Soldering

bhaan

I am building a circuit board and am looking to buy a small soldering gun. I have soldered things before, but I have never soldered on circuit boards or small electronic components. Does anybody have and soldering guns they would recommend or any advice on how to pick one out? One of the things I will be soldering is a BS2, do you have to be very careful on the amout of heat you use and how many watts your soldering gun is? Also, what type of solder to use?

Thanks,
Brian

Jon Williams

Please don't solder your BS2 into the circuit; instead, solder in a 24-pin socket. This will save your BASIC Stamp from potential damage, and allow you to change it later in the event you want to use a different module.

For small projects a 25-40 watt iron should be fine.· Use solid 60/40 solder (if you can get it, in some cases you will be forced to buy lead-free) -- if your board is clean, flux will not be necessary (and just creates a mess to clean up).

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

bhaan

Thank you for saving my BS2!


Brian

Jonathan

Brian,

One of the contradictory things of life is that people begining in electronics use cheap soldering irons. These irons make it more difficult to solder, but they are cheap. I run into this problem in the basic electronics class I teach. I can't afford to buy good irons for the students, so they have to suffer with the cheap ones. If they are having difficulty with a particular joint, I let them use mine.

I have a Weller WES51 that I have been very happy with. It has heat control in degrees ( not just 1-10) and an auto shut off feature, very good for the spacey like myself. You can get a wide variety of tips for it, which is very nice. It also can sense when you are using it and ramps up the heat, keeping the tip at a constant temp. when in use.

There are a lot of soldering stations out there, and you certainly don't need to go really expensive to get a good iron. However, I wouldn't reccomend going too cheap.

I totally agree with Jon about a socket for your BS2. However, I disagree about flux. I use flux on every joint, every time. Of course, I also use a lot of salvage and surplus parts, which may not be perfectly clean. I just wash the·flux off· with alcohol and a toothbrush.

HTH,

Jonathan

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Newzed

DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT buy a soldering gun.· You should use a 15 watt iron with a small chisel tip.· A chisel tip looks like a very small screwdriver.· This will work on most components.· For large components that soak up a lot of heat you should use a 25 watt iron.· Don't try to save money and buy a cheap product -· you could ruin a lot of components.· I would strongly recommend a soldering station where the temperature of the iron is electronically controlled.· Overheating a tip can cause premature oxidation and the tip becomes useless.· I have a Weller soldering station - the iron has a .015 chisel tip.· I have been using the same tip for over a year.


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Sid Weaver
Need a bezel for your LCD?

Newzed@aol.com


Post Edited (Newzed) : 6/8/2005 5:05:08 PM GMT

Newzed

For solder I would suggest .015 diameter solder, preferably 63/37 but 60/40 will be OK. rosin core.· Never, never, never·use acid core solder on electronic components.

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Sid Weaver
Need a bezel for your LCD?

Newzed@aol.com
·

Forrest

For soldering electronic components, get a 15W-25W soldering iron with a small tip. I've used cheap Radio Shack irons for years and they work fine and cost less than $10, with replacement tips selling for $1. I typically use 60/40 tin/lead rosin core solder .032 inch in diameter. Use Isopropyl Alcohol and a toothbrush to clean off all excess flux after soldering.

Ryan Clarke

If you are making a board that will have you changing the BS2 out quite a bit, you may consider a ZIF socket as well - (costs more, but has a different function) - the regular 24 pin sockets are really cheap....so if you are just building a circuit to stay for a while, just use one of those...

Spend a little more on your iron...I can't tell you how frustrating it was for me when I had a cheap iron...and how different life became when I got a more expensive one....

Ryan

Bean

For an inexpensive iron I recommend the Weller WLC100. You can get one for about $30 - $35.
They are not as good as the expensive wellers, but decent. I would also get the smallest tip you can for it.
They are adjustable but the temperature is NOT regulated.
Bean.

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"SX-Video·Module" Now available from Parallax for only $28.95

http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30012

Product web site: www.sxvm.com

"If you keep doing what you always did, you'll keep getting what you always got."
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Paul Baker

Like everyone is saying, it would be better to buy a slightly better iron for a little more than end up with an iron that doesn't work properly. I went through 3 RS cheap irons in less than a year (first one I burned through the electrical cord, the second two became so oxidized it wouldn't melt solder anymore). I bought a quality iron a year ago and it still performs beautifully. Weller is considered the standard amongst soldering irons, but I personally find thier higher prices unjustified. Here a few irons from a couple companies that sell them for cheap and have excellent customer service.

On the low end of the scale, there is the Xytronic 253 for $20, it has the features (mainly lack thereof) that RS irons have, but made with quality materials.

The Jali JF90ESD is also a pencil iron with temperature control for $50 (I don't think it is worth this price considering some of the following irons).

The Xytronic 379 is a soldering station with temperature control for $50 (good value).

Howard Electronics sells slightly used irons here, the Xytronic 136ESD is a better quality iron than the 379 for practically the same price ($55), The Xytronic 137ESD is the model I use. Several people from the forums have bought one of the used Xytronic 137ESD from them and I heard no complaints from them.

Sparkfun sells the 60W Sunco stations for $65 for the analog version and $100 for the digital version, goto Tools, page 2.

Bean's suggestion of the Weller WLC100 is a good middle of the road choice if you find yourself wanting a station (rather than a pencil iron) with temperature control and nothing else. (It's temperature setting is in watts, which I find annoying since you don't know what temperature corresponds to (plus wattage temperature control doesn't use temperature feedback resulting in wider variation of tip temperature under various operating conditions), and there is no electrostatic protection, but you would probably find both of these to be unimportant issues.

Post Edited (Paul Baker) : 6/8/2005 10:05:47 PM GMT

Orion

I have Xytronic 379 with a hand full of tips and love it! Use it on smd with no problem.

Mel

All excellent suggestions
I find from my experience I like a small pointed tip.· If you are soldering something like the OEM board there is not a lot of room around the transistors so the small pointed tip is easier to work with without heating up adjacent parts.· Also regardless of the type of iron I have found that keeping the tip clean and tinned helps enormously with the heat transfer.·

Mel

lockburn

Don't want to get flamed for this, but has anyone used a 'ColdHeat' ?

I've seen ads for it in places, but the 2nd volume of Make Magazine had a coupon for it. You get it free immediately (not mail in) if you buy $20 of electronics equipment from Radio Shack. So, seeing as I need to pick up a few things at RS anyhow, I was wondering what this iron could be used for.

I'm a little concerned that there is a 'spark' when using the soldering iron. Could this cause damage to my SX kit or my SX52 proto boards? Still, it seems it would be handy for soldering speaker wires, tinning leads, etc.

Has anyone used one of these?

Tom Walker

I have used one of these for several "non-critical" applications and have no complaints. Since it relies on "hot" (i.e. powered) probes in the tip, I don't think I would use it for IC soldering or any sutuation where "power in the wrong place" might damage components. But for speaker wire, repairing broken wall wart wires, etc., I don't see a problem. Be advised that the tips are not overly durable, and replacements cost as much as the iron...

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Forrest

I got one for free (after $20 purchase) at Radio Shack a few months ago. Haven't used it yet because the instruction manual says it should NOT be used on sensitive electronic components. It probably works OK on passive electronics - but I'm not using it on any IC's, transistors, diodes, etc.

Yanroy

It seems like there's an overwhelming number of responses to this thread already, but I'll add my own $0.02 anyways.

I am a HUGE proponent of butane soldering irons.· They heat up just as quickly as the most expensive electric and they're cordless!· I've been using a Weller Portasol (it was $60 from small parts; I don't know if it's still available from them) for 4 years now and I've only had to replace the tip once.· I use a very small pointed tip and a slightly larger (but still small) chisel tip.· One of the nice things about the portasol is that in addition to using soldering tips, it comes with a heat gun tip (great for heat shrink) and a hot knife (good for cutting through project boxes), plus the blowtorch tip that just about every butane iron comes with.· The gas output (and thus the temperature) is adjustable, but not self-regulating.· It'll go about 45 minutes if you have it turned up to full power before you have to refill it.· Butane is cheap ($3 for a can that will last you for about 20 refills).· Basically, for me, being cordless is priceless...

bobledoux

My choice is the Antex 12 watt iron. I bought my first one as surplus at the Tektronics factory. The new iron costs about $25 and a variety of tips are $5 each. They last forever. They are intended for production use.

While it doesn't come as a station I find it perfect for surface mount and small circuitboard assembly. For heavier use, I still find occasional need for a 35 watt Radio Shack iron. I don't need it very often.

Google Antex to find suppliers.