Soldering: I just cannot do it!

[jimheli]

i think it a combination of , a soldering iron that can heat fast & transfer that heat to the wire & surface , + the right solder , i am no expert here on this but i have done a good bit of soldering lately using a station i got from Maplin 48w adjustable.
using it with EC5 it was abell to heat the solder & wire + bullet connector fast .





jim

[bolders]

I just cannot solder for the life of me.

I started off with a 30W iron, the cheapest Maplin had, and I could not do it.

So I bought a butane powered soldering iron, and I still couldn't do it.

A few tries later, and having melted a solder pro 70, I have an Antex 50W adjustable temperature controlled one, and I still cannot do it.

It is like the solder would rather be anywhere but on the thing I am trying to put it on. Solder on the plates of my deans connectors is like water on a ducks back, it just forms into a ball and rolls off.

When it does finally stick to the plate, it is rock solid and will never melt again to fuse with the wire I try to attach it to.

I simply cannot do it.

Why can they not make this easy? What is wrong with crimp fittings? Or something else that does not involve this dark f***ing art??

Am I the only person that this is beyond?

I really love my electric 450 and 500, and it really annoys me that I am simply incapable of buying and fitting a battery without outside help.


AAAARRRGGGGGHHhhh I am so angry

Hey mate

I live not to far from you

I am happy to meet up and show you how to solder using some decent equipment.

If you want to do this then give me a shout. Wont be able to do it for a couple of weeks tho as Ive got exams. Last 1 is on the 18th and after that im totally free - well except a 3 day drinking binge of course

[Mark_T]

I would also suggest finding some solder that still uses lead, the new lead-free stuff makes it a lot harder to get a good result.

[gorber]

Hey mate

I live not to far from you

I am happy to meet up and show you how to solder using some decent equipment.

If you want to do this then give me a shout. Wont be able to do it for a couple of weeks tho as Ive got exams. Last 1 is on the 18th and after that im totally free - well except a 3 day drinking binge of course

Thanks for the offer mate.

I am going to look for some good solder first and have a go with some of the things from the advice given in this thread.

I have plenty of wasted connectors with one good terminal to practice on, so hopefully I will be there by the time you have recovered from your post exam bender.

In the mean time I have one good battery for the 500 (2 6s 4000mah 15c connected in series and taped together!) and 3 batteries for the 450, none of which were soldered by me of course.

Cheers,

Andrew

[gorber]

Thanks for all the advice.

It was all in the solder. Basically Maplins only sell one type of solder (99.7% tin, .3% copper) which is really difficult to work with.

I acquired some 5 core from Skyline and it is just so much easier. I have now soldered deans connectors on two batteries, the last one taking about 2 minutes. Not the tidiest of jobs, but they work.

Cheers,

Andrew

[shikari_chaos]

just read the whole thread and glad to hear you came out trumps! Nice advice offered here guys! I do lots of soldering because I build and restore church pipe organs (yes, you read that right) they have hundreds, well actually thousands of soldered joints on the electro mechanical systems and often that's all working above your head not fun when that drips cause you dabbed a bit to much solder on! Ohh and if I'm really unlucky I even have to seem solder the odd lead organ pipe or two!

[Mark_T]

Ohh and if I'm really unlucky I even have to seem solder the odd lead organ pipe or two!

Wiping lead joints must be close to a lost art these days, brings back a few memories though.

Wonderful job to have though working on such complex devices.

[xygax]

Hey... first lesson in soldering... Try and get some 60/40 Tin /Lead solder it has the lowest melting point and is approved by areospace / Nasa... The new lead free fourmulatio can grow tin wiskers and its not permitted in the areospace / space industry despite what teh interfearing Europeans tell everone about "Lead free"....

Tin copper has the highest melt point and is also the cheepest stuff it needs a realy good aggressive flux to 'Wet' ptoperly.

Tin copper silver has a silightly lower melt point (maplins sell this as well) and its a bit more expensive but a sight easyer to work with...

Process for deans is quite simple.

1. Heat the Deans pin and apply a little solder remove the heat before all teh flux goes this is time critical.
2. Hold the battery cable in a crock clip and apply the heat of the soldering iron to one side and the solder to the oposite it will flow when its hot enough add sufficent solder to the cable so that its wetted all teh way through. Do not remove the heat no matter how much you fingers are burning.
3. Add the deans pin from the side away from the iron then remove the iron and hold it still. The tiny bit of flux on the dean will make the solder flow properly and hold still until it goes grey then the solder has set. Quench finger tips in a handy pint because by this time you will not be recognised by your finger print.

If you are near Bristol i will gladly ensure teh black art is learned it will take half an hour to learn propperly

STeve

[GravityKills]

>> until it goes grey
erm... I'm not sure if I understand this correctly.

A proper tin-lead solder joint is (ideally) smooth and shiny as a mirror.
That's the miracle of 60/40 "eutectic" solder: There's just the right amount of tin and lead so that the atoms can arrange in a regular pattern, like pieces in a puzzle.
When it goes bad, the surface turns dull and grey. Getting this right is VERY important, since the bad ones are brittle and will fail sooner or later.

That's why it's so important to use a clamp: As soon as anything moves while the solder is cooling down, you'll get a bad joint.

[xygax]

>> until it goes grey
erm... I'm not sure if I understand this correctly.

.

Lead free goes from Shiny when fluid to a Grey colour when its set... 60/40 is a bit different it stays shiny when its set and that indicates a good joint.

Got me knackered when we first started using it...

Steve

[forbsy]

Soldering

As said loads of good advice here and he is now on his merry way,just gotta practice

[GravityKills]

lead free isn't eutectic, usually, that's true. It doesn't give the smooth surface.
But 60/40 was mentioned in the beginning.
BTW, I can't think of any reason, why any hobbyist would want to use lead-free solder.

[xygax]

Me neither... but its not stocked by a lot of places due to the European regs... You cant evan by plumbers lead now its all Pbf and the fluxes are all a damm sight more aggressive

You can get it still from Farnell and RS but become non preferrd in industry just arespace and the Brizalians i think (i guess they are a major lead exporter

Steve

[DarkTherapy]

Get some anderson powerpoles and crimp all your batteries in 5 minutes.. http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/setup-...owerpoles.html