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Soldering
is a delicate manual skill which only comes with practice. Remember that
your ability to solder effectively will determine directly how well the
prototype or product functions during its
lifespan. Poor
soldering can be an expensive business - causing product failure and downtime,
engineer's maintenance time and customer dissatisfaction. At hobbyist level,
bad soldering technique can be a cause of major disappointment which damages
your confidence. It needn't be like that: soldering is really easy to learn,
and like learning to ride a bike, once mastered is never forgotten! These
ten photos illustrate the basic steps in making a perfect solder joint
on a PCB. If you're a beginner, our advice is that it's best to practice
your soldering technique using some clean, new parts with perhaps some
new stripboard (protoboard). Be sure to avoid using old, dirty parts; these
can be difficult if not impossible to solder. |
Enjoy!
-- Alan Winstanley.
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![Your board must be clean before you start](images/image1.jpg) |
Boards
must be clean to begin with, especially if they're not previously "tinned"
with solder. Clean the copper tracks using e.g. an abrasive rubber block. |
Clean
the iron "bit" (tip) using a damp sponge. The iron featured here is an
Ungar Concept 2100 Soldering Station. |
![Clean the tip of the soldering iron](images/image2.jpg) |
![A useful product is Tip Tinner Cleaner](images/image3.jpg) |
A
useful product is
Multicore's Tip Tinner Cleaner (TTC) - a 15 gramme tin
of special paste which cleans and "tins" the iron, in one go. |
Insert
the components and splay the leads so that the part is held in place. |
![Insert the components and splay the leads](images/image4.jpg) |
![You may cut the wires before soldering](images/image5.jpg) |
It's
usually best to snip the wires to length prior to soldering. This helps
prevent transmitting mechanical shocks to the copper foil. |
Apply
a clean iron tip to the copper and the lead, in order to heat both items
at the same time. |
![Apply the iron to the joint](images/image6.jpg) |
![Apply the solder to the joint, not to the iron](images/image7.jpg) |
Continue
heating and apply a few millimetres of solder. Remove the iron and allow
the solder joint to cool naturally. |
It
only takes a second or two, to make the perfect joint, which should be
nice and shiny. Check the Guide for troubleshooting help. |
![A perfect joint should be nice and shiny](images/image8.jpg) |
![This is an example of a dry joint](images/image9.jpg) |
An
example of a "dry" joint - the solder failed to flow, and instead beaded
to form globules around the wire. |
"Solder
Wick" is a cheap and very effective way of desoldering a joint. Take care
not to overheat the board. Alternatively, use a desoldering pump. |
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All
photos are Copyright © Alan Winstanley 1997. You may download them
for personal use, or for training or educational purposes only. They may
not be used on a commercial or sponsored web site without the prior permission
of the author (conditions apply). If you wish to use these pictures for
any commercial reasons, e.g. to enhance any commercial product, enframe
in any external commercial web site or apply for any other commercial use,
you must seek the author's prior approval first (email Alan Winstanley
at alan@epemag.demon.co.uk).
Please enquire if you have similar macro photography assignments you would
like to be undertaken.
For any interested
photographers: the photographs were taken by the author using a Minolta
X-700 SLR with 50mm Minolta MC manual-focus macro lens at f11-16, coupled
to a Minolta Auto 80PX macro ring flash gun. Film was Kodak Gold 200. |
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