Actions
Forum Thread Details
  • Replies 63 replies
  • Subscribers 354 subscribers
  • Views 25102 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Related

goal for 2023: use a conical solder tip and enjoy it

Jan Cumps

You have to challenge your habits. I have always soldered with chisel and sloped/bevel round tips.
Many irons come with a conical tip. A lot of people solder happily with it.

image

I have several, to use with an iron that I like. But I don't like soldering with the conical tips. I am not good at it.
That's going to change this year. I'm going to try and always use these tips when appropriate, and learn to love them.
The real goal is to become better at soldering with the conical versions than I am now with chisel and sloped types. And to enjoy the adaption path.

I'll keep you posted.

Parents

  • I've been tempted by this thread to try a chisel tip.  Up to this point, I've only had conical.  My favorite one is the slightly offset tip (900M-T-IS).

  • in reply to kmikemoo

    Seems that my post convinced more people to abandon conical than to learn it Sweat smile

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    See you in an hour (of powerpoint. no soldering action)

  • in reply to hlipka

    Well, I claim that he bent the lead more than 30°:

    image

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Enjoy... but haven't you skipped over NASA-STD-8739.x to IPC J-STD-001E ?

    no cheating now...  Slight smile

  • in reply to Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps said:
    the cut end of a lead is exactly the same material as all the rest of the lead. And that's exposed too.

      ’s video starts by saying the leads have to be tinned too. I’m curious why exposed solder is ok, but exposed leads are not ok Shrug

    I won’t be soldering avionics boards anytime soon  Grin !!

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    That is true. I run across NASA standards periodically and they provide some interesting insights, but are often different form other standards on the same topic. That said, I violate virtually every standard when I solder, and I'll even cut my own corners when some other requirement has higher priority. Like trimming the lead way too close to the card because there isn't enough room for a good solder joint. I do at least try to make the joint work for its intended application, and so far it is working out.

  • in reply to beacon_dave
    beacon_dave said:
    'Properly' kind of depends on which standards you are working to though.

    That’s how I feel about it too. I imagine NASA would be the highest standard given the conditions the electronics for avionics and space flight would be used in: extreme vibration, temperature, and pressures. Maybe exposure to chemicals and gases too.

    Adafruit is geared towards hobby projects, so I imagine they’d rather not scare off the newbies with that level of precision! Similar for any beginner type classes.

    My standards will be slightly below that hobby level Rolling eyes

    I do want to start making them more visually appealing though, which includes cleaning of the flux and having more consistent solder joints.

  • in reply to ntewinkel

    Leaving flux uncleaned - guilty as charged. Disappointed

  • in reply to ntewinkel

    Maybe we should start a discussion  topic - How not to solder...Smiling imp

  • in reply to hlipka

    I just watched the video. I'm surprised, personally I wouldn't say that my normal soldering practice is all that different, for working at a good speed. I don't think I deviate too much. I don't pre-tin, presumably it is easy for them because they have the solder bath. (I pre-tin stripped wire though, out of habit, regardless if it is solid core or stranded). I eyeball the length of the component leads instead of using that neat trick with the looped component wire, but I trim first just like they do. I form the component leads with pliers, instead of the red tool he used in the video. I certainly don't exceed 30 degrees on PCBs either, because I like the wires mostly straight, instead of combed down (I use blu-tack/putty to temporarily hold the component). (On perfboard when prototyping I will bend and use the component leads as if they were PCB tracks, but that's different). And always clean the board of flux, with this brush (it's very stiff, which works great on PCBs).

Reply
  • in reply to hlipka

    I just watched the video. I'm surprised, personally I wouldn't say that my normal soldering practice is all that different, for working at a good speed. I don't think I deviate too much. I don't pre-tin, presumably it is easy for them because they have the solder bath. (I pre-tin stripped wire though, out of habit, regardless if it is solid core or stranded). I eyeball the length of the component leads instead of using that neat trick with the looped component wire, but I trim first just like they do. I form the component leads with pliers, instead of the red tool he used in the video. I certainly don't exceed 30 degrees on PCBs either, because I like the wires mostly straight, instead of combed down (I use blu-tack/putty to temporarily hold the component). (On perfboard when prototyping I will bend and use the component leads as if they were PCB tracks, but that's different). And always clean the board of flux, with this brush (it's very stiff, which works great on PCBs).

Children
No Data