help a newbie understand soldering

[bassk81976]

so, i have made a second dud. I think stripboard would help me, but i have no money to order any right now and nobody local keeps them in stock, so i tried it with vero, like i did my first attempt at a pedal (which failed). A simplified Thing-A-Ma-Bob (here), stripped down slightly but then beefed up a bit - input ->cap->ic ->cap->out, with a pot on lugs 1 and 8 to control fuzz and a volume cap at the end. That's 3 components, and 9 wires to connect all the off-board stuff.

My first one, i understand failed because i ran solder between conponents, which i now understand that you use the conponent's leads to create connections (why is it that nobody says this? I read over 7 soldering guiders FOR BEGINNERS before i found this out). My second one...i don't know. Can i post a picture of the soldering side so that you can see it? Tell me how i'm screwing up?

've also realized that my hands are very shakey. I dunno why, they haven't been.

I hope somebody can help me. I dunno if i'm just being annoying or not, but most of the people on here only come across as snarky. I'm sorry that i'm a beginner at this - i understand the conceptual side, just not the soldering side.

[chromesphere]

Hi Bassk,

I've had nothing but good. friendly advice from this forum.  Maybe you've just had a bad run?

As far as soldering the components goes, insert the components through the holes of the non-copper side, and solder the legs onto the copper side (the oposite side).  Your just connecting the legs of each of the components to the copper tracks on the other side.  Use some side cutters to trim off any excess of the leg after you have soldered it to the copper track. Like this:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Elec_primer-solder2.jpg

You will also need to use strip board if you are copying the thingamabob component layout exactly as vero board tracks run different (or, work out where the components need to go).

Hope that helps!

CS

[boogietube]

Here's a good tutorial:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/beginner/build/npnboostbuild.htm

And another:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=51606.0

I hope this helps..
Sean

[Schappy]

So if on your first project your ran solder between two components just desolder the area.

After putting a component through the circuit board bend the lead a little so they make contact with the board.

Heat the board and the component at the same time for just a few seconds.

Use a small amount of solder. Most solder bridges happen when you use too much. Look at some of the pictures of other peoples builds to get an idea.

You know  youve done it correctly when the solder "melts" to the board and component.

Most importantly build an audio probe so you can probe through the circuit and find out where your problem lies.

Ive only built a few vero projects but it can be very easy to have a solder bridge and also to have some material on the tracks of the board that causes a bridge.

Also, make sure you take a look at your cuts very closely. They, for me, are common areas for problems.

[Bad Chizzle]

One or two other things I thought of to help you;

Get yourself a good pair of toenail clippers to use as snips to get rid of wires sticking up after you solder.

Once you've soldered in a component, run a thin knife between solder points to make sure they are not touching.

I recommend always usinig a dip so you don't overheat your opamps or transistors while soldering.

[Bad Chizzle]

I hit post accidentally!

Anyway;

Use a continuity tester to make sure your solder points are not touching( I do this religiously!)

Clean the tip of your iron every time you are done with a solder point!

Use the thinest solder you can find. Don't use the thick stuff just cuz you had some around. You can't do that until you get good!

Always make sure your iron is heated up all the way before you use it. If you don't you can ruin a part by over heating it while you are waiting for your solder to melt!

That's it, hope I've helped you!

Chuk

[skrunk]

I think stripboard would help me, but i have no money to order any right now and nobody local keeps them in stock, so i tried it with vero

You will also need to use strip board if you are copying the thingamabob component layout exactly as vero board tracks run different

stripboard and vero are the same thing.

[R.G.]

Soldering is a wetting action.

Did you ever try to rinse something that's oily with water? The water beads up and runs off, it will not bond to the surface.

To get a wetting bond, you either (1) get the surface really, really clean, or (2) use a wetting agent (soap or a detergent) or (3) preferably both of the above. If you use a wetting agent but the water repellent layer is too thick, the wetting agent can't get through it to latch on. The analogy with wetting a surface with water is exact if the operation is done near the freezing point of water. If water wets two surfaces and freezes while they're wetted, the surfaces are held tightly. If one is water repellent, it is easily removes from water freezing between the two.

Molten solder takes the place of water. Flux takes the place of the wetting agent. You have to get both surfaces to be soldered clean, and close enough together so that the same bit of solder wets both. If one of the surfaces is too cold, water/solder will freeze as it touches the surface and no wetting bond will be made. If one of the surfaces is contaminated, the water/solder will not wet it and will not "stick" when it freezes.

If you do not get wetting of both surfaces, the solder joint is no good. That means both surfaces have to be hotter than the melting point of solder at the same time, and both clean, and both fluxed.

You can glob on an infinite amount of solder and if the surfaces are not in a condition to receive the solder wetting, the joint is no good.

Solder flows much like water when it's hot enough. If your soldering leaves solder blobs sticking up, the joint underneath is not hot enough or clean enough.

Beginners tend to use a soldering iron that's too cold. Turn the iron up all the way until you have more skill. Clean your soldering iron tip. It must be mirror-shiny with molten solder all over. If it's not you can't solder. The heat won't get across the layer of crud on the iron.

Clean the two surfaces. Get the oil, grease, corrosion, finger prints, peanut butter and jelly, etc off them. Either use a liquid flux (not a good idea for beginners) or use a good rosin core solder, with a 60-40 tin-lead composition. Lead free solder is the work of the devil for beginners. Get your iron clean with swipe on the damp sponge you've so thoughtfully provided for your use. Touch BOTH halves of the joint with the iron, and touch the solder to part of the joint near the iron but do not touch the iron with the solder just to melt the solder. Let the parts being soldered melt the solder. They can't do this if they're too cold. Let the solder run into the joint as it liquifies. Do NOT glob on more solder if it's not melting and flowing conformally onto the joint. Get in quick, with high heat, then get out. A good solder joint for an IC or resistor/capacitor lead takes about two seconds from the time the iron touches the lead til it's removed. If it takes longer than that, your iron is not hot enough, the iron is not tinned, the leads are not clean, or something is wrong with your solder/flux.

[PRR]

Soldering is a wetting...
...
...
...or something is wrong with your solder/flux.

This brilliance should be sticky-posted.

[Schappy]

Also, use a pencil tip. I used a bigger tip in the beginning and had a hard time.


Do you guys do anything to your boards after etching besides wiping it with acetone?

I have found a few of the PCBs I have made to be hard to solder in some spots.

[chromesphere]

I think stripboard would help me, but i have no money to order any right now and nobody local keeps them in stock, so i tried it with vero

You will also need to use strip board if you are copying the thingamabob component layout exactly as vero board tracks run different

stripboard and vero are the same thing.

Hi shrunk, sorry dont use it that much, my mistake.   
CS

[R.G.]

Do you guys do anything to your boards after etching besides wiping it with acetone?

Polish it to copper-pink with 0000 steel wool.

[bassk81976]

wow, thanks for all the helpful replies! My last two threads hadn't really been helpful at all (i do realize that not everybody gets replied to,  and that the world doesn't revolve around newbies who think that every whim of their should be answered)

all of these tips are very useful! i was looking back over my first attempt, and the soldering was pretty horrendous. In a few places, where i had soldered 2 components together, i noticed that there was a liquid-like brown substance around the solder, on the board between two components that arent' supposed to be connected. What is that? Could that have caused the circuit to not work?

[Bad Chizzle]

Probly not, but do the knife thing between those. It's pretty normal to have some of that stuff sometimes. But, if you lay down way less solder and do it quickly as suggested by R.G. You'll see less and less of that.

[bassk81976]

ok, i'll take my xacto knife to it. How close can solder come before it can short out? And what is the brown stuff?

[PRR]

> Do you guys do anything to your boards after etching besides wiping it with acetone?
> I have found a few of the PCBs I have made to be hard to solder in some spots.

R.G. already touched on that:

"Did you ever try to rinse something that's oily with water? The water beads up and runs off, it will not bond..."

What is on your PCB stuff? Oil from the factory, oil and salt from your fingers, etch-mask residue, and a film of TARNISH.

Copper oxidizes pretty quick. When it turns green you can't miss it. But a one-molecule layer of coper oxide will discourage solder-wetting much like a thin wax coat or a hyper-thin silicone sheen will shed rain off your car.

Half the PCB soldering guides I've seen say to use a plastic Scrubbie.

Steel wool works. You can have trouble with little bits of steel.

Abrasive cleaners tend to embed bits of grit in the soft copper. The grit actvely repels solder. Bad Idea.

When you make miles of wire or acres of PCB stuff, you have a vat of hot concentrated nitric acid "brightener" to shine-up the copper after any heat treatment or storage. This is far too dangerous for DIY.

> i have no money... Tell me how i'm screwing up?

Take apart some old sick hi-fi or VCR and STUDY how real PCBs are done. Look at the joints, the leads, etc. Use your iron to melt some joints and take them apart. Now put the joint back together. It should look nearly as good as the factory joints. A 1980s VCR will give you hundreds of practice experiments for zero cash or risk.

[stringsthings]

Clean the .... peanut butter and jelly  .... off them.....

This brilliance should be sticky-posted.

[stringsthings]

Soldering is a wetting action.

Did you ever try to rinse something that's oily with water? The water beads up and runs off, it will not bond to the surface.

To get a wetting bond, you either (1) get the surface really, really clean, or (2) use a wetting agent (soap or a detergent) or (3) preferably both of the above. If you use a wetting agent but the water repellent layer is too thick, the wetting agent can't get through it to latch on. The analogy with wetting a surface with water is exact if the operation is done near the freezing point of water. If water wets two surfaces and freezes while they're wetted, the surfaces are held tightly. If one is water repellent, it is easily removes from water freezing between the two.

Molten solder takes the place of water. Flux takes the place of the wetting agent. You have to get both surfaces to be soldered clean, and close enough together so that the same bit of solder wets both. If one of the surfaces is too cold, water/solder will freeze as it touches the surface and no wetting bond will be made. If one of the surfaces is contaminated, the water/solder will not wet it and will not "stick" when it freezes.

If you do not get wetting of both surfaces, the solder joint is no good. That means both surfaces have to be hotter than the melting point of solder at the same time, and both clean, and both fluxed.

You can glob on an infinite amount of solder and if the surfaces are not in a condition to receive the solder wetting, the joint is no good.

Solder flows much like water when it's hot enough. If your soldering leaves solder blobs sticking up, the joint underneath is not hot enough or clean enough.

Beginners tend to use a soldering iron that's too cold. Turn the iron up all the way until you have more skill. Clean your soldering iron tip. It must be mirror-shiny with molten solder all over. If it's not you can't solder. The heat won't get across the layer of crud on the iron.

Clean the two surfaces. Get the oil, grease, corrosion, finger prints, peanut butter and jelly, etc off them. Either use a liquid flux (not a good idea for beginners) or use a good rosin core solder, with a 60-40 tin-lead composition. Lead free solder is the work of the devil for beginners. Get your iron clean with swipe on the damp sponge you've so thoughtfully provided for your use. Touch BOTH halves of the joint with the iron, and touch the solder to part of the joint near the iron but do not touch the iron with the solder just to melt the solder. Let the parts being soldered melt the solder. They can't do this if they're too cold. Let the solder run into the joint as it liquifies. Do NOT glob on more solder if it's not melting and flowing conformally onto the joint. Get in quick, with high heat, then get out. A good solder joint for an IC or resistor/capacitor lead takes about two seconds from the time the iron touches the lead til it's removed. If it takes longer than that, your iron is not hot enough, the iron is not tinned, the leads are not clean, or something is wrong with your solder/flux.

seriously, this is one of the better explanations of soldering that i've read .... apologies for the silly joke ....