How to solder

The greatest enemy of good soldering is a corroded tip. The hot tip will corrode very quickly. You must always keep it clean and tinned, and switch the iron off if you are not using it. Even if for a minute. We all know how one minute becomes ten.

Generally you should need no more than 390 degC for soldering. Clean the tip after every single soldering joint. Put tin on the tip immediately after cleaning it. Put more tin if you are going to switch off the soldering iron.

The Weller soldering stations are more accurate with the temperature. The RS one needs some more time to warm up, even after the indicators says it is good to go. (Just 30-60 seconds more.)

Do not turn on the soldering iron and then "go do something while it is warming up". You will fuck up the tip.

Cleaning the tip

You can use either the wet sponge or the brass wool. The brass wool is better, because it does not get all the tin off, and therefore it allows for somewhat longer tip life. Use the one you prefer.

The sponge needs to be wetted before turning on the machine for the first time. Squeeze the water out as much as you can! It must not be dripping wet, just moist. If the sponge is shitty, throw it, we keep replacement sponges on stock.

The brass wool needs to be 'shaken out' at the end of the day, and turned around if it is getting 'too used'. If the whole wool is full of bits of solder, it must be replaced. We keep replacement brass wool on stock. Do not use steel wool as replacement, it will scratch and fuck up the tip.

If the solder is not wetting the tip of the iron as it should, despite all the cleaning, it is probably gone and needs to be replaced. We keep replacement tips on stock. Make sure the iron is cold before you swap the tip.

Joining two wires together

Lose the attitude - soldering two wires together well is not as easy as it seems. Give it attention.

• Strip each end, 3-4mm
• Tin each end
  • Place the wire in the holder while you do it
  • Heat the exposed copper from one side
  • Add a little bit of tin where they touch so that the heat transfer can begin
  • Add tin from the opposite side until the exposed part is 'filled' with tin
  • Do not overdo it! No need to make a blob.
• Slide a heatshrink over one of the wires
• Solder the two ends together
  • Hold one wire in the holder
  • Hold the other one in your gloved hand
  • Hold the two exposed tinned parts perfectly parallel and touching
  • Touch the iron to both of them, and add some more tin at the same time
  • If you see that the tin melted on both wires and formed a single big blob encompassing both - remove the iron, but keep holding!!
  • When the tin gets less shiny, it is solid, you may release the wire
• Slide the heat shrink over the joint, and shrink it on