[Elecraft] Circuit Board Soldering Question

[John Buck]

Hi Dennie,

I have built a lot of kits and strongly feel that inserting several
resistors or capacitors at a time then soldering is the best method for
the following reasons.

1.  Inserting several parts before soldering helps catch location errors
before soldering.  It is hard to put two parts in the same holes! HI.  I
have caught several errors before soldering this way.

2.  For me, soldering several joints at once is much faster and yields
better results than one, wait to install then solder another etc.
I can install several parts, bending the leads outward to hold them in
place, then flip the board over and wipe and tin the iron and solder
several joints without having to reclean or re tin the iron between
joints.  Then I clip the leads, inspecting the solder on each lead as I
clip it.  I almost never get cold joints using this method.  The major
cause of cold joints (assuming good clean parts and Elecraft quality PC
boards) is a dirty or improperly tinned iron.  This condition is much
easier to control with my version of batch processing.

3.  There is a lot less repositioning of the board, the magnifier, and
less picking up and setting down the iron, the solder, and the clippers.

4.  The method is better suited to not skipping a step or skipping over
a part because the recommended sequence shows several parts at a time.
The sequence is also easier to find the location of the next part from
the instructions without the break in between to flip the board and solder.


This works best for me.  Your mileage may vary.  The best method is the
one that works best for you.  I think that my primary objection to the
one at a time approach is the need for additional solder iron tip
maintenance to have a bright tip for every joint.

Enjoy the K2,  I sure enjoy mine.

Aloha,
John KH7T

Dennie Mildfeldt wrote:

>One question though; In the manual the instructions say to insert several components and then solder all of them at once. After building several other projects I have found that placing one piece and then soldering it seems to work better and stop mistakes. My question, is there any reason for not doing it this way? 
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