atari2600land's Blog

Butane?

The packaging for the soldering iron says it needs butane.

Is it a wireless iron? Sounds like you got the wrong tool.

It's a wireless soldering iron. The package says "soldering iron" on it, so I got it.

Is yours something like this?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CNIKG6/

 

Typically, for occasional small electronics work, you'd get something like this (this is at the low-end, but would be fine for simple repairs):

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01712N5C4/

 

Best way to practice is to get some old broken piece of gear (an old radio for example), and just practice soldering and de-soldering the wires and components on it. Not to actually repair it, but just to get used to doing it.

 

You should watch this:

 

 

This is soldering to kind of an extreme level:

 

 

Soldering is pretty fun, if you have some project to work on with it. I used to solder at work all the time. Not so much though, now.

First thing is make sure the area to be soldered is cleaned. Then the trick is to heat the area to be soldered, not the solder itself, though I've done that many times. Then you have to let the solder flow onto the area. It does take time to get used to it, though. And don't use a sponge to clean off the iron tip. Instead, use a steel scouring pad inside an old soup can to clean off the tip.