[Elecraft] soldering

[wa2dkg@juno.com]

I've been soldering both for fun and professionally for longer than I
care to tell, and I've been reading some very confusing things on this
reflector lately...I have to wonder why one would use tape to hold parts
in place...What is the objection to bending the leads?...I insert a
component, take my miniature long nose pliers, pull GENTLY on the lead
(this pulls the part down tight to the board) and bend the lead sideways
to about a 45 degree angle, putting a "Z" bend in it...I insert about 1/2
dozen parts this way before I solder anything...This way you can go back
and double check your work before soldering...The next confusing thing to
me is iron temperature...If the solder won't melt, your iron isn't too
cold, it is too small...I wouldn't use a temperature higher than 700
degrees...Raising the temperature compounds the danger of doing damage
due to excess heat...The amount of dwell time on a joint is another
confusing point...The dwell time depends on what you are soldering...If
you are trying to solder the binocular cores to the board in the KPA-100,
two or three seconds isn't going to cut it, there is too much "heat sink"
there...A bigger, NOT hotter iron is needed here, and it will STILL take
more than two or three seconds to do...You are running a solder bead
here, not spot soldering a single lead...Setting a hard and fast rule
about how long one should dwell on a joint intimidates the inexperienced
solderer because there are a lot of places in these radios where more
than three seconds are required...An appropriate approach is to use a
little common sense...

Jerry, wa2dkg