Author Topic: The Living Soldering Thread  (Read 1850332 times)

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Offline Steezus

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2850 on: Sat, 13 February 2016, 15:16:51 »
So this is a rather unconventional way to do it but I found that holding the board upside to desolder with a gun is much more effective. This way rather than gravity letting solder flow down the switch-pin hole it just flows downwards towards the gun and then 95% of the time I get all of the solder. After desoldering so many Poker 2s and Pok3rs, the factory tends to add a lot of solder to the point where it flows down the pin making it much harder to suck up. I hope that makes sense...

Edit: I don't really want to endorse it, it is more dangerous because some molten solder can drop down. Just don't have your hands directly underneath the switch that you're soldering. It's just something that I've found and will be doing myself.
« Last Edit: Sat, 13 February 2016, 15:23:28 by Steezus »
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Offline henz

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2851 on: Sat, 13 February 2016, 15:31:40 »
So this is a rather unconventional way to do it but I found that holding the board upside to desolder with a gun is much more effective. This way rather than gravity letting solder flow down the switch-pin hole it just flows downwards towards the gun and then 95% of the time I get all of the solder. After desoldering so many Poker 2s and Pok3rs, the factory tends to add a lot of solder to the point where it flows down the pin making it much harder to suck up. I hope that makes sense...

Edit: I don't really want to endorse it, it is more dangerous because some molten solder can drop down. Just don't have your hands directly underneath the switch that you're soldering. It's just something that I've found and will be doing myself.

Lol I want to see that in action. What about getting solder I. Your eyes. Protective glasses? :p

Offline Steezus

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2852 on: Sat, 13 February 2016, 15:43:13 »
So this is a rather unconventional way to do it but I found that holding the board upside to desolder with a gun is much more effective. This way rather than gravity letting solder flow down the switch-pin hole it just flows downwards towards the gun and then 95% of the time I get all of the solder. After desoldering so many Poker 2s and Pok3rs, the factory tends to add a lot of solder to the point where it flows down the pin making it much harder to suck up. I hope that makes sense...

Edit: I don't really want to endorse it, it is more dangerous because some molten solder can drop down. Just don't have your hands directly underneath the switch that you're soldering. It's just something that I've found and will be doing myself.

Lol I want to see that in action. What about getting solder I. Your eyes. Protective glasses? :p

I hold it away from myself and make sure nothing flammable is underneath. Both my hands and eyes are safe from any danger. It honestly just saved me so much time desoldering, rather than fighting against gravity have it on your side. It can be a pain because you're holding up the board and going from underneath of it but I went through a Poker 2 fast enough that I didn't feel any strain in my arms.
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Offline asgeirtj

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2853 on: Fri, 08 April 2016, 16:26:25 »
I keep soldering off my traces (is it called trace? the circle around the thing you solder).  I have a pretty cheapo around 40$ soldering iron.  I have it on 350C when desoldering.  I don't get what I'm doing wrong?  Maybe the iron is not accurate since it's a cheap one and it's running hotter?  Maybe it's because I have a cone tip but not a vertical tip?  I have the iron on the trace for a pretty long time like 3 seconds, which is bad I presume?  I just think that it needs 3 secs to melt all the stuff all the way around.  Maybe I takes fewer second secs if I have a proper tip?  A vertical tip if best for this kind of work right?
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Offline Blaise170

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2854 on: Fri, 08 April 2016, 19:52:03 »
Solder pads. Usually if you keep lifting them, the iron is too hot or you are leaving it on too long. 350°C is plenty for lead/tin solder, 400C is usually good for lead free. Place the iron on just long enough for it to fully melt (you will see it melt).
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Offline asgeirtj

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2855 on: Sat, 09 April 2016, 17:02:59 »
I lowered the iron to about 325 and it hasn't happened since.

So now I have this lifted pad. 





See where I've drawn the yellow line?  That's the pads I thought I needed to connect, but it's not working. The pad seems to be ruined on both sides of the pcb. Please help :(
Leopold FC900 w/ 67g Purple Zealios - Silver Duck Octagon w/ 62 Purple Zealios

Offline asgeirtj

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2856 on: Sun, 10 April 2016, 10:01:22 »
I found the solution.  The solution was to connect it to D58.  Don't know why since I don't really understandr PCB's, I got some help on the Geekhack mIRc channel.
Leopold FC900 w/ 67g Purple Zealios - Silver Duck Octagon w/ 62 Purple Zealios

Offline joey

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2857 on: Sun, 10 April 2016, 10:02:56 »
That was me that helped!

Basically that connection is messed up, so you can short circuit it by connecting the leg of the switch to the leg of another switch.

Offline MOZ

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2858 on: Sun, 10 April 2016, 10:49:49 »
Nicely done!

Offline ashraf

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2859 on: Fri, 15 April 2016, 23:35:13 »


Oh god, I need help fixing my ****ups with this KUL board.  Desoldered (made a mess of it though) and soldered in new Purple Zealios.  Every switch worked except W, 9 and +.  Desoldered those and replaced with switches I know worked, and it's still a no-go :(  Even lifted the lower right solder pad on W :(

I've uploaded some photos here: http://imgur.com/a/QbICj

Any advice?  I'm at my wit's end.  It seems like I'll have to do a wire trace, but i'm not knowledgeable enough to know where I shoulder connect the non-working ones to (especially the pads that don't seem to have a trace)
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Offline Blaise170

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2860 on: Sat, 16 April 2016, 07:34:24 »
Using wires is easy. It's just a matter of connecting the ungrounded lead from a working switch and soldering onto the ungrounded lead of a non working switch. Typically this is the left pin on Alps switches, I imagine MX is probably the same.
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Offline phoenix1234

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2861 on: Sat, 16 April 2016, 09:47:38 »
Any advice?  I'm at my wit's end.  It seems like I'll have to do a wire trace, but i'm not knowledgeable enough to know where I shoulder connect the non-working ones to (especially the pads that don't seem to have a trace)

First, please try to use a Digital multi-meter (DMM) to trace if there is any broken links on these 9,+ and W.
If any, you can use small wire to rebuild the broken ones.
I like linear switches

Offline lootbag

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2862 on: Sat, 16 April 2016, 21:03:28 »
So this is a rather unconventional way to do it but I found that holding the board upside to desolder with a gun is much more effective. This way rather than gravity letting solder flow down the switch-pin hole it just flows downwards towards the gun and then 95% of the time I get all of the solder. After desoldering so many Poker 2s and Pok3rs, the factory tends to add a lot of solder to the point where it flows down the pin making it much harder to suck up. I hope that makes sense...

Edit: I don't really want to endorse it, it is more dangerous because some molten solder can drop down. Just don't have your hands directly underneath the switch that you're soldering. It's just something that I've found and will be doing myself.

I started using this upside down method with the Aoyue desoldering gun, works very well haha.
Maybe the I need to get to the pump, disassemble and reseal during reassembly to increase the vacuum of the unit.

Offline Badwrench

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2863 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 13:24:12 »
Quick confirmation guys.  When soldering RGB leds, the orientation on the pcb is denoted by the diagonal line, right?

The little diagonal notch in the smd led is the same corner as the diagonal line?

135347-0

wut. i'd buy a ****ty IBM board for that green V2

Offline MOZ

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2864 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 13:34:09 »
That's correct.

Offline Badwrench

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2865 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 13:56:48 »
That's correct.

Cool.  Just wanted to make sure.  SMD stuff is hard to desolder without hot air. 
wut. i'd buy a ****ty IBM board for that green V2

Offline asgeirtj

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2866 on: Fri, 29 April 2016, 15:30:47 »
I just bought myself a Weller WES51.  I got these tips with it I was wondering which one would be best for soldering switches (I'm concerned about heat since I'm soldering zealios)?  Also what is this thing which I got with the station?
« Last Edit: Fri, 29 April 2016, 15:32:27 by asgeirtj »
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Offline Blaise170

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2867 on: Fri, 29 April 2016, 15:35:38 »
Chisel tip is best for medium size solder points like keyboard switches. Use conical for smaller solder points and the huge ones for really big solder points.
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Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2868 on: Fri, 29 April 2016, 16:45:45 »
I just bought myself a Weller WES51.  I got these tips with it I was wondering which one would be best for soldering switches (I'm concerned about heat since I'm soldering zealios)?  Also what is this thing which I got with the station?
I do believe that 'thing' is a wrench to swap the tips out.

Offline asgeirtj

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2869 on: Fri, 29 April 2016, 17:35:49 »
Chisel tip is best for medium size solder points like keyboard switches. Use conical for smaller solder points and the huge ones for really big solder points.

These are all chisel tip if I'm not mistaken.  Just wondering if anyone had a recommendation which mm tip would be ideal
I just bought myself a Weller WES51.  I got these tips with it I was wondering which one would be best for soldering switches (I'm concerned about heat since I'm soldering zealios)?  Also what is this thing which I got with the station?
I do believe that 'thing' is a wrench to swap the tips out.

One swaps the tips out by unscrewing the tip so I don't think so
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Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2870 on: Fri, 29 April 2016, 18:18:54 »
I do believe that 'thing' is a wrench to swap the tips out.

One swaps the tips out by unscrewing the tip so I don't think so

Quote
 The pencil magnet (or any magnet) can be used for two purposes on this iron: locking the temperature and changing the units between F/C. To lock the temperature, just tap the ESD SAFE logo with a magnet while the station is on. A little dot will light up under the Lockout label to show this. To turn off, just tap the ESD SAFE logo again. To change the units: power off the station, turn the temperature knob all the way to maximum, hold the magnet over the ESD SAFE logo, then turn the station on. The F/C dot should toggle

I should have looked on amazon to being with. :D

Offline zennasyndroxx

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2871 on: Sat, 30 April 2016, 07:05:38 »
Show Image


Oh god, I need help fixing my ****ups with this KUL board.  Desoldered (made a mess of it though) and soldered in new Purple Zealios.  Every switch worked except W, 9 and +.  Desoldered those and replaced with switches I know worked, and it's still a no-go :(  Even lifted the lower right solder pad on W :(

I've uploaded some photos here: http://imgur.com/a/QbICj

Any advice?  I'm at my wit's end.  It seems like I'll have to do a wire trace, but i'm not knowledgeable enough to know where I shoulder connect the non-working ones to (especially the pads that don't seem to have a trace)

are you the same dude that contacted me at reddit?

Offline izilla

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2872 on: Tue, 03 May 2016, 08:14:27 »
Awesome resource for soldering stuff....some links are dead now maybe an update on the OP.

Offline ashraf

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2873 on: Sun, 08 May 2016, 11:44:06 »
Show Image


Oh god, I need help fixing my ****ups with this KUL board.  Desoldered (made a mess of it though) and soldered in new Purple Zealios.  Every switch worked except W, 9 and +.  Desoldered those and replaced with switches I know worked, and it's still a no-go :(  Even lifted the lower right solder pad on W :(

I've uploaded some photos here: http://imgur.com/a/QbICj

Any advice?  I'm at my wit's end.  It seems like I'll have to do a wire trace, but i'm not knowledgeable enough to know where I shoulder connect the non-working ones to (especially the pads that don't seem to have a trace)

are you the same dude that contacted me at reddit?

Yup, managed to fix it anyway through trial and error :P
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Offline Jeu

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2874 on: Sun, 05 June 2016, 23:25:53 »
Newbie here getting materials to build my first board!  Is something like the Weller WLC100 sufficient for soldering switches and LEDs etc or should I pony up and get the WES51 or the Hakko FX888?  I don't wanna risk a super cheapy $20 iron and have some switches be cold.

Offline izilla

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2875 on: Tue, 07 June 2016, 23:31:25 »
Newbie here getting materials to build my first board!  Is something like the Weller WLC100 sufficient for soldering switches and LEDs etc or should I pony up and get the WES51 or the Hakko FX888?  I don't wanna risk a super cheapy $20 iron and have some switches be cold.

A Hakko is going to last you a long time where the weller is only going to frustrate you. I started with a weller that was cheap and once I bought my Hakko it was like soldering was the easiest thing I have ever done. But it does come down to the tip you use, I highly recommend waatching the EEVBlog soldering tips that literally brought my soldering to a whole new level where it is second nature now.

Offline appleonama

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2876 on: Tue, 07 June 2016, 23:33:55 »
I lowered the iron to about 325 and it hasn't happened since.

So now I have this lifted pad. 

Show Image


Show Image


See where I've drawn the yellow line?  That's the pads I thought I needed to connect, but it's not working. The pad seems to be ruined on both sides of the pcb. Please help :(

too much gore. I threw up

Offline izilla

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2877 on: Tue, 07 June 2016, 23:49:34 »
I lowered the iron to about 325 and it hasn't happened since.

So now I have this lifted pad. 

Show Image


Show Image


See where I've drawn the yellow line?  That's the pads I thought I needed to connect, but it's not working. The pad seems to be ruined on both sides of the pcb. Please help :(

I would suggest using a multimeter with a continuity tester to ensure your suspicions on the traces are correct.

Offline Skydra

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2878 on: Sat, 11 June 2016, 00:38:37 »
I got a simple question. What is the different between cherry plate-mounted and pcb-mounted stabilizers? I'm planning to build a board with plate-mounted switch.

Offline Blaise170

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2879 on: Sat, 11 June 2016, 00:47:49 »
I got a simple question. What is the different between cherry plate-mounted and pcb-mounted stabilizers? I'm planning to build a board with plate-mounted switch.

Exactly as it says on the tin. Plate mounted are attached to the plate, PCB mounted are attached to the PCB. You'll use plate mount if you use a plate.
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Offline MOZ

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2880 on: Sat, 11 June 2016, 00:57:45 »
Depends on the plate, many plates only support PCB-mount stabs.

P.S Neither of them are soldered, mention this because this is being posted in the soldering thread.

Offline Skydra

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2881 on: Sat, 11 June 2016, 01:02:15 »
Depends on the plate, many plates only support PCB-mount stabs.

P.S Neither of them are soldered, mention this because this is being posted in the soldering thread.

Ah sorry if I'm posting my question on the wrong thread. This is gonna be my first build so I'm still clueless about things. I'm going to go ahead and ask the seller which stabilizers I should be getting then. Because that's my concern, I will be using plate but I see a lot of build insert in the stabilizers first before the plate, so I'm assuming that even if you use a plate, you can still use pcb-mount stabs.

Offline MOZ

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2882 on: Sat, 11 June 2016, 01:31:56 »
What stabilizers are compatible with a setup depends on the cutouts in the plate and the PCB design. Which PCB and plate are you planning on using?

Offline Skydra

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2883 on: Sat, 11 June 2016, 01:43:22 »
What stabilizers are compatible with a setup depends on the cutouts in the plate and the PCB design. Which PCB and plate are you planning on using?

I'm planning to use GON PCB and JDCarpe Universal60 Plate, both sold by LeandreN. After googling around, I believe PCB-mounted stabilizers are what I should buy for this right? Thanks for helping btw.

Offline swimmingbird

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2884 on: Tue, 14 June 2016, 02:19:07 »
What stabilizers are compatible with a setup depends on the cutouts in the plate and the PCB design. Which PCB and plate are you planning on using?

I'm planning to use GON PCB and JDCarpe Universal60 Plate, both sold by LeandreN. After googling around, I believe PCB-mounted stabilizers are what I should buy for this right? Thanks for helping btw.

Yep PCB mounted stabs are the norm for DIY and custom builds

Offline Jin

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2885 on: Thu, 30 June 2016, 20:51:44 »
awsome thing to know

Offline twiddle

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2886 on: Mon, 08 August 2016, 17:35:27 »
So I've been working on more custom controllers for the classes at work recently, and I just finished one of the most recent prototypes:


However, my iron is really struggling to get enough heat into joints between pins and large ground planes, like the ones outlined in red (brown marks are flux before cleaning, not burns):



I don't really want to turn my iron up further, until I get a chance to calibrate it (got an IR thermometer on the way to do just that). It's currently sitting about 365C, but as I say I haven't yet verified that.
Presuming that my existing iron is correctly calibrated and there's not a lot I can do beyond just increasing the heat, I've been eyeing off the following metcal unit, a MX-500S that seems to have a reasonable price for the 240V version:
http://www.mektronics.com.au/soldering-rework/metcal-stations/metcal-mx-500s-soldering-rework-system-13434.html
I've heard that the Metcals have excellent thermal recovery, which I suspect is where my current iron is falling down.
Does anybody have experience with Metcal in general, or the model I've mentioned, or any other insight?

Offline garage_logician

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2887 on: Tue, 09 August 2016, 12:39:14 »
OK, so I have both a White Fox and an Ergo Dox on the way.  I have never assembled a keyboard before and am looking for some advice, specifically what kind of tip works best on the soldering iron (I have a Hakko) and what kind of solder I should use.   

Thanks!
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Offline romevi

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2888 on: Tue, 09 August 2016, 12:41:16 »
Solder and Tip sounds like a good name for a keyboard-building newsletter. Or a bar devoted to mechanical keyboards.

Offline joey

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2889 on: Tue, 09 August 2016, 12:42:16 »
Any kind of tip works fine for switches.

Offline nugglets

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2890 on: Tue, 09 August 2016, 13:42:10 »
Any kind of tip works fine for switches.

While absolutely true, I have a much better time with a chisel tip than the standard tips. I think the one I use is 1.6mm, but I don't remember exactly.

For solder, Kester 44 is what I have seen recommended most often and is what I use as well.

Offline garage_logician

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2891 on: Wed, 10 August 2016, 18:01:46 »
Where is a good place to get Hakko tips?  Also, what diameter solder?  .31?  .20?   

One other question, is there much difference in 63/37 versus 60/40?   

Thanks!

Offline Dwarlorf

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2892 on: Wed, 10 August 2016, 18:46:30 »
Solder one switch leg first before and make sure all switches are soldered straight unto the pcb before soldering the second legs. It's easier to correct the switches positions with only one leg attached.
Don't use too much tin.
  
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Offline nugglets

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2893 on: Thu, 11 August 2016, 03:43:31 »
Where is a good place to get Hakko tips?  Also, what diameter solder?  .31?  .20?   

One other question, is there much difference in 63/37 versus 60/40?   

Thanks!

I have no idea where you're from, so no way to say for sure. =)

I get them at Fry's, locally, or Amazon.

63/37 v. 60/40 is negligible, but the reasoning behind 63/37 is that it goes from liquid to solid more quickly. Whether that actually matters or not, I couldn't say. My soldering experience is limited to whatever they had at work 20 years ago, and the 63/37 I bought when I built my first keyboard a few months ago. Maybe someone else will chime in with a compelling reason to pick one over the other, but I doubt it's going to make a huge difference at all.

Same really goes for the diameter. I use .31 because I figured it would be easier to flow it more quickly, and speed was my goal with the Zealios I was soldering. Plenty of people seem to use .20, and I could certainly see the smaller diameter being preferable for SMD soldering. But, again, I doubt either one is going to make a huge difference with the soldering involved in building a keyboard.

Offline jaffers

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2894 on: Thu, 11 August 2016, 04:48:23 »
Get chisel tips or tips with large surface area on the front. Use a horse shoe tip for SMD's. Small tips are almost useless for most practical applications, heat dissipates too quickly and you end up with a cold tip, you will be there for ages.

Get some solder with multicore rosin, I swear by 63/37. Get it pretty thin, the thinner the better, significantly more control over how big your joints are. You can always put more on, but taking it off is a pain in the behind. You can go with some no name chinese brand but often the rosin isn't very good. Perhaps get a flux pen as well to help if a joint doesn't want to wick properly.

Offline tp4tissue

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2895 on: Thu, 11 August 2016, 05:59:00 »
Get chisel tips or tips with large surface area on the front. Use a horse shoe tip for SMD's. Small tips are almost useless for most practical applications, heat dissipates too quickly and you end up with a cold tip, you will be there for ages.

Get some solder with multicore rosin, I swear by 63/37. Get it pretty thin, the thinner the better, significantly more control over how big your joints are. You can always put more on, but taking it off is a pain in the behind. You can go with some no name chinese brand but often the rosin isn't very good. Perhaps get a flux pen as well to help if a joint doesn't want to wick properly.




For SMD you want thin..

But for switches,  you don't want too thin,  because it's SLOWER to solder, you have to push it much faster.

Offline Aricil

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2896 on: Thu, 11 August 2016, 12:35:26 »
I'll just piggyback on this thread. I'd like to build my first keyboard soon, as well as possibly switch out a few switches (hehe) on my Varmilo since a few of them are acting kinda wonky. So, what's your recommendation for a soldering iron? I saw one for 40 bucks, then I saw some of the other more recommended ones in the 100 dollar range. If I was only going to be using it occasionally, would it be okay to get a cheaper one? And do you have any ideas for some keyboards I could build by myself? I saw some on massdrop but they've already come and gone. I was wondering if there were some I could just buy without a groupbuy.
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Offline eksuen

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2897 on: Thu, 11 August 2016, 13:00:48 »
I'll just piggyback on this thread. I'd like to build my first keyboard soon, as well as possibly switch out a few switches (hehe) on my Varmilo since a few of them are acting kinda wonky. So, what's your recommendation for a soldering iron? I saw one for 40 bucks, then I saw some of the other more recommended ones in the 100 dollar range. If I was only going to be using it occasionally, would it be okay to get a cheaper one? And do you have any ideas for some keyboards I could build by myself? I saw some on massdrop but they've already come and gone. I was wondering if there were some I could just buy without a groupbuy.

If it's only for the occasional use (assembling a keyboard here and there), a cheaper one is fine.

I have something like this http://www.parts-express.com/stahl-tools-ssvt-variable-temperature-soldering-iron-station--374-100?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla
I've used it to assemble a B.Face (67g Zealios), WhiteFox (67g Zealios), Infinity (Matias QC), and an Octagon V2 (67g Zealios) without any issues. No chattering on any Zealios switches either, for the record.

Offline jdcarpe

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2898 on: Thu, 11 August 2016, 13:21:44 »
Thread merged with The Living Soldering Thread :)
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Offline captsis

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Re: The Living Soldering Thread
« Reply #2899 on: Tue, 20 September 2016, 02:33:29 »
So ive been using the Kester .20 60/40 and one thing I really had a hard time with was not bending the wire while I was holding it to a joint. So frustrating but I guess I need a lighter touch...