Once you’ve mastered wire stripping together with braiding (as shown inwards Part 1) together with empathize the tools you’ll ask (explained inwards Part 2), nosotros tin acquire downwards to actual soldering practice.
First affair I’ll tell is, a soldering Fe is dangerous. So is a kitchen stove together with a steak knife. Because nosotros larn early to utilization a stove together with a knife alongside care, nosotros tin utilization them daily without having whatever accidents. That same assist should live on taken alongside a soldering iron. Here are some steps I recommend:
A. Clean upwards your workspace. The soldering Fe needs a dedicated house to residue where nix else is close it. The tip gets extremely hot together with at that topographic point should live on no run a peril it volition accidentally ship on anything, either acre it is at residue or acre you lot are using it. Remove all obstructions from your locomote area, leaving only the things you lot volition ask to produce the job.
B. Carefully conform the soldering iron’s ability cable. The ability cable mustn’t live on inwards the agency of your work, together with the cable must live on placed inwards a agency that you lot volition non accidentally grab it, yank it or fifty-fifty forcefulness out it alongside the soldering Fe tip. You must also conform it hence that somebody walking past times you, a cat, a dog, or God foreclose a pocket-size little fry is non able to accidentally trip or tug on the cord acre you’re using it. Because my ability outlet is located inconveniently, I utilization heavy clamps to weigh the cable downwards to proceed it out of my way.
C. Consider where the soldering Fe volition rest. Mine does non direct maintain an off switch hence remains hot the entire fourth dimension it is plugged inwards (and for a skilful bargain of fourth dimension fifty-fifty afterwards it’s unplugged). I utilization a soldering Fe stand upwards to laid it downwards safely. If you lot produce non direct maintain one, utilization the niggling metallic residue that came alongside it. If none came alongside it, rig something up, similar an empty ashtray or something. It’s non a skilful persuasion to but laid it on the table.
These steps mightiness seem similar a big bargain since I’ve dedicated hence much ink to them, but these are all simple, piece of cake things to do. It’s no dissimilar than basic kitchen safety, where you lot mostly don’t locomote out a stack of newspapers on transcend of the stove.
Now let’s acquire downwards to soldering.
1. Get your sponge ready.
Wet together with wring out the sponge, hence house it inwards your soldering Fe stand. If you lot don’t direct maintain a stand, moisture an erstwhile sponge, squash it out together with house it on your locomote surface close your soldering iron. Weigh it downwards on 1 destination alongside something heavy, similar a brick or a drinking glass bottle filled alongside water, hence it doesn’t motion around.
2. Set your wiring inwards place.
Take 1 of your stripped-n’-braided wire scraps together with clamp it into the Helping Hands, positioning it hence that you’ve got skilful access to the wire joint.
3. Get the solder ready.
Unspool a few inches of solder. You volition live on applying this alongside the paw non asset the soldering iron.
4. Clean the soldering tip.
Plug your soldering Fe in. Some volition bring a infinitesimal or 2 to acquire hot. You tin tell when your soldering Fe is hot past times wiping it on the sponge, it volition hiss together with steam a bit.
It’s real of import to start soldering alongside a clean, silver-looking tip. If the tip has whatever dark-brown or dark areas, it is dingy together with volition non transmit oestrus well. You’ll grow frustrated equally you lot concord the soldering Fe against the wiring for what seems similar forever, together with even hence the solder volition non melt.
 |
| Dirty tip / no good. |
 | |
| Clean tip / good. (Not perfectly clean, but build clean enough.) |
Wipe it good on the sponge to build clean it, hence dab a fighting of solder on the tip. Get rid of whatever globs past times rolling the Fe and/or wiping it on the sponge. Here’s a video showing how to build clean the tip:
5. Start to solder.
Press the tip of the hot soldering Fe against the underside of the wire joint. You don’t direct maintain to press hard, but brand contact, together with if you lot direct maintain done the braiding correctly the wires volition non separate.
Depending on the wattage of the soldering Fe you lot have, it may bring anywhere from xv seconds to 2 minutes or longer for the wire to acquire hot plenty to bring the solder. When you lot suspect the wire is hot enough, ship on the tip of the solder to the transcend of the wire joint, non the soldering iron.
If the wire is hot enough, the solder volition start to melt. Don’t allow it melt inwards goopy globs, allow it melt but a niggling fighting at a fourth dimension past times modulating your contact, together with you’ll come across that the solder liquifies together with automatically flows into the wiring, similar the wiring is but sucking it in. It’s genuinely form of cool to see. Remember that you lot should even hence live on able to come across the private strands of the wiring, equally opposed to roofing it all inwards a silvery goop, 1 time it starts to melt don’t become nuts alongside it.
Move the soldering Fe together with the solder, equally needed, to dissimilar parts of the articulation until the articulation is exclusively silver.
Here’s a video showing the soldering process:
6. Clean the tip again.
After soldering, repeat measurement #4 together with build clean your soldering tip again. You should fifty-fifty produce the role when you lot locomote out solder on it at the end, together with shop your soldering Fe that way. The solder volition protect the tip together with proceed it from oxidizing. If you’re done soldering, don’t forget to unplug the iron.
Give the articulation a infinitesimal or hence to cool off, together with hence you’re done!
Things to Remember
Many of you lot volition non acquire this right the get-go time, which is why we’re practicing on scraps. Soldering is a manual science that tin only live on learned through repetition. It’s similar driving a car--the get-go fourth dimension you lot drove you lot were likely terrible at it, but you lot piece of cake got ameliorate over fourth dimension past times driving around a lot.
It’s of import to retrieve that you lot can’t acquire ameliorate at driving a machine past times reading most it or watching videos of other people doing it. You only acquire ameliorate at it past times doing it over, together with over, together with over 1 time to a greater extent than equally that’s how manual skills work. So re-read these instructions equally many times equally you lot ask to together with practice, practice, practice. If you lot ask to a greater extent than guidance earlier practicing than I direct maintain provided here, become to YouTube together with you’ll honor tons of videos on how to solder together with how to build clean soldering Fe tips. But the most of import affair is to but produce it.
Once you’ve gotten this right, there’s but a few to a greater extent than things to cover--wire terminals, heat-shrink tubing--and hence we’ll genuinely acquire our hands on the machine.
Go on to Part 4: How to Terminate Your Wires
