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Forums - PC Discussion - Any advice for first time soldering?

snyps on 29 June 2013

I think you'll be fine. Just don't let other ppl touch it.



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siphillis on 29 June 2013
Adinnieken said:
siphillis said:

dc jacks have usually 3 pins, there are two ways to unsolder it, you can either try to heat all 3 pads so that you can pick it up with a tweezer, or you heat up one pad and lift it with a little bit of force, then heat the next pad until its out, if it has 3 pins use the second way as its much easier for first time solderers.
 if it has just 2 pins just heat both pads and take it out.

be careful the dc jack gets very hot

Or you can use solder wick, soak up the melted solder and that way you have a clean hole that after doing each pin falls out. :D

Solder wick is your friend.  Your best friend when desoldering.

or you can use a heat fan and flux, or use a copper wire to solder alll pins together and than just heat the wire until you can lift it.

without solder experience i would try to not use solder wick because you can easily soak up the pad with it.




Adinnieken on 29 June 2013
anthony64641 said:
Thanks guys, also i was considering buying this soldering kit http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-Electronics-ST-12-Soldering-Tool/dp/B0002LLWZY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372530238&sr=8-1&keywords=soldering+kit it looks pretty good also the reviews are high

It looks like a basic soldering kit, similar to what you can buy at RadioShack.  It does come with some of the things you need, like solder wick, but the solder pump is useless.  The plastic ones eventually melt from the solder resulting in little to no vacuum.

The only concern is the soldering iron.  My general recommendation is 60 Watt, as a 30 Watt can be pretty low when considering you're trying to heat up three things, the solder, the contact point, and the pin.  However, others may have had success using a 30 Watt in this scenario.





Adinnieken on 29 June 2013
siphillis said:
Adinnieken said:
siphillis said:

dc jacks have usually 3 pins, there are two ways to unsolder it, you can either try to heat all 3 pads so that you can pick it up with a tweezer, or you heat up one pad and lift it with a little bit of force, then heat the next pad until its out, if it has 3 pins use the second way as its much easier for first time solderers.
 if it has just 2 pins just heat both pads and take it out.

be careful the dc jack gets very hot

Or you can use solder wick, soak up the melted solder and that way you have a clean hole that after doing each pin falls out. :D

Solder wick is your friend.  Your best friend when desoldering.

or you can use a heat fan and flux, or use a copper wire to solder alll pins together and than just heat the wire until you can lift it.

without solder experience i would try to not use solder wick because you can easily soak up the pad with it.

Solder wick is pretty much like copper wire, but honestly extremely effective.  You spread the wick out, heat the solder up through the wick, and the wick soaks up the solder.