New to soldering

[tgujay]

So I am very new to soldering but want to get into it to do some key switch swaps and other things.  I just popped my soldering cherry on fixing my Rosewills mini usb port but there is some residue that I'm not sure what it is.  It doesn't seem to negatively affect anything as my keyboard still works fine but I was just curious what it is.  Maybe I can get rid of it or avoid it in the future?

[alaricljs]

That should be partially cooked flux.  Use rubbing alcohol, the higher the purity the more effective it will be.

[tgujay]

That should be partially cooked flux.  Use rubbing alcohol, the higher the purity the more effective it will be.

Thank you! I will try that.

[tgujay]

Does my soldering on the USB port look ok?

[tgujay]

It worked! Thanks so much alaricljs!

[SmallFry]

The joints look a little close. You may want to take a multimeter to them before you fire it up. Also, to practice I've heard that old alarm clocks/junked electronics are good to practice desoldering and resoldering the solder joints. I learned since my dad is an electrical engineer, so I get to use his iron. Nice piece of equipment that I get to use.

[alaricljs]

Yeah the solder pools around each pin should be smaller.  Very likely that you used too large of a tip on your iron.

[SmallFry]

Yeah the solder pools around each pin should be smaller.  Very likely that you used too large of a tip on your iron.

Radio shack iron for him! LOL! (Actually, not sure but that seems to be about the tip size.)

[tgujay]

Yeah the solder pools around each pin should be smaller.  Very likely that you used too large of a tip on your iron.

Radio shack iron for him! LOL! (Actually, not sure but that seems to be about the tip size.)

Nope, ACO.

[__red__]

They do look close, I'd check them.  When soldering, usually you need less solder than you think.  Your solder joints looks like tents (good), not balls (bad).

[tgujay]

I guess I should clarify I only resoldered the top two by the edge, the rest is how it came from newegg.

[bpiphany]

I would say that the size of the tip isn't too critical as long as you can actually get it to touch the solder area without touching too many other things. The ideal is a tip the same width as the solder pad though. Bridging likely happens due to too much solder rather than a too large tip. Just check out some videos of drag soldering, or just point soldering several leads on a SMD chip at a time.

[__red__]

MY advice to someone starting out:

• Use Leaded Solder - It has the lowest melting point and frankly just behaves a whole lot better than unleaded.
• Use Fluxed Solder - If I had a dollar for every time I've cleaned up or repaired someone elses projects due to dry-joints I'd retire.  If you don't use flux then solder will stick more to your iron than what you're trying to solder.  Then there is a temptation to effectively "scrape" it off the iron and onto the joint or use so much solder that it falls off the iron and onto the board.  Google "Dry Joints" as to why this is bad
• Learn on professional boards - The difference between professional boards and home-made boards is solder-mask.  Oh boy is solder-mask your friend.  Soldermask is like pressing the "Easy Button" when soldering.  You started Guitar-Hero on Easy, you should start your soldering skills the same way.
• Use the THINNEST Solder you  can find - Believe it or not, the less solder you use typically the better joint you have.  The thinner the solder, the easier it is to control how much solder you are applying.
• Don't EVER feed solder onto your iron.  Use the iron to heat the PCB and pin together and feed the solder the opposite side at the joint.

Also, don't inhale 

[alaricljs]

6. Do have a little solder on the tip to aid heat transfer, sometimes it's easiest to add it while you're on the lead since then you know where you need it.  Then switch to doing #5.