What solder gun /kit do you recommend for a beginner?

[icemanxp300]

Want something decent but not bank breaking. Thinking of doing something simple like the tactile switch mod for the 2600 sticks. The board is pretty good size and doesn't look too complicated, looks doable. What do you suggest?

[Rex Dart]

Honestly, can't go wrong with wrong with a cheapo radio shack iron, and make sure you get a decent stand.

Wattage for the iron is important, but not too specific. 20-30W is good. People like to recommend 15W irons, but I find that's just not hot enough. Radio Shack also sells (sold?) a model with a 15W/30W switch on it.

 

I have a fancier Weller (that's the brand) soldering iron, but I find myself using ol' cheapo more often.

[+frankodragon]

I like one like the Weller mentioned above. I also prefer one that you can swap/replace tips. Otherwise you may want to have one to use and another for a backup. I bought an iron just recently at the Home Dept though 40W-is that too hot?

http://www.homedepot...51#.UDbsDaDdc1c

[icemanxp300]

I remember looking them over at Radio shack and when I was looking they had a few diff. kinds. Different tips and what not and diff. powers. What kind of power and tips would I want?

 

edit: how about solder and does this require flux? I use to do hvac and have copper soldering experience but not this.

Edited August 24, 2012 by icemanxp300

[RodLightning]

I remember looking them over at Radio shack and when I was looking they had a few diff. kinds. Different tips and what not and diff. powers. What kind of power and tips would I want?

 

edit: how about solder and does this require flux? I use to do hvac and have copper soldering experience but not this.

 

Solder flux/paste/rosen is a what I use for most connections. It makes all the difference when trying to get the solder to flow where you want. I agree with Rex about 15 watt being too low. For me personally, a 30 watt iron does the job. I still frequently use the Radio Shack 30w I bought decades ago. As for tips, whatever suits the job I guess. I tend to use a fine point most of the time. Taking a metal file and sharpening an old tip saves time and money down the line.

 

For quick repairs, I used a butane powered iron from Radio Shack, Catalog #: 64-2188 for several years before it developed a dangerous gas leak. I loved that thing until it began spewing random fire balls out of the adjustment valve! I have one from Lowe's hardware store presently which I like much less.

 

Butane irons tend to spoil you because they can be unpacked from the tool box and ready to use in seconds instead of minutes waiting on an electric iron.

Edited August 24, 2012 by RodLightning

[icemanxp300]

Awesome thanks guys. I'll post what I grab. Maybe I can make some cool mods.

[Rex Dart]

Yeah, definitely get some flux. I've bought it in several forms... toothpaste-style tube, a tub, and a pen. Tube style was my favorite, but I can't find it anymore, and the pen type is growing on me now.

[jlanier]

My 2 cents: If you are learning to solder, and you want to work on ICs, I would not recommend starting with a 30-watt iron. That might be OK for soldering old-school tube gear and point-to-point electronics, which typically need more heat, but 30 watts with a blunt tip is enough to easily damage and lift PCB traces if you are not careful. An experienced solderer would have no problems with 30W on IC work but you have to work faster and know what you're doing. The safest bet is always a temperature controlled iron regardless of skill level, but if you want a cheap iron for IC work and aren't ready to shell out the $$$ for a temp controlled iron, this would be a much more appropriate choice for IC work: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062728&numProdsPerPage=60 15W will be much less likely to fry the board, will allow you to work slower to learn, and it is a grounded iron intended for use with ICs. You can easily zap CMOS chips by using the wrong type of iron; a grounded iron is always the best bet for delicate IC work. It's also $2 cheaper than the 30-watt iron.

 

I would also highly recommend not starting out by working on anything you actually want to keep. Learning to solder takes practice; you should start by finding some broken/throwaway PCBs of similar type to what you plan to work on and practice on that until you feel confident enough to work on real gear. A common mistake is overheating joints causing the traces to lift off the PC board. Practice will let you know how long to apply the heat to get a good connection. Like the previous posters recommend, flux is essential. Using just flux core solder works great for quick work once you've learned to solder, but in the beginning you should definitely have extra flux nearby. See, once the flux burns out of the flux-core solder, you will only get cold joints; a common beginner mistake is to keep heating the joint hoping for a shiny connection when you won't ever get one once the flux has evaporated, and then you burn the trace up. Flux is essential for a proper joint, and you almost can't use too much flux; you can always clean off any extra that remains when you're done. If you put too much solder on, you'll probably want a desoldering bulb and/or some desoldering wick to help remove solder when you've overdone it. Extra flux is also essential when desoldering; it helps wet the solder so that it is more easily absorbed by the wick or the bulb.

 

Make sure also that you are properly grounded when working with boards and ICs using a grounding wrist strap or similar device. Again, you can easily zap CMOS chips just by touching them with static electricity. Most older chips in game systems are NMOS and are more durable than CMOS, but even NMOS chips can be zapped. Better safe than sorry.

[Rex Dart]

^ All good tips, except that you linked to the exact iron that I've had trouble with. I just cannot get it to heat up big blobs of solder.

Maybe I shouldn't be using it to move/remove components, and maybe it's fine for only adding tiny components and tiny wires to a board, but it just doesn't have enough power for general use in my experience. Paying attention to grounded plugs/irons is a great tip though.

[icemanxp300]

Thanks guys, I ended up getting this while I was out today(pic below). Hopefully it will work. My beginner project or what seems like it shouldn't be too hard is for me to do this atari controller mod.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cRIFhsMSTU&feature=my_watch_later_videos&list=WLCAF76F0BC0F4C619

 

It's seems straight forward and I have plenty of room on the board to make the connection. My plastic inside the controller is broke so the stick needs repair anyhow and besides the controllers are cheap, so if I kill it no biggie.

 

How are these tactile switches? Imean 50 for $3 are they even good lol?

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 180772324438

 

Heres what I grabbed today. I got thin solder as it just made sense that it would work better. It is .032 60/40 rosin core, is that ok?

 

[Rex Dart]

I have all of those exact products, hah. Yeah, thin rosin-core solder is good. Especially with A) low heat irons and B) small components like those switches.

[icemanxp300]

Nice. I watched a few videos on soldering circuits and overall it doesn't seem much different than doing copper pipe soldering. You clean parts (well I don't know if it matters here), add flux, add heat on backside, add solder to front side and let it pull around. Removed heat and let it flow and then you are done. Sound right?

 

Do you think those tactile switchesd are good? 50 for $3 almost seems like they are cheap, but maybe they are just cheap to make to begin with?

[+frankodragon]

Best is to practice on some old electronic board you don't use just to build confidence like mentioned above. I know what it's like to be nervous when soldering with delicate electronics. You do have to clean the area to be soldered otherwise the solder won't adhere. Here's another video to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPLD3fYfEYc

[icemanxp300]

All good stuff, was just doing some more research while I'm waiting 3 weeks for these switches to come on. I just watched a video that seems very important and I wouldn't have know otherwise. Well actually more like 3 videos, apparantly you need to tin a soldering iron immediatley and after you are done using it you need to clean it and tin it again before storing it.

 

You guys have any other usefull tips and stuff like this I should know about? Honestly if I had not watched these videos I would have turned it on waited tll it was hot and just tried to solder with it, destroying the tip in the process.

 

[Asaki]

I was just going to say, tinning is pretty important.

 

When I first started soldering, I figured it couldn't hurt that much, and never bothered to tin...that tip didn't last very long.

 

My Radio Shack stand didn't even come with the sponge, I had to make my own. And I agree, I have the 15/30 switchable model, and I can never get 15w to melt anything.

[jlanier]

Tinning is important; you should not only clean and tin before and after your session, but during as well. Using a copper sponge works quickly, you can get soldering holders that have a cup for the sponge. Regular sponges can also work well but have to be moistened.

 

Make sure to inspect your tip before starting. Over time it will corrode.

 

Regarding 15W irons being too weak, I would concede that they might not work well for desoldering commercially assembled PCBs. I've never had problems soldering new IC projects using 60/40 or 63/37 solder with a 15W iron, but some commercial solders with higher melting points would not work with a 15W iron. They may not even work with a 30W iron; watts is not the same as temperature, which is why temp controlled stations are always desirable.

 

Regarding your choice of solder, 60/40 is OK, but for new work I would always recommend 63/37 (assuming we're talking tin/lead). This is also called 'eutectic' solder, because it is an ideal ratio for a perfect melting point for the alloy. 60/40 has been used for decades, but it was eventually discovered that 60/40 can suffer from joint degradation over many years, I.e. good joints become bad spontaneously. 63/37 is stable and doesn't have this problem; it's about the same price so there's really no reason to use 60/40. It's OK to resolder a fully cleaned joint with either, but it's generally not a good idea to mix alloys, so if you are working on old equipment it is reasonable to use 60/40 if you expect to be working on large areas where you might expect to reflow the solder. There's no guarantee exactly what alloy would be used during manufacturing; as I said above, some high temp solders may have been used. So as a general rule, it is best to thoroughly desolder, re-tin and clean all surfaces you are soldering to ensure the best possible results.

[Keatah]

Good choice in a basic kit. If you decide to make a career out of soldering, you can always upgrade to Ungar, Weller, or Metcal.

 

In 1977 I got basically the same stuff. The only difference is the packaging. I also got an -->ARCHER--> soldering iron handle that accepts different wattage screw-in elements and tips. Still have it today, and it works! But I use it lightly and do only a few small projects a year now.

 

Surprisingly I use this shit more than my Metcal re-work lab, believe it or not!

[icemanxp300]

Interesting about the solder. I know w/HVAC (which is a whole diff. ballgame) there is diff. solder as well 50/50 which is used for like boiler systems. Then there is silver solder which is required to be used by law for soldering lines that will have drinking water flowing through them. They don't want lead solder being used for drinking water lines. Just a fun tip if you do any home repair.

 

Anyhow silver solder melts faster and flows a whole heck of a lot better. It just sucks in nice and easy compared to the 50/50 but cost alot more. I would guess since it is "softer" and has a lower melting point. Anyhow I would think this same concept would apply to the 63/37 solder. A softer solder melts faster and is more malleable than the 60/40.

 

I'll go back and see what they got but when I was looking my choice was made simple becasue they didn't have choices lol. It was all 60/40 but diff thicknesses. I'm not gonna "sweat" it lol if they don't have the 63/37

 

As far as tinning this bad boy would I want to dip this tip into the flux before I turn it on and just hold the solder to the end until it starts taking it? Once it does take it should I clean it off and do it again?

[jlanier]

You can dip the tip in flux, it will make it a bit easier to tin. But if you are using flux core solder you can generally tin the tip with what is already in the solder if you like. On a new tip it's probably better to dip in flux unless the tip is already pre-tinned, because the first tin is a bit more difficult. Just make sure to apply enough solder to coat a bit more than the working part of the tip, at least 1/4 inch all the way around. This will probably take multiple passes, so don't feel you have to tin the whole tip on the first application of solder. Wipe on the sponge to remove the excess and repeat as many times as needed to get the tip fully tinned.

 

Don't worry to much about 60/40 vs 63/37, I just mentioned it because if you have the option the 63/37 is preferred. I think Radio Shack only sells 63/37 mail order, which makes no sense to me, but if you have a Fry's nearby, they sell both, plus silver and lead-free alloys as well as an ultra-low temp beryllium alloy used for desoldering surface mount parts.

 

The solder used for plumbing and other applications is often specifically non-eutectic. Non-eutectic solder has multiple melting points, at least one to go from solid to paste and at least one more to go from paste to liquid. Plumbers can use the paste state to do a 'wet-wipe', where they can smear the paste into cracks to ensure a solid joint. For electronics, the paste state is undesirable because it can form bad joints unless you hold everything perfectly still while cooling. 60/40 has a short paste state but isn't usually a problem when flux is used properly. 63/37 has no paste state, so it is a bit easier to work with because it only goes directly between liquid and solid. It also makes longer-lasting joints. But like I said, it isn't that big a deal; if 60/40 were horrible it wouldn't have been used for decades.

[jlanier]

Oh yeah, one more point worth mentioning: Never, ever use acid core solder or acid-based flux on electronics. If you do, you will ruin your gear; the flux will corrode traces and parts. Stick to flux certified for use with electronics.

[icemanxp300]

Thanks everyone. I think I'm polly just gonna take an old ps1 board (since I have like 4 that have bad lasers) and just start playing until I get my switches in. Maybe solder some wires on board and what not. Get a feel for everything.

[+frankodragon]

Make sure you also use adequate ventilation and take care the iron will be very hot- about 700-900 degrees F. Take care that any flying/dripping solder doesn't land on your skin. Once I had some melted solder drip down into my shoe (I had no socks on) and that didn't feel too good. I even heard of a guy who accidentally licked the soldering tip while it was still hot.

[icemanxp300]

OK guys I think I did pretty good here. I dipped solder end into flux and dipped solder tip into flux, then when it got hot it sucked it around pretty nice. I wiped it off and did it again. Wiped it off and left a blob on it and shut it off. (just playing around). Looked very shiny like it tinned nicely.

 

Then I stripped a wire and "tinned the wire". I dipped wire in flux and let it draw solder off end of iron tip. Then I fluxed solder wire again and touched wire to spot on board to get some flux on board. I circled an identical contact point to show what I soldered to. I then drew a very tiny amount of solder onto the iron tip and put wire on contact spot and then place iron on top of wire to draw solder through wire onto board.

 

It stuck good at least it is very tight to me and no mess. What you think? Since it was so small I didnt hold the solder wire there as I don't think I needed a lot of solder, thats why I just drew it off the tip of the iron.

 

[icemanxp300]

Just a side note that wire is strong enough I can pick the entire board up just by that wire joint.

[icemanxp300]

Hmmm. Looks like my method was common mistake lol. According to this video you shouldn't tin a wire by tip alone. It flows better to use the solder and tip. I have also watched a few videos and you should tin both contacts before joining them.

 

Don't mind me I'm just documenting all my findings lol. I would edit post, but that option disappears after a certain amount of time.