[Elecraft] Re: Source of poor solder joints?

[Ian Stirling]

On Wednesday 22 November 2006 18:13, Tom Hammond wrote:

> A 'dry' soldering iron tip WILL eventually transfer the heat, BUT a 
> 'wetted' tip will accomplish the heat transfer MANY TIMES FASTER and 
> with less chance of 'frying' something in the process (component OR 
> PC board trace).

  I always clean my soldering tip on a DAMP sponge, not wet.
And I add a touch of solder to the tip, considering that it
is a molten tip, not transferring solder to the intended joint,
but transferring the heat efficiently.
  I built my K2 with a 15 Watt Antex soldering iron that
I bought in 1971 - no temperature control -
just experience, probably such as Don's timing tips.

  If anyone would like to look at my soldering,
http://www.opus131.com/ijs/infra.html
 Click on the pictures for detail - they are modest resolution
scans of prints from an Olympus OM4. These days a digital
camera could produce much more detail - maybe I'll update
the page one day.

Ian, G4ICV, AB2GR, K2 4962
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