Soldering

[clivvy]

hey chaps

just after a bit of advice, with regards soldering.

On my drivers rear indicator (on my Mazda MX3) bulb holder, one of the peices of metal the wire is attached to has cracked and come apart. No rust or anything, just split in two. I can see it will solder, but im a novice. I am off to B&Q to buy a gas solder unit tomorrow, but im not 100% sure what TYPE of solder I need for this sort of connection, and whether or not i need flux, can anyone advice me? I also have to repair a similar connection on my remote battery connection, again connection has cracked.

hope you can help, cheers!

 

[briggie]

hey chaps

just after a bit of advice, with regards soldering.

On my drivers rear indicator (on my Mazda MX3) bulb holder, one of the peices of metal the wire is attached to has cracked and come apart. No rust or anything, just split in two. I can see it will solder, but im a novice. I am off to B&Q to buy a gas solder unit tomorrow, but im not 100% sure what TYPE of solder I need for this sort of connection, and whether or not i need flux, can anyone advice me? I also have to repair a similar connection on my remote battery connection, again connection has cracked.

hope you can help, cheers!

most solder available in wire form has flux allready inserted clive , you will need to " tin " the wires to be joined , this is simply coating the ends of the wires with melted solder

 

[briggie]

you will probably get a little roll of solder with your iron mate , but its always good to ask , b&q will get you a roll of it

 

[jims-terrano]

I got loads of solder Clivvy and a soldering iron. You are more than welcome to nip across here mate.

Jim

 

[clivvy]

thanks Peter and Jim!

I need to buy a soldering iron anyway, but thanks for the offer.

 

[(RIP) PLANK]

Tip! don't melt the solder onto the iron - heat the joint to be joined with the iron and melt the solder into that :thumb2

If it is close to a plastic component you can use some tweezers or small pliers as a heat sink to dissipate some of the heat before it ravels up the wire and melts the plastic, just clip them on between the joint and the thing you are trying to protect :thumb2

 

[kitchenman]

Aldi or was it Lidl were selling soldering irons recently, complete with cored solder, under a tenner:clap

 

[ssteve]

if you buy an electric iron get a 30watt one, it's hard work on thicker wires with low wattage ones (or buy a soldering gun)

ssteve

 

[4wheel]

Now it is funny you should talk about soldering today.I went to a boot sale this am and by chance bought a good old blow lamp ! For£3 ! Works like a charm and is in excellent nick.Now why do you want an antiquated blow lamp you may well ask.I find that it is still the only way to solder heavier items sucessfully.Good old length of stick solder,heat up the soldering iron and item/s to be soldered, tin as required and Bobs your aunty.Not suitable for small delcate items obviously but nevertheless usefull to have about.

 

[(RIP) PLANK]

I've got a big (90 watt) electric iron for big wires, you can practically weld with it :augie

 

[96terrano]

Soldering ain't hard. I'm 16 and can solder lol:augie

 

[clivvy]

Soldering ain't hard. I'm 16 and can solder lol:augie

pop down and do mine mate!!:thumb2

 

[rustic]

There is no "one soldering iron fits all".
Here is a list of what I have, and the applications I have used them for.


A small 10 watt iron for removing Transistors and integrated circuits.

A 25 watt iron for small wires, connectors etc.

A soldering gun, seemed a good idea at the time but useless if you can solder anyway.

A small refillable gas powered soldering iron, approx 60 watts, for switches and stuff on the boat or car. Excellent.

A small refillable micro pencil blow torch, ideal for heavy duty cables like battery terminals, starter cable connections. Excellent, flame is very small and controllable.

A gas powered blowlamp, for plumbing applications and paint stripping etc.

Plus a 12 volt soldering iron, but not hot enough for out door use.

The secret of good soldering is in preparation.
Get rid of oxidisation from the component, even if new.
Degrease circuit boards etc before soldering.

Scrape components eg switches lamp holders etc with a knife then tin straight away, then bring the components together, as said before tin the soldering iron with solder then wipe it on a damp sponge to remove excess solder, place the iron on the joint then feed in flux cored solder, when a suitable joint is made, remove the solder and the iron.

DO NOT MOVE THE JOINT OR BLOW COOL IT EITHER,
or you will have a "dry joint" ie a matt coloured solder joint that will soon fail.

Plumbing, clean the pipe and fitting with steel wool, or emery paper, wipe each part with solder flux paste straight away, or the metal will oxidise, then apply solder to a heated joint, if using, yorkshire fittings with solder rings, heat the joint until the solder forms a complete ring around the joint.

If using only copper fittings, apply stick solder to the heated joint.

Again, do not move the joint until set..

Hope this helps, if I was closer, I would say bring it round.

This method will not work on aluminium wires or cables sometimes found in alternators and starter motors.


Hope this helps,
best regards, Rustic

 

[Fez_uk]

I have one iron and I seem to do fine. It does have variable temp though.

just practice.

Soldering ain't hard. I'm 16 and can solder lol

How do you get on with .5 pitch chips and smaller?

 

[spiderpig37]

Soldering ain't hard. I'm 16 and can solder lol:augie

i`m 46 and can`t solder but drink beer realy well ah well you win some you loose some:lol
cheers Andy

 

[96terrano]

pop down and do mine mate!!:thumb2

Ok I'll jump in my t2 and pop down:lol

 

[rustic]

I have one iron and I seem to do fine. It does have variable temp though.

just practice.


How do you get on with .5 pitch chips and smaller?

I think you mean 0.05" or 0.5mm pitch, A standard iron cannot be used easily as the solder will run across all the connections

There are special soldering irons with special heads for re-working circuit boards with SMD (Surface Mounted Device).

The head suits the size of the SMD, so it heats up all the legs at once and a suction device pulls the device off the board without damage to the SMD or the board.

To replace the SMD there is a special solder paste that is painted onto the board, and the device is fitted with a special head that heats up all the legs thus melting the solder paste. Then you have an "eject device" to release the iron head, leaving the SMD on the board.

As you can imagine, the tooling would be very expensive.

Standard chips of 0.1" pitch are easy to remove and when I was in the electronics industry, I devised a way to replace them without having access to the underside of the circuit board, thus saving a fortune in labour costs. This was on plated through and also on single layer boards.

I bet you wish you hadn't asked the question now.:doh

 

[Fez_uk]

thats what I said .5 , I usually only work in metric.

I also work in electronics production but probably alot smaller scale than you did.
I can do them with a basic solder station iron with a fine tip. But thats rarely done.

I was asking 96terrano

 

[(RIP) PLANK]

It is often said that soldering is easy, if so why do so many people make a complete mess if it :doh

As Rustic said there is lots of soldering for lots of jobs, and lets not get started on thin sheet metal work, I have some lovely hand made stainless steel items here all soldered joints.

While we are comparing soldering campaign medals, I used to be an electronics engineer and I can remember being taught to solder rather than just picking it up as you go along.

Having said all that, joining a few medium sized wires is still not 'rocket science' :thumb2

 

[clivvy]

well, i got the iron today from Barron and Quirk, and used my Mazdas spare remote to practice. I still dont know what im doing, but i got the job done so that the battery now fits allowing the battery to fit correctly in between the connections.

the tricky job is repairing the lights on my MX3, so I need to watch some you tube videos.

My problem is this, I dont know the correct way to solder. I tinned the iron, but im not certain at this stage what to do next, do I heat up the area to solder first then push in the solder, or do I hold the iron above the area to solder, and slot the solwer wire in between?? of course when practicing, I was just getting solder melting and running away from the intended joint, I ended up just having to heat up what i had on the joint and forming correctly (worked well actually) but i cant do that with the light bulb holder from the car, as the wire and connection are recessed...!