"How to Solder" booklet: feedback request

[mark2]

Hey folks. I put together this "How to Solder" booklet (https://masfx.io/how-to-solder-v1.2.pdf) and if you have any use for it, i.e., a single resource to point newcomers to (more easily linked from masfx.io), I would love to hear if you have any feedback.

The intended audience is people who want to get into pedal building but haven't done any soldering, or have done occasional guitar wiring. It's more specifically for inclusion in a beginner pedal kit I'll be releasing soon, but I think it could be useful to anyone.

It's going to have some accompanying videos, as well as a one or two page version of pages 20-25 (i.e., the actual "how to" part without the extras), but those aren't ready yet.

Also let me know how you'd like to be credited (name and/or link) and I'll be adding a "Thanks" page after the table of contents.

[mark2]

Also this is still a draft that hasn't been editing or spell checked yet

[bloxstompboxes]

This is awesome Mark! I know someone 8ft away from me who would greatly benefit from this but he is a narcissist so I won't bother. However, I will bookmark the thread and watch for updates for others that might benefit. 

[ElectricDruid]

I think it looks very good and certainly very complete, but I worry that it's too long.

It's only effective if people read it, and 40 pages seems like a bit of an ask. To be fair, I read 27 pages and I can solder already, so it can't be bad! I guess what I'm saying is that anything you can do to make it more concise is probably good, and make every effort not to let it get longer. It's always easy to say more, but getting the point across in *less* words needs a lot more effort!

It's a good guide though, lots of good points and good information. Good work.

[PRR]

Good. Thanks.

any feedback.

p 35: "heating the solder then poking something..." I'm dubious about toothpicks and the polymer-based mechanical pencil 'leads'.

Use (chromed) steel to poke solder out. Shirt-pin, sewing needle, peeled bread-tie, unraveled picture wire. Seems obvious except we are at a bench covered with resistor scraps and we want to use one of them as a poker. It will STICK. Even if it is that lead which would not take solder a moment ago, use it to clear solder and now it sticks. Hot solder won't stick to cold iron, or even very-warm iron. Chrome may not take solder at all? ("Very Difficult")

Flux fumes are an irritant for 98% of people, but maybe 2% can have a SEVERE reaction. If you feel your throat go tight, unplug the iron and step outside. Re-consider your ventilation; if it is already good, pick another hobby. (I knew a guy got very invested in electronics and worked with a gas-mask.)

Little balls of solder can go a lot more than "60cm (~2 ft) in each direction." I've never done the study, IIRC they get EVERYWHERE. But I used to solder thousands of joints a day...

Don't leave the solder out for the children or dog to chew on. (Cats know better; they like line-cords.)

I like the phrase "wet with solder". Not beaded-up like drizzle on a waxed car. But maybe the "wet" does not translate well?

Folded and stapled booklet is so 20th century.

Like Druid says, nobody reads anymore, oh well.

> a draft that hasn't been ...spell checked yet

Set off my OCD. (Mom was a copy-editor.) No, a $0.50 look-thru did not turn up any speel errors.

[mark2]

It's always easy to say more, but getting the point across in *less* words needs a lot more effort!

100% with you here. I'll take another pass to see what I can cut. That said, I don't expect anyone to read it fully. What I try to do in both this and the kit doc is let you easily scan headings, callouts, and images. And hopefully the reader will self-select which parts they're interested in, and make mental notes of the existence of the other topics in case they ever want to go back for it.

My admittedly cop-out response to knowing it's too long was to make the 2'ish page version of the step-by-step section as a standalone doc. But then the (hopefully easier) problem is where/how to message to people if they're in a hurry to use the other doc.

I'll definitely spend more time thinking this through.
Thank you!

Set off my OCD. (Mom was a copy-editor.) No, a $0.50 look-thru did not turn up any speel errors.

No these are great call outs, thank you! I will go back and work through each of them, especially with regards to the various safety points.

Folded and stapled booklet is so 20th century.

Hah, true! It's an option for old timers, I guess.
Most people will probably read the PDF version, so maybe I should switch it to use single pages rather than full spreads. You lose the readability of the table on one spread, but otherwise I bet it'd be an improvement for most people most of the time.

[Frank_NH]

Nicely done - thanks for sharing!  One thing you might add is some best practices for de-soldering components (e.g. how to use solder braids etc.).  Because there will be that time when you notice that 100 ohm resistor you carefully soldered onto your PCB is really 100K... 

[antonis]

there will be that time when you notice that 100 ohm resistor you carefully soldered onto your PCB is really 100K... 

It should be more easy/quick to just solder on 100k resistor legs a 100R one.. 

But yes, it should be good to also include some kind of desoldering guide..

[mark2]

I have the desoldering in the "when things go wrong" chapter (pg 32) but perhaps I can make it more easily noticeable, e.g. a standalone chapter. I'll think on that.
Thanks!

[bloxstompboxes]

Good. Thanks.

any feedback.

I like the phrase "wet with solder". Not beaded-up like drizzle on a waxed car. But maybe the "wet" does not translate well?

Wet is actually the proper term. For example, improper wetting can occur due to low temperature, corrosion of the pad, or dirt.

[printer2]

For those that are not bored of reading.

https://nepp.nasa.gov/docuploads/06AA01BA-FC7E-4094-AE829CE371A7B05D/NASA-STD-8739.3.pdf

https://protostack.com.au/download/NASA%20Student%20Handbook%20for%20Hand%20Soldering.pdf

https://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2%20books/links/sections/files/601.pdf

[Matthew Sanford]

I've yet to read the whole thing, but this part in the beginning:

"Tinning — Covering the tip of the soldering iron in a thin layer of fresh solder.
This solder is critical, and is what conducts heat to your components and
PCB."

That is something I didn't understand what it meant (I'd tin and wipe the sponge and curse my life) until RG (or maybe it was PRR...or maybe Mark...dangit) posted a video of soldering training from 1980 which dove into the reasoning of wetting the tip with solder prior to soldering a component was for better heat transfer due to a larger area of contact. Sure, duh now, but at the time nothing I had seen went in to wetting the tip to explain that. That is such a very important piece of information!

[strungout]

Well, mark, this made me understand a few things about soldering better! Especially about why solder might not stick well. I'm gonna have to re-read it properly, but it was good.

To parallel Tom (and quote Stephen King...), "remove anything that is not the story". The story here, is what you're teaching us about. Ok, you don't wanna sound cold-cut-facts and hammer people with information only, but informing us is your goal. Keep the spirit but trim the fat! Think of what words are necessary to convey the information, in a single sentence. The word 'though', for example, is not one of those necessary words.

I enjoyed it, keep going!

[PRR]

P 16 "still hazardous to your health if you breath them frequently."

Tip - Similar-sounding words
breath is sometimes confused with breathe

breath is the air/noun, breathe is the action/verb.

Not 1 in a 100 readers will know a difference, just being OCD.

https://hemingwayapp.com/ can be useful when pruning prose. On a snippet of your text it offers:

Readability
Grade 4 Good
Words: 432
8 adverbs, meeting the goal of 14 or fewer.
1 use of passive voice, meeting the goal of 9 or fewer.
3 phrases have simpler alternatives.
0 of 45 sentences are hard to read.
0 of 45 sentences are very hard to read.

Yes, we can read 9th grade, over 11th grade if we must, but 4th is more comfortable when reading for training.

Ah, I extracted from the PDF which lost line-ends. With line-ends it reads tougher.

It hates adverbs which IMO can be useful emphasis. It is very hard on "hard to read". Often these are run-on sentences or comma-confusion. Breaking sentences may give better metrics but not always a better read.

[mark2]

That looks like a really handy tool. It has a lot more info than the simpler F/K type readability tools I've seen. I'll give a try, thanks.

Also I just noticed a missing word that made my first post confusing: let me know HOW you'd like to be credited (name and/or link). I'll be putting something to the effect of "YourUsername from diystompboxes.com" by default, so let me know if you want a proper name, alternate name, and/or a url.

Thanks again everyone! I'll be uploading the revised one shortly, probably getting another round of feedback from r/diypedals as well.