Soldering Tips & Tricks 2021

[Greywolf74]

GREY thanks for a correct solder video seen a toon of very bad 1's...by far the best ..

NP, glad you liked it.

 

[olds97_lss]

I wonder if it can be used with a wide chisel tip. Also Amazon says you can control the temperature but I dont see how.

The one @WickedFog showed in the photo has a dial down at the base of the handle. You could also use an external rheostat like the one I posted in your other thread with the 100W iron. I use that for both my 60W and 100W. My cheap 60W has a little dial on it, but I set it to max, then wrapped tape around it and rely on the external one.

The solder I have is old kester Sn60Pb40 "44" rosin core .031" diameter 1lb roll I got from work 20 years ago. We used to replace chips on circuit boards for scanner guns and I worked on old credit card embossing machines (that were the size of a lay down freezer and weight 500lbs). Have had the same roll for years and I know what you mean about needing 2 feet of it to just solder an XT90! I hand my wife the end of the wire and the spool, then I back up 15 feet or so, put the wire in a drill, then spin it as I slowly walk towards her. Then I end up with 13-14 feet of 2 wire braid that I wrap up in a spool. That usually gets me by for a few months.

This stuff worked great for soldering the lipo tabs when I was building 4S and 6S packs out of old packs I had:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010UMSB9Y

Ruined my 100W iron tip though... so I bought a new one for it to use for regular solder and kept the old one for the aluminum stuff. I know it's bad to do, but after I cleaned all the black off of it the aluminum flux stuff left all over it with sandpaper, it still soldered the aluminum stuff just fine.

 

[Jerold]

Great video. I see so many hacks out there, myself included. Soldering takes time, patience and practice.

I like the solder block (connector holder thingy). I don't solder that much stuff so I still have the "helping hands" which is like next to useless sometimes.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[olds97_lss]

I still have the "helping hands" which is like next to useless sometimes.

I have those things too... most of the time, it feels kind of like

Then there's the one time it helps immensely...

 

[Greywolf74]

The one @WickedFog showed in the photo has a dial down at the base of the handle. You could also use an external rheostat like the one I posted in your other thread with the 100W iron. I use that for both my 60W and 100W. My cheap 60W has a little dial on it, but I set it to max, then wrapped tape around it and rely on the external one.

The solder I have is old kester Sn60Pb40 "44" rosin core .031" diameter 1lb roll I got from work 20 years ago. We used to replace chips on circuit boards for scanner guns and I worked on old credit card embossing machines (that were the size of a lay down freezer and weight 500lbs). Have had the same roll for years and I know what you mean about needing 2 feet of it to just solder an XT90! I hand my wife the end of the wire and the spool, then I back up 15 feet or so, put the wire in a drill, then spin it as I slowly walk towards her. Then I end up with 13-14 feet of 2 wire braid that I wrap up in a spool. That usually gets me by for a few months.

This stuff worked great for soldering the lipo tabs when I was building 4S and 6S packs out of old packs I had:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010UMSB9Y

Ruined my 100W iron tip though... so I bought a new one for it to use for regular solder and kept the old one for the aluminum stuff. I know it's bad to do, but after I cleaned all the black off of it the aluminum flux stuff left all over it with sandpaper, it still soldered the aluminum stuff just fine.

I didnt realize the rheostat you showed was a stand alone unit. I just kind of assumed it came with the iron but good to know.

I have that kit saved in my amazon favorites in case I ever need it to fix a lipo. So far I havent run in to that issue but then again its not like I do a lot of soldering on lipos.

I also do that drill trick with the .02in (.5mm) solder I have. I should finish using it up but I have like 1.5 1lb rolls of it left from 10 years ago. That being said I started using .03in (.8mm) and thats easier to work with most of the time unless its something really small. I have some .6mm but might as well use at least .8mm imo. I did just order some .047in (1.2mm) solder to try and see if thats even easier to work with or if I find it to much. We shall see.

I read that about the tips. Once you use aluminum with one its only good for aluminum after that.

Great video. I see so many hacks out there, myself included. Soldering takes time, patience and practice.

I like the solder block (connector holder thingy). I don't solder that much stuff so I still have the "helping hands" which is like next to useless sometimes.

Thanks for sharing!

Helping hands can be really handy in certain situations but depends on what kind of helping hands you have and what you are trying to do with them. I have numerous soldering jigs (both store bought and home made) and various sets of helping hands. I find that most of them are only good for 1 or 2 particular tasks which is why I have so many different ones. I have certain ones I use for certain things but I think my all time favorite (or at least the one I get the most use out of is THIS one from Progressive RC. You can even order more arms for it separately in case one breaks or you just want more of them. One thing about them though I found after awhile those little screws that hold the claw part onto the arm get loose and dont want to stay tight. Put some redlock tight on them or solder the two pieces together and you wont have any problems with it getting loose. Also I found if you take and shrink about 3 pieces of heat shrink around the teeth on the hands it will fill in most of the void in the teeth thereby minimizing how much the teeth will cut into what its holding so it doesn't shred your wire casing.