airmailed Posted January 8, 2004 Report Posted January 8, 2004 hi there...i'm planning my box still...on another forum at www.tapeop.comone of the guys has suggested a 15W iron for components and a 45W for soldering pots (this is on analogue desks but i think applies here also)at the moment in the uk i can only easily find 15, 30 and60W irons... i plan to get a 15W for small stuff but would like to know if a 30W or 60 watt would be better for soldering pots?bye for nowbest wishesAdam x Quote
airmailed Posted January 8, 2004 Author Report Posted January 8, 2004 hi there...i'm planning my box still...on another forum at www.tapeop.comone of the guys has suggested a 15W iron for components and a 45W for soldering pots (this is on analogue desks but i think applies here also)at the moment in the uk i can only easily find 15, 30 and60W irons... i plan to get a 15W for small stuff but would like to know if a 30W or 60 watt would be better for soldering pots?bye for nowbest wishesAdam x Quote
Wilba Posted January 8, 2004 Report Posted January 8, 2004 I don't think there's a need to get a hotter soldering iron just for pots. You should be able to solder pots with a 15W iron. There's nothing special about the leads, they're just often much thicker than other components. Pots are pretty heat tolerant. The converse is not true though: you can fry components with too hot an iron.My miscellaneous soldering advice:Get one with a small tip.Use very thin solder.Cut component lead close to PCB, bend a little to hold in place.Heat component lead and add solder to the joint. Do it quickly. If it isn't done in three seconds, leave it to cool before trying again.Don't carry solder on the iron to the joint!Exceptions: tinning wires, tacking one lead in place while you solder other lead properly. Quote
Wilba Posted January 8, 2004 Report Posted January 8, 2004 I don't think there's a need to get a hotter soldering iron just for pots. You should be able to solder pots with a 15W iron. There's nothing special about the leads, they're just often much thicker than other components. Pots are pretty heat tolerant. The converse is not true though: you can fry components with too hot an iron.My miscellaneous soldering advice:Get one with a small tip.Use very thin solder.Cut component lead close to PCB, bend a little to hold in place.Heat component lead and add solder to the joint. Do it quickly. If it isn't done in three seconds, leave it to cool before trying again.Don't carry solder on the iron to the joint!Exceptions: tinning wires, tacking one lead in place while you solder other lead properly. Quote
pay_c Posted January 8, 2004 Report Posted January 8, 2004 Soldering is just a question of practice again, I think.My setup:60W iron (for all!). Doesn´t matter to much whether 15 or 60 W because they´re all temperature controlled (they all won´t go beyond a certain temp). The 60W ones just heat up faster (and so allow to melt down big amounts of soldering iron, too). You can work very fast with those, although you can overheat some components if you´re on there for more than about 5 seconds or so.1mm soldering iron and 0,5 mm soldering iron. If you use very thin stuff, you need very much of it (I mean you have to put a very good length of that stuff there). With the bigger s.i. it´s a little more relaxed and again you can work faster.Again: Just a question what you´re used to and what you want to solder (I certainly don´t use 2mm s.i. for SMD soldering). Practice practice practice.Just a little hint for the beginning (so you don´t overheat anything): If you solder caps/transistors/diodes or something else which is easily overheated, just solder one pin at a time. Don´t go to the second/third pin next. Just do some other pin next and come back later.Greets & good soldering !! :D Quote
pay_c Posted January 8, 2004 Report Posted January 8, 2004 Soldering is just a question of practice again, I think.My setup:60W iron (for all!). Doesn´t matter to much whether 15 or 60 W because they´re all temperature controlled (they all won´t go beyond a certain temp). The 60W ones just heat up faster (and so allow to melt down big amounts of soldering iron, too). You can work very fast with those, although you can overheat some components if you´re on there for more than about 5 seconds or so.1mm soldering iron and 0,5 mm soldering iron. If you use very thin stuff, you need very much of it (I mean you have to put a very good length of that stuff there). With the bigger s.i. it´s a little more relaxed and again you can work faster.Again: Just a question what you´re used to and what you want to solder (I certainly don´t use 2mm s.i. for SMD soldering). Practice practice practice.Just a little hint for the beginning (so you don´t overheat anything): If you solder caps/transistors/diodes or something else which is easily overheated, just solder one pin at a time. Don´t go to the second/third pin next. Just do some other pin next and come back later.Greets & good soldering !! :D Quote
airmailed Posted January 9, 2004 Author Report Posted January 9, 2004 many thanks for your replies...best wishesadamwww.hatstand23.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ny3 Quote
airmailed Posted January 9, 2004 Author Report Posted January 9, 2004 many thanks for your replies...best wishesadamwww.hatstand23.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ny3 Quote
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