[Elecraft] Solder....again.....

[Tom Hammond]

Hi Jinx:

>I've been just reading the mail because I don't actually have an Elecraft
>kit yet. I got an inexpensive little Vectronics kit (not their soldering
>course) to practice on as I haven't built anything with a circuit board
>since the Heathkit HW 22A. My soldering looks bad, more of a glob, maybe not
>properly adhered. I don't want to get a TC soldering station unless and
>until I'm really going forward with building a big kit.

Sounds like your iron isn't heating the joint NEARLY enough... probably 
small enough to give up all its heat attempting to heat the joint and then 
isn't hot enough to melt the solder completely, much less cause it to 
adhere adequately to the lead or the PC board pad.

>My question is: I have a 25 watt soldering iron. Is that too little? The
>circuit board and components seem awfully small. Nobody every seems to
>mention actual iron wattages.

I used a 'standard' soldering iron for 40 years, and did pretty well 
soldering up PC boards. But I do a LOT better now that I have a T/C 
soldering station. My results are much more consistently good.  This having 
been said, for my $$$, a 25W iron is generally too under-powered to do a 
decent job. if you're gonna stay with a non-TC iron, get one that's at 
least 40W and which has a small tip (one which covers about 80%-90% of the 
pad width, so you have less chance of dragging solder from one pad to the 
next).

Keep the tip of the iron clean AT ALL TIMES and learn to work quickly when 
soldering. Use .020" or .025" diameter solder, so you will have less chance 
of over-applying solder to the joint and develop a soldering 'technique' 
which allows you to complete a CLEANLY soldered joint and get in AND OUT in 
4 seconds or less.

Finally, if you're gonna spend nearly $600 on a top-of-the-line kit, why by 
chintzy on the tools you're gonna use to build it?

Good luck,

Tom Hammond    N0SS