Inspect my soldering work

[jameslr]

Noob at soldering here. Can someone with some experience let me know how I'm doing so far. This is my first soldering job, and I just de-soldered the Function row on my Filco TKL and put MX Clears on it. Here is an image of my work so far:



Does everything look ok?

[heedpantsnow]

Looks good to me, but I'm no expert. Maybe clean up the flux if you want.

[CPTBadAss]

The right leg on F6 and F7 look like they might be cold joints. They don't look like the nice round dome you have in like F8. Other than that concern, looks pretty good

[HoffmanMyster]

Those solder joints will be functionally sound, so from that perspective they are fine.

If you want to improve, I would recommend using less solder on the switch leads.  IMO, the one two from the left is the best.  You typically want that concave look.  If it's bulging, you could use less solder for a cleaner joint.  If you had really dull looking bulges that didn't connect well with the PCB, they would be cold solder joints.  Those are what you definitely want to avoid, and should fix immediately.  In every case I can think of, too much solder isn't necessarily *bad*, it's just excessive.

Also, it's hard to get a good look at the diode joints, but they look like they could maybe use more solder.  Perhaps someone can weigh in further.  I think they will perform fine, but it would probably be a better joint with more solder, IMO.

That sounds rather critical, but for a new solderer, these are pretty good.  You will learn as you go on and improve, but these are solid. 

And now CPTBadAss has responded that F6 and F7 might be cold.  I can see why they might be, but I think they could also be just excessive solder.

[jameslr]

The right leg on F6 and F7 look like they might be cold joints. They don't look like the nice round dome you have in like F8. Other than that concern, looks pretty good

Ok I'll reflow those two legs. Thanks!

[CPTBadAss]

Just to echo what Hoff said, I'm just being hyper critical so you get some nice feedback. Honestly, they're probably functional and that's what really matters. Nice job

[jameslr]

Just to echo what Hoff said, I'm just being hyper critical so you get some nice feedback. Honestly, they're probably functional and that's what really matters. Nice job

Yeah I definitely appreciate the feedback. I think you were right though. I reflowed the right leg on F6 and a gap appeared. I desoldered and resoldered it so it was more concave. I also re-soldered the left leg on F8 cuz it was dull looking.

[dorkvader]

Those solder joints will be functionally sound, so from that perspective they are fine.

If you want to improve, I would recommend using less solder on the switch leads.  IMO, the one two from the left is the best.  You typically want that concave look.  If it's bulging, you could use less solder for a cleaner joint.  If you had really dull looking bulges that didn't connect well with the PCB, they would be cold solder joints.  Those are what you definitely want to avoid, and should fix immediately.  In every case I can think of, too much solder isn't necessarily *bad*, it's just excessive.

Also, it's hard to get a good look at the diode joints, but they look like they could maybe use more solder.  Perhaps someone can weigh in further.  I think they will perform fine, but it would probably be a better joint with more solder, IMO.

That sounds rather critical, but for a new solderer, these are pretty good.  You will learn as you go on and improve, but these are solid. 

And now CPTBadAss has responded that F6 and F7 might be cold.  I can see why they might be, but I think they could also be just excessive solder.

Those diodes look like they were soldere4d that way form the factory (likely with lead-free solder.

For a newbie, those joints look above average: congrats!

I would like to agree with the above: you might want to reflow the solder on the "cold-looking" ones. You can also use the iron to pick up a little extra solder sometimes. If not, that's OK, but I recommend cleaning the tip on a soldering sponge, then reflowing the joint, then cleaning again.

The right leg of F7, F8 look great, and I would try to get all the joints to look about like that. You will quickly improve.

about the gap: it sorta looks like you're getting good heat on the lead, but not enough on the pad. This may-or-may-not be the case, but you might want to try a slightly different angle. I'm just basing this on how some joints (like left on F5) sorta curve up away from the PCB, though this could just be from having a little excess solder on there.

Finally, if you have a DMM (or a battery & LED), you might want to continuity check the joints just to be sure. Can't hurt.

[jameslr]

Those diodes look like they were soldere4d that way form the factory (likely with lead-free solder.

For a newbie, those joints look above average: congrats!

I would like to agree with the above: you might want to reflow the solder on the "cold-looking" ones. You can also use the iron to pick up a little extra solder sometimes. If not, that's OK, but I recommend cleaning the tip on a soldering sponge, then reflowing the joint, then cleaning again.

The right leg of F7, F8 look great, and I would try to get all the joints to look about like that. You will quickly improve.

about the gap: it sorta looks like you're getting good heat on the lead, but not enough on the pad. This may-or-may-not be the case, but you might want to try a slightly different angle. I'm just basing this on how some joints (like left on F5) sorta curve up away from the PCB, though this could just be from having a little excess solder on there.

Finally, if you have a DMM (or a battery & LED), you might want to continuity check the joints just to be sure. Can't hurt.

Thanks for the great feedback, and I appreciate the praise. I made sure to practice on my techkeys business card before starting on something of significant value. My biggest problem so far has been with desoldering. I can't seem to get the wick to work properly so I have just been tinning the tip and reflowing the solder (lead free is a *****). I keep using the desoldering pump until I can get it clean enough to pry the switch out with a jewelers screwdriver without applying much force. On a couple of the early function key switch removals some of the copper came out of the inside of the through-holes (pad still intact though). I'm guessing this was due to not getting all of the solder out of the hole.

[mkawa]

leftmost joint is bad/cold joint. shiny! you want shiny joints!

[exitfire401]

Looks good, except for the one kawa pointed out. Hell, I'm still surprised my Race came out fully functional by the time I was done with it haha.