprisingly cable given its low power.
Great soldering Clive. Back in the day when I learned soldering we had to use a heat sink for transistors. Nice soldering iron, not too complicated. I totally agree with you about cheap solder wire, it can be more trouble than it’s worth.
Great Video for anyone starting out, My missus has recently enjoyed watching me make all sorts and wanted to learn solder, i got her a little soldering kit from CPC and now she's away making 12v LED String Lights (xmas lights) and some cheap ebay kits. I had a go with her solder and hated it, I personally use loctite multicore 309 60EN 60/40 solder, i'm now intrigued on what other pro and hobbyist users like??
I started learning with a soldering gun. I even have a nice brand new one in a case in the garage.
For me, one of my 'most used' tools is a solder sucker. I've never had good luck with solder wick. I use no-clean rosin lead based solder.
@M Harris - I just bought three cheap ones; the bodies are still aluminum, the tip is nylon or teflon, and they have pretty good force. I suspect that they'll gum up before things actually fail. My last cheap one took 10 years to die.
That USB soldering iron is a great little standby even for professionals, I constantly need more soldering irons even though I have a dozen or so - you can't have too many soldering irons. I wish I could get them here in Australia at that price.
This is a great cheap way to get into it soldering and hobby projects. I have one of the usb rigs like this with the motion sensor in my emergency tech kit. Comes in SO handy fixing the odd wire here or there. Small enough that I have done some simple trace repair. Certainly not a lot of watts but goodness does it work well for what it is.
Followed the advice in this video and bought myself all I need to get soldering, hopefully it goes well!
Desoldering wicks and suction pump in neat addition , if you made bad joint or added too much solder to joint.
Also , there are cheap soldering training kits , so you don't have to worry if you blew up your project. :)
It's also worthy of note that the mini soldering iron has a very small tip and a thin shaft to the tip, so very handy for intricate wiring jobs where a traditional iron would be too cumbersome and too big for the solder pads.
Man this video is awsome, ur straight up and humble, ive seen so many videos that say you NEEd And expensive digital iron and desodering iron and i just needed something simple to explain some things better cuz im a hobbyist RCs and speakers mostly, genuinely fire video
For big speaker connections a higher power iron is preferred.
@@bigclivedotcom understood and thanks, but frl I'm not messing with any like car audio just PC, home theare, and some Bluetooth speakers here and there
I just got materials to start practicing soldering this week!
I had much more budget to work with so I went with:
RadioShack Flux, 60/40 solder, and wick. $20
Yihua 852D+ : $61
Mastech MS8268, $34
Although, I'm not sure if I need a bench power supply yet. I was thinking of getting some secondhand ones that colleges occasionally sell but unsure if I should even spend that much without having practiced enough on my soldering.
make your own ;)
For a bench supply you could get a computer or even server power supply off ebay. For the ATX computer ones there are actually chinese breakout boards, that allow you to just break out the 3.3, 5 and 12V rails from the supply. Alternatively you can modify it yourself.
@@3vIl3aGl3 I use computer power supplies That I take out of old machines, mostly for the high amperage 12 volt section. You just have to make sure it's grounded unless you put it in a plastic case and remember that the green wire has to be grounded to power it up. I've been using one supply for my subwoofer amp since it can supply up to 17 amps at 12 volts.
RadioShack? What universe are you living in? They've been defunct for like 10 years now.
@@Dee_Just_Dee Apparently they're still a thing. I think they've been bought by another company.
i'm in the US and got a kit and a little class, on how to solder from company called Heath Kit. Came with a case, soldering iron, wire stripper, solder, wire cutters, pliers of different sizes, I think some sort of circuit board to practice with and I had it for a long time. Not sure if they are still in business but I should probably look because my ex husband stole all my stuff.
Heathkit were big here in the UK too.
There are lots more options for electronic soldering stuff and kits now.
Thank you so much. You're an endless source of inspiration. You know how to live in a crazy world.
8786D is still very much available, although mine took 3 months to arrive from China, via Poland.
I got my 60/40 solder from CPC without any problems. Element 14 seem to be calling themselves AVNet now. Keep your tip in a vice!