Regarding soldering, I do have a nice soldering iron however am yet to master the art of soldering, any tips?
(A very stressed) Dazaa
Hi pal, nice to see you having a little time to dabble with RC stuff once more.
Yeah I had to master the art of soldering all on my own, like many TC members I imagine, since my late father wasn't a very nice person at all to put it mildly and he never taught me anything useful, least of all how to solder.
I can give you quite a lot of tips.
First thing to do is to make sure you have a soldering iron which is up to the task (at least 40 Watts I suggest, preferably 50 or a little more but over 50W is not really needed, and 10-20W is not sufficient for e.g. 14 AWG wire).
The most important thing that you must ALSO buy is A STAND. Please take a moment to consider the consequences of not doing this. Severe burns which can never be fully recovered from (burns don't fully heal without scars). Not good. So please buy a stand. They are only 6 quid, and it will hold your iron very sturdily. I got a Draper brand soldering iron stand for a few quid from B&Q.
BTW as far as what I use is concerned, I have an Antex TCS50 50W iron, mains powered with a Silicone (not the cheaper PVC version) insulated cable. This is enough power for battery and motor connections, as well as being temperature adjustable via a small dial, and the Silcone insulation on the cable is so you can't burn / melt though the cable by accident since the melting point of the Silicone is way above the 450 degrees C maximum of the iron. Also, the tips are interchangeable. I have the 1mm, 3mm, and 6mm tips (bits). Also I ONLY use the bits which have a single eliptical face (the angled / chamfered faced ones), not the ones that are just like a plain cone (as I can never get the latter type to tin properly as I can never keep them clean).
Next thing is you need to be able to conduct the heat onto the target item. So you will need a clean bit. If your bit's tip is heavily discoloured and dull / brown / black then you will need to abrade the crud off with medium coarse abrasive (Silicon Carbide P400 or P600 used wet). I had to do this once (this was the breakthrough that enabled me to be able to solder anything at all). Yes you will slightly damage the Nickel plating on the bit but believe me if you have this problem and don't solve it then you won't be soldering anything.
The dark coloured crud that is on the bit is an OXIDE that does NOT conduct heat at ALL well. Soldering is in 2 words all about HEAT TRANSFER (and the SPEED at which it is transfered).
If the bit is merely gold coloured then (when the iron is up to working temperature) rub the face of the bit on a piece of WETTED (with tap water) foam pad, specifically for use with soldering irons, that comes with the soldering iron stand. Your bit will magically become clean and shiny. DON'T rub for more than about 1/2 second at a time LOL.
Now you need to TIN your bit. So you will need some solder. The best stuff is the traditional Tin / Lead solder. Lead is a cumulative poison. Do not handle it (use pliers to pull it out of the cylindrical dispenser, don't pull it out with hands). The solder should have a decent FLUX in it which lowers the required melting point and chemically cleans the joint as you are soldering the item.
I buy Deans Racing Solder which has the most tenacious and active flux that I ever saw. Also it flows better due to 2 per cent Silver.
(later EDIT: this is no longer available so I imported Radio Shack .032" Rosin Cored Solder (Ebay) from USA since it's 60/40 Tin/Lead solder and has a lower melting point and flows better than the Lead-Free **** that is now the only stuff available in the UK because of new health and safety laws. Happy to say that the Radio Shack one works excellent and has made many many good joints)
Open windows when you solder as the flux is probably poisonous (and smells, so the people who live with you will be annoyed by it if you don't).
Immediately after you have cleaned the bit as mentioned above on the wet sponge, tin the bit (apply a blob of solder, not too much) and make sure the whole of the tip is covered. This is so that the bit has no oxide insulator on it anywhere on it's face, and it prolongs the bit's life, and solders more easily.
You will have to wait about 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes for the iron to warm up to working temperature usually, from cold. After you have tinned the bit, the iron lost some energy to melt the solder (so temperature dropped), so wait another 10 seconds before actually soldering anything.
If the solder falls straight off the bit and won't tin, it's either not hot enough or you have crud on the bit. So either try again i.e. clean the bit with the sponge or if that fails, remove the crud with the abrasive sheet (when the iron is cold and unplugged!) and make the angled part of the tip shiny (you don't have to abrade anything else).
Now the bit is tinned on ALL of it's face, turn off the iron (switch off).
The idea with soldering is that you transfer the heat
BY LIQUID METAL as it's
WAY faster than heat transfer by solid metal. So by tinning the bit, the bit will now be able to contact whatever you are trying to solder with it's full face instead of just a tiny portion of contact area, since the solder on the bit is acting as a filler and allowing fullest possible heat transfer to the target item.
Next thing is to e.g. take your 14 AWG Silicone cable and strip off about 6mm of insulation off the end using a craft knife (watch fingers!).
Now switch back on iron, wait for it to come up to temperature. Now clean the "tinning" off the bit by wiping the bit on the sponge. Now re-tin the bit.
From this point you have about 30 seconds to do the next operation before the flux becomes EXHAUSTED and useless.
Now press the face of the bit against the wire lightly (whilst holding the wire in a rather small table vice with NON serrated jaws that you can buy for a couple of quid from a DIY shop) and let the wire heat up for maybe 10 seconds or a little more but not a lot more than this. Now whilst holding the bit against the wire, add some solder to the wire NEAR the bit BUT NOT TOUCHING THE BIT. The solder will FLASH and flow all over the wire, and now the wire is tinned.
You cannot simply touch the solder against the bit and expect it to flow onto the wire e.g. within just a few seconds of trying, since the wire would be cold. The target item has to be HOT ENOUGH TO ACCEPT the solder (you will know, since it will flow freely on it).
Now tin the motor tab in the same way (take much care since e.g. RS540S has a plastic endbell!), you can do this operation in about 4 seconds once you get practised, which does not allow the plastic to melt.
With the above I can tin and also solder a 14 AWG wire to a High Temperature type (Nylon instead of PVC if I remember right) gold plated Deans style connector in about 6 seconds, WITHOUT it being melted or deformed in any way (since it never gets hot enough), but for your first few attempts don't be dissappointed if you melt a few connectors!
EDIT: Later on with more practice I am now able to tin a Nylon Deans style connector in only 3 to 4 seconds with the smaller 2.3mm bit on the 50W Antex iron. This does not allow the Nylon to get hot enough to melt! Also I blow on the metal of the connector twice after the solder has gone solid to make sure the Nylon cools even further below it's melt temperature faster. I reckon I might even dare soldering standard (i.e. non-high temperature Nylon) Deans connectors now LOL.
When doing 14AWG you will need the 6mm bit (also for doing cell to cell connections), but later on when you are more practiced you can preheat the wire end with the iron for 20 seconds and use the 3mm bit for Deans connectors, but the 6mm bit is still needed for cell connections. For tiny jobs on receiver circuit boards I use the 1mm bit and remember 50W is overkill for electronics stuff so be careful (2 or 3 seconds at the most LOL).
When you have finished, tin the bit and then switch off. Always try and keep the bit tinned for the reasons aforementioned above.
Well I hope at least some of the above helps. I know I found soldering to be a frustrating dead end full of voodoo magic until I figured out what I was doing wrong (in my case using a dull dirty bit and pressing the item against the un-tinned bit for many many minutes with nothing happening except damage to stuff LOL).
Let me know how it goes.
Usual disclaimer incase any kids are reading this... Soldering irons can be very very dangerous as they work at temperatures of hundreds of degrees and can burn you very easily. Be careful out there. Adult supervision is mandatory.
Best Wishes,
Alistair G.
