supamagician

I know this post kind of has no point but I am just sooo proud of myself!!!

Reason is because I have seen people solder before, but never actually done it myself even though I have my on soldering iron. Well one of the wires that connected to my Micro-T motor came off. I am about to get a new motor so I figured hey, no harm done if I try to solder it back on. If I mess it up more, oh well!!! I'm getting a new motor anyways!!! So I tried it, and it worked perfectly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel sooooo accomplished!!!! LOL

Gex_61

Cool!

I'm not great at soldering. It's one of the few things I still make my dad do.

rast4man

My Feedback: (10)

Way to go ace. I get over-excited when I do things like that as well.

DaveG55

Congrats on starting a new skill. Soldering is a valuable tool in the do-it-yourself world.
Now that your confidence is up, practice that new skill. Get some scrap wire and solder them togeather. Tear apart an old piece of electronics and practice taking it apart and putting it back togeather, the wiring and circuit board I mean.

A few of tips for soldering.
1 - Make sure that the parts being soldered are clean - no rust, flux, corosion, excess solder, etc
2 - Make sure that you have a good physical connection first - twist wires togeather, firmly and completely in any holes (cbs & terminals). The better the physical connection - the better the joint will be
3 - Apply the heat (iron) from one side and the solder from the other side. Once the joint gets hot enough the solder will flow towards the heat and completely fill the joint.
4 - Try hard to NOT bump, move or otherwise disturb the connection until the solder cools/hardens. You should have a bright, shiney solder joint. If it gets bumped or hardens with a dull/flat finish you have a "cold" solder joint and you should reheat it and try again
5 - When done use a damp sponge or cloth to clean the iron tip. It shoud be not be left with excess solder or flux as that will degrade the tip. Once it is clean, retin it so it will be ready for the next use.
6 - Most important of all is to practice to increase your skill level and confidence.

good Luck

MTboy

Thanks for the tips Dave. I have been doing pretty good but think know I will do even better with your tips. Did not know to keep the tip clean after every joint. I would just clean at the end of my project..
Thanks again, you always have great advise..

DaveG55

Yeah, keeping a wet sponge or rag handy to wipe the tip keeps corosion/flux and solder build up off and enhances the heat transfer. It's also easier to keep good, clean joints if you don't have big globs of excess solder hanging off the tip. Huge solder joints don't mean a good connection. You only need enough solder to fill the gaps in the connection. Pretty much once the solder starts to flow in the joint you have enough solder to make a good joint.

rcslsafut

one other tip when it comes to soldering that i didnt see.
tin each part first , or in other words put a small amount of solder on each part first.
that really helps too.

coxie1996

My Feedback: (3)

same here

DaveG55

Thanks, I did forget about tinning. But, while it helps in many situations - like when soldering joints where a good mechanical connection is not possable as in soldering wires to a battey - there are situations where tinning can be a draw-back. For example, when doing circuit board work tinning the wire or cb first will make it very difficultto get the wire in the hole in the cb. It is also very difficult to twist multi-strand wires togeather that have been tinned which makes for a poor mechanical connection and thus a weaker joint than if no tinning had been done.

rcslsafut

sooooo true dave,there is defineatly a time to tin and a time to not.
circuit boards should not be tined thats for sure. wires should be twisted together
as that does provide a better joint .if you are soldering a wire to a motor
or a deans connectoror something of that nature ,it should be tinned first though.

supamagician

I have usually paid pretty close attention when people have soldered things for me. Therefor, before I soldered, I did get me a damp sponge (sorry momma!! LOL) and I did put solder on each of the pieces before soldering!!!!

Now I wanna buy me a better iron and I wanna solder more!!! LOL

Willystylz

I'm fairly new at soldering, and I find once you've got the basic concept down, it's not all that hard. The first couple times I tried it, I had it completely wrong and was getting frustrated as to why I couldn't solder. What i was doing was trying to melt the solder onto the joint and I was wondering why it would turn into a ball and fall off. I totally missed the whole concept of heating the joint while applying the solder.

Now I've installed 4mm bullet connectors between all my motors and batteries and have soldered on wire leads to a few of my motors now. Certainly a very handy skill in this hobby. I can go motor/esc shopping without only focusing on the ones that have the wires and connectors preinstalled.

I feel proud too!!