guitar soldering tips

[van_halen]

i'm wondering how do you guys solder guitar electronics?

for me, i heat up the part to be soldered with my soldering iron. then i apply solder on it. so the solder hardens on the part that i applied to. then i heat the hardened solder to melt it, and i put the wire on the melted solder and withdraw my soldering iron so as to re-harden the solder and have the wire soldered there.

am i doing it correctly or is there a better way?

 

[ymmak]

Hi, may I know why you heat the part to be soldered, then apply solder, followed by heating the solder directly again? If you want to avoid cold solder joint, you may also want to avoid heating the solder directly for too long.

Sounds like you are soldering wires to your pot. There is nothing devastatingly wrong with your method as long as it works. When I first started with the diy stuff, I did it rather similarly to how you did it except that I did not heat the part to be soldered, I applied heat to the solder directly.

Nowadays, I do it in this manner: I will hold the solder and wire in parallel to one another, place them where I want to solder them to, and apply heat to them. The solder melts then cools and everything sticks in place. No need for heating up again and again.

 

[widdly]

It's called tinning and it's a good way to get a good joint.

http://www.mediacollege.com/misc/solder/tinning.html

 

[ymmak]

Wont you have higher chance of cold solder joint when heating the solder for too long or repeatedly? Any tips to avoid cold solder joint?

Anyway, is it a good idea to coat the iron tip with a layer of solder before you actually solder?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

when the soldering iron is hot enough, the chance of having a cold joint can be reduced and the soldering lead will flow smoothly.

When i was still doing much soldering, i always leave my cheapo then cheapo 15 watt soldering iron to warm up at least half and hour before doing any soldering job. It usually get the job done, unless specific soldering surface where extra procedure need to be done to ensure that solder lead will fused nicely and reducing the possibility of cold joint.

As for coating the soldering tip, yup, i tend to do that only when doing the first or 2nd soldering. After which, with more soldering done, there will be a layer of lead round the tip and i will clean the tip with steel wool(same kinda as those for washing plates).
Just need to poke the soldering tip into steel wool and you be having a clean, shiny and "tinning" ready soldering iron to work with.

The steel wool will clean the soldering tip much much more better than those cheapo foam with water plus ensuring that the tip be always hot enough to solder instead of getting cool down everytime when cleaning.

The idea for cleaning it with steel wool kinda gotten from RS component catalog which was mailed to my work place. They are actually selling something like that, but much more expensive than the cheapo steel wool we can get in any supermarket.

 

[van_halen]

how to coat the soldering iron with solder ah? cos when you heat the solder with your iron, the solder melts, but it won't cling to your soldering iron mah, cos the soldering iron is hot so solder can't solidify on the soldering iron.

 

[dodgethis]

How clean is the tip of your soldering iron? Before every session, I give the tip a quick scoring with a piece of low grit sandpaper to get rid of the soot left on the tip from previous sessions. Once the tip has been heated up enough, I run through some solder flux to dislodge any of the soot I left out and and wipe it on the wet sponge.

Once that's done, I get some solder onto the tip and wipe off the excess on the sponge. I will still get my nicely tinned tip everytime and I've been doing this for years, even before I picked up the electric guitar.

After every few connections, I will run the tip through the flux again and wipe on the wet sponge to remove any of the carbon that was picked up.

 

[van_halen]

wah i don't use flux. don't have to right? cos the solder itself is rosin core, which is a kind of flux...

 

[dodgethis]

Yes, some solders do contain flux. But it's not the same as using flux on its own to clean the tip.

 

[lazy3yed]

I was advised never ever ever to sand/file the tip. It will get damaged. Just use flux, steel wool and/or wet foam.

 

[WorldWithoutE]

Hi,

Don't really mean to hijack the thread, but I don't think there is a need to open another thread as my question is about soldering too. I have just been around Home Fix near my house and some 'Wu Jing Dian's to look for soldering irons and equipment, but I did not find much variety of irons and other related equipment like a holder, solder etc.

Where would be best to find the equipment? How much roughly do you guys think it will cost to get say a soldering iron, rosin core 60/40 solder, a stand and some practice cables?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

Make a trip down sim lim tower. Walk round 3rd floor over there. It has everything that you need and ask for.

The cost can be from 20 to 40 plus depend on what you buy. Things like soldering iron and stand, it can be found in a package kind. Even for the 15watt cheapo iron i had been using(from home fix btw), it has a stand. Pathetic looking it can be, but it serve its function.

as for the rest, rosin core lead, jumper wires, its a common item over at SL tower as well, sure can fine, as long round the 3floor and some shops round the basement.

 

[van_halen]

i find the small rolls of jumper wires too thin. where to find those normal thickness of wires (commonly in black or white insulation) normally used in guitar wiring?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

try tymc?

i remember them bring in those cloth wire before.

 

[van_halen]

haha, i'm actually refering to the normal rubber insulated wires. wanna get those in bulk.

 

[van_halen]

btw my soldering iron is 60w. is it overkill?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

for the rubber insulation kind, maybe can check with the aunties at sl tower if they have stock for thicker ones. I seem to remember seeing some round there back then. Pardon, been a while since i went there, so cant confirm if theres those thicker kinda.

Heh, 60watt one prolly ok, just shorter time to warm up and perhaps easier to burn stuff if taking too long to solder those points. If wanna be safe, imho, just try a "once touch, one solder" kinda thingy instead of the solder lead first, melt it again and connect the wire way mentioned in the first post.

oh, another thing which thought i share, if theres any problem trying to solder on back of pot/side of toggle switches etc, can try to use a penknife or sand paper to make area of soldering slightly rough. It will make soldering on those smooth/shiny surface much more easier.

 

[lazy3yed]

oh, another thing which thought i share, if theres any problem trying to solder on back of pot/side of toggle switches etc, can try to use a penknife or sand paper to make area of soldering slightly rough. It will make soldering on those smooth/shiny surface much more easier.

On the other hand, it'll be pretty hard to melt a big blob of solder on the back of the pot. Apply solder onto the old solder to improve heat transfer.

 

[van_halen]

my 60w soldering iron makes melting big blobs of solder on the back of the pot easy. but it's so hot, it melts the wires' rubber insulation with just a light touch.

i bought another soldering iron, 30w. damn difficult to use sia, melting solder takes forever. but it doesn't melt the wires' rubber insulation when you touch it accidentally..

need more practice with the 30w.

 

[junkiemanxl]

always clean your tip and you iron must be hot enough before soldering.