prepare soldering points

[patroclus02]

How do you guys recomend to prepare soldering points after cleaning?
The good way is to heat up the point and then put solder on it.
But I'm afraid the solder will make some bridge this way if accidentally too much is melt.
What if you put solder on the iron tip and then, after applying flux, heat up with it and the solder on the tip itslef?? this is how I made so other jobs.

thank you

[pegz]

it depends what you are soldering to, via, leg, fuse etc. i generally tin the wire first, apply flux to the tinned end and where i want to solder to then hold the wire in place and apply heat.

works for me,:)

P

[patroclus02]

many people recommend to tin not only the wire, but also the soldering point (vio or leg). My question is how can you tin such a small soldering point??

[tot31]

Yes, you can tin a soldering point (via or leg) by using a flux pen on that area and put a small drop of solder onto it.

[patroclus02]

Yes, that's what I was talking about. But my question is... How do you put the solder in such a small place?? without risk to make a solder bridge??

[tot31]

Like I told you, use a flux pen and preferably a magnifying glass. That's what I always do. If you don't have the confidence try to practice using an old pcb board like a hdd board.

[patroclus02]

no, I didn't explain myself.
I mean, how do you put solder, for example, you heat up the point, then apply solder directly to the point. Or maybe, you tin the tip, and then touch the point so after apply flux, the solder from the tip goes to the point..

How do you do it?

[ivc]

If you're afraid to bridge points, I think you need thinner solder. Try to get something under 1 mm diameter. And of course a solder iron tip that matches.

I always apply solder to the points first and then with the wire ready, heat the point and hold the wire inplace while it's cooling.

On hard points you could add some flux to the wire so that the solder flows easier around the wire.

Hope that helps.

[patroclus02]

Wouldn't it work if you tin the iron tip and then apply it instead of apply solder.
Even with solder of 0.5mm,some points could be very hard to tin..

by the way, any recomenended solder?? (I use, Sn60 Pb Cu)

[ivc]

I use some Kester 0.5 mm tin 62%, lead 36%, silver 2% solder, the silver makes the joints shiny :)

[patroclus02]

I still have one question... if you want to tin a solder point (let's say a via), you heat it with the iron, and then apply solder. But.. as a via is so tiny, how can you put both iron tip and solder on it?? I still can't figure out...

[ivc]

I would have both the solder and the iron ready, and at the same time apply solder and heat so that the solder flows over the via point. Then remove excess solder by running the iron quickly over.

Now you have a tinned solder point. Just apply solder the the wire and apply heat while holding the wire over the via. Hope you understood that :)

[patroclus02]

Ok, I undertand, but it still seems quite hard to hold both iron tip and solder on such a tiny point. many points are smaller than the iron tip or the solder wire, so I suppose it's better to heat the point with the iron and inmeditely apply some solder to the tip so it flows down to the point... is this ok?
If I touch the point with the iron, I don't see anymore the point, so I can't apply solder to it. This is what confuses me. (using 0.5mm tip and 1mm solder)

[ivc]

Well, you just bindly apply solder and remove the excess solder afterwards. The thing is to tinn the point, making it easier to join the soldered wired later.

[EspeN]

This is what i do.
I add 0.2 mm solder ( i think it is 0.2mm) on the solder tip and put it down on the point so it sticks there.
Then for the supersmall points i add tin on wire before attach it, otherwise i just attach the wire by reheating the old solder.

I use flux a lot though.
When i add flux on each bios point i can like put tin on all bios points without bridging (9 points) in less than 20 seconds for all points.