Soldering quick-start

This is the skill page for the electronics benches. One Hakko, one Xytronic 426DLX extractor, leaded shop solder. Finish Electronics Lab Orientation before you heat the iron. The area page covers who may sit here; this page is how to make a joint.

What you use

•       The shop Hakko in its stand.

•       Xytronic 426DLX fume extractor.

•       Leaded solder on the bench (tin/lead). Flux, wick, sucker.

•       Brass wool in the holder. No wet sponge on this iron.

•       Safety glasses. Helping hands if you need them.

•       Heat gun and shrink tubing only for insulation after the joint is done — not for reflow.

Safety

•       Glasses on. Clipped leads fly.

•       Extractor on before the iron heats. Nozzle close to the joint, not across the room.

•       Iron in the stand whenever it is not on the work.

•       No food or drink on the bench. Wash hands when you leave. Shop solder is leaded.

•       Do not hold the part in your fingers. Do not solder a live circuit.

Power on

·       Confirm the stand is under the iron and brass wool is in the holder. Do not add a wet sponge.

·       Turn on the Xytronic 426DLX. Check that it is pulling air.

·       Turn on the Hakko. Set 650–700 °F (340–370 °C). That range is for leaded solder on through-hole and most connectors. Do not run it at 800 °F “to go faster.”

·       Wait until the iron is actually hot. Melt a small amount of shop solder onto the tip (tin it). Wipe in the brass wool. The tip should be shiny, not black.

·       If the tip will not wet, add a touch of flux and tin again. If it stays black, stop and post in #machinedown. Do not file the tip.

Make the joint

·       Both sides of the joint must be still. Use the helping hands or tape. Wiggle while it is molten and you get a cold joint.

·       Heat the pad and the lead at the same time with the side of the tip, not the needle point.

·       Count about two seconds, then feed solder to the joint — not to the iron. The solder should flow onto the hot pad and lead.

·       Take the solder away, then the iron. Do not blow on it. Do not grab it until it has gone dull-shiny and frozen.

A good leaded joint is shiny, smooth, and looks like a small cone or Hershey’s Kiss wrapped around the lead. A ball sitting on top of the pad is not a joint. A dull, crinkly lump is a cold joint. A web between two pins you did not mean to join is a bridge.

If it went wrong

•       Cold joint: reheat pad and lead together, add a little fresh solder, let it flow, lift cleanly.

•       Bridge: wick or sucker. Wick: braid on the bridge, iron on the braid, lift both together. Sucker: heat until molten, then trigger. Do not pry with the iron.

•       Will not wet: dirt or oxidation. Flux, wipe in brass wool, try once more. If the pad is lifting, stop. You have cooked it.

•       Pad lifted: you held the iron on too long or leaned on it. Do not chase it. Ask in #electronics.

Wick and sucker

Wick eats solder when you heat the braid against the joint. Use a fresh section of braid; a black crusty strip does nothing. Sucker only works while the solder is liquid — heat first, then click. Empty the sucker into the trash, not onto the mat.

Heat-shrink

·       Slide the tubing onto the wire before you solder. You cannot get it on after the connector is there.

·       Solder, inspect, then slide the tube over the joint.

·       Heat gun on shrink only. Keep the gun moving. This is not authorization to strip paint or shrink a 3D print.

Shut down

·       Wipe the tip in brass wool, add a blob of leaded solder so the tip is left tinned, park it in the stand.

·       Hakko off.

·       Xytronic off.

·       Clipped leads and solder bits in the trash. Tools back where they were on the bench. Wash your hands.

There is one iron. Leave it ready. If the tip is black, the extractor is dead, or the stand is cracked, post in #machinedown.

Do not

•       Do not put lead-free, acid-core, or plumbing solder on this iron.

•       Do not leave the Hakko on and walk off.

•       Do not use a wet sponge on this iron. Brass wool only.

•       Do not use a metal file, sandpaper, or a knife on the tip. Only authorized volunteers replace tips.

•       Do not use the solder pot from this page.