[Elecraft] Source and causes of poor solder joints?

[Chris Kantarjiev]

In addition to all the great advice about soldering, I'd like
to add my two cents: holding the item to be soldered, and
the solder, and the board, and the iron, is a neat trick.

In the "real world", there are tools to help - PC board vices
with hold downs that help steady the component. In the shack,
the temptation is to "spring" or worse *bend* the component 
leads to hold them in place, and then solder with the item
hanging down.

I don't find that acceptable, if only because bent-soldered-trimmed
leads are very difficult to remove. 

So over time, I've somehow developed a technique that works
to hold everything in place. 

I use a panavise to hold the board, and the board is usually close
to vertical for component loading. I have learned to hold the solder in
my left hand while stabilizing the component on the other side
with the smaller fingers of the same hand - sometimes this means
a long snake of solder from the coil to the solder land. But
works to get the item tacked in place, usually. (It works
great for ICs.) Reposition as needed for esthetics, then
you can move the board to whatever position you like to solder
the rest of the leads, and finally go back to the original one
to add more solder or reflow as needed.

It's sometimes almost comical, but it works...

73 de chris K6DBG