learning to solder

[Killerwatts]

apologies if this is in the wrong spot.

as the title says, i'm looking to learn soldering. Now don't get me wrong - i've soldered before. I took my electronics courses in high school, and even did a work placement where i did some soldering with magnifying lenses. 

What i'm trying to say is that back then, i could probably have worked on an Atari no problem. 

What i'm also trying to say is that high school was a few (be nice! ;)) years ago, and am no longer confident.

Is there a kit/project/course something i could get into to practice my skills, and maybe have some fun along the way?

I've got access to dead electronics to practice some things on, but uh, they're dead, so i'll have no idea if i've done well or not...

Thanks for your help!

[+Stephen Moss]

If you put "Electronic project kit" in to a search engine or Amazon you should get results for various small simple projects like this, which will give you plenty of solder joints and different types of component to practice on and are usually cheap enough that is does not matter too much if have to throw it away if you made a big mess of it. 

[+H454]

https://www.jameco.com/c/Electronic-Kits-Projects.html

[Keatah]

I like the radio and siren kits from:

https://shop.elenco.com/consumers/brands/elenco.html?filter_by=60

..They're but a few of many practice kits available. You can download and read the manual for some tips straight away.

 

On 1/16/2023 at 12:02 PM, Killerwatts said:

I've got access to dead electronics to practice some things on, but uh, they're dead, so i'll have no idea if i've done well or not...

Soldering for hobby projects and classic gaming/computing is a very visual thing. All you essentially need to do is is get a shiny clean connection with good solder flow and you're guaranteed a solid electrical connection. Photos of your solder work can be uploaded here for critiquing. It'll be easy for us to see things like cleanliness, good flow, not enough heat, not enough flux, too much solder, not enough solder, and all that.

 

Most common problem that needs fixing in this hobby is cold/cracked solder joints. All the banging around connections and controllers and cartridges experience - those are the soldering issues that come up most often I suppose.

[NE146]

My kid had to do this at school and now he's pretty good at soldering now due to the sheer amount of points to practice on (he says it's obvious which points are his earlier ones  ) . I'm not sure exactly where the best place to buy it though.. e.g. https://www.amazon.com/WELLVEUS-Electronic-Flashing-Soldering-Practice/dp/B08YCY439Q but that's a pack of 10. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 18 by NE146

[NE146]

Ok found it.. they're labelled "soldering practice kits"

 

https://gikfun.com/collections/frontpage

[Killerwatts]

so, thanks everyone that's chimed in. I did take a google/amazon, and found a few things, but strangely... none of these results.

@Keatah if this group is willing to critique, i will absolutely take you up on that.

@NE146 these are *exactly* what i was hoping for. enough small (but not too small) connections to make, and some flashing lights when i'm done.

 

Thanks again everyone, and apologies for when i start posting pictures.

[DragonFire]

I agree that little test kits are the best way to practice soldering. Low-cost, low-risk. And you’ll quickly learn what a good solder joint looks and feels like. 

For the generic Chinese soldering kits (the ones with no brand name) you can find them much cheaper on AliExpress and eBay compared to Amazon, but they’ll also take a few weeks to arrive instead of a few days, so it’s a trade-off. 
 

Dead electronics are the best way to practice removing chips, capacitors, and other components. You’ll know if you did a good job by checking to see how much damage you did to the component and/or circuit board in the process. You WILL do damage while practicing, and thats fine because it will help you learn what *not* to do in the future. As others have said, you’ll be able to learn a lot by just looking at your work and learning what to look for, even when you’re working on broken stuff. 
 

I also suggest buying a cheap multimeter if you don’t have one. The continuity test is invaluable for finding shorts, and the other modes will be very useful as you learn more about electronics. 

[Tanooki]

See now there's one thing I've had been utterly clueless how to properly turn the nob to to really test stuff, the multimeter.  I mean yeah there's videos, they don't seem to help, so I kind of just spin the damn thing around until I get some kind of response, then go hunting for where I don't or get one both sides of whatever to indicate a short which I know isn't right.

 

My equipment sucks too, but it's beyond those kits.  I have a cheap wheel controlled temp style basic iron, I don't do anything near qualifying needing more that gets into the near/over/well over $100 mark.  I think I'm using though utterly garbage flux and probably wick too.  I've had some issues getting basic, very basic stuff to attach such as scraping a space to get a clean bit of trace to do a bypass or like the 161in1 MVS cart scraping spot and via to apply a surface cap.  I can't seem to ever get the damn things to stick, ever, outside of what appears to be dumb luck.  My only guess is this chaw like sized tube of flux paste is crap, and my cheap radio shack before it failed small spool of wick isn't doing much to help either.  More often than not it doesn't seem to draw much, usually heating a spot and using a click sucker has better effect which seems wrong to me.  I see these videos online and most seem to use some generic large syringe of liquid flux and shit glues down like it was meant to be there all along, I never see this... or in reverse their wick is a simple heat and tap/swipe and poof...clear pad.  It drives me nuts as I can do quite a bit of the basic and some moderate stuff, but that battle sucks.

 

I'm sure a few here may recall I've done my fair share of gameboy family of handhelds mods/upgrades, battery work on whatever carts, the shit tengen to sega pcb chip transplants to fix dead games (Grind Stormer), and even the delicate virtual boy ribbon solder upgrade/repair fix (which I may be attempting again shortly possibly.)

[Keatah]

4 hours ago, Tanooki said:

See now there's one thing I've had been utterly clueless how to properly turn the nob to to really test stuff, the multimeter.

You just didn't find the right tutorial that fits you, yet. I did the same thing with O'scopes. Spin the knobs till I got something that looked like something. Then I learned. Now I'm a master.

[+Stephen Moss]

5 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I think I'm using though utterly garbage flux and probably wick too.  I've had some issues getting basic, very basic stuff to attach

 

5 hours ago, Tanooki said:

My only guess is this chaw like sized tube of flux paste is crap

I see this a lot in posts, generally from those is the US, but I don't understand why you seem to use a separate flux. Don't you have multicore solder over there with the flux built in?

 

Other issues are the type of flux, your would think that high activation flux would work better but it is almost the opposite way round, mid/low activation seem to work better, at least for electronics, I don't think the irons really get hot enough for high activation flux. I would suggest using a 105 flux, it make the solder flow well.

 

Then there is the solder itself, leaded melts at much lower temperatures than unleaded, if memory serves leaded is 230-260 and unleaded is 320 for soldering and 360 for de-soldering, so if using unleaded you iron may not begetting hot enough.  60/40 leaded is certainly cheaper, most people generally find it easier to work with, it is better for repairing old equipment as you really should mix leaded and unleaded on a joint, or in new equipment where you cannot use leaded to repair equipment assembled with unleaded.

If you are not soldering often then the health risks of leaded solder are relatively low, but using a fume extractor and wearing rubber gloves will minimise it.

 

5 hours ago, Tanooki said:

See now there's one thing I've had been utterly clueless how to properly turn the nob to to really test stuff, the multimeter.

Find an on line manual, it does not matter if it is not for your specific meter they are all generally the same, with the same markings identifying the resistance, voltage and current functions that all meter have and measuring resistance, voltage, current & continuity will be the same. 

 

[Tanooki]

@Stephen Moss  I see this a lot in posts, generally from those is the US, but I don't understand why you seem to use a separate flux. Don't you have multicore solder over there with the flux built in?

-- Maybe?  I've never looked, I just have what I picked up as I kind of said, it's just what I have.  Getting supplies is now annoyingly an online thing since Radio Shack stupidly folded, before I could go 2min up the road to one near by and I'd go look.  A few examples I was thinking of were actually brits using a syringe of flux liquid.  I've got some generic rosin flux paste.  SRA brand Flux #135.  The radio shack flux i have is 60/40 rosin core solder as it is.  Generic radio shack desoldering braid no identifier other than  64-2090E.  My basic iron heat wheel goes to a max of 450C.

 

The multimeter is so utterly chinese cheap generic I got from an indoor flea some years back that is on during holidays it has no manual, not even online which surprised me.