[Elecraft] soldering suggestions?

[rellis]

Hi,

Having purchased a K1 kit, but never having soldered before, I've
been working up to it by working on some other kits, such as an
electronic die, a signal generator, and an active null modem. I'm
using a hakko 936 and I have a .05" chisel tip. The solder that
I'm using is kester SN60PB40 #66/44 .025. (It is my intention to
use this solder and the .05" tip when working on the K1.)

There are some peculiarities with soldering that I'm uncertain about.

First is the time required to hold the soldering iron tip to the
component and pc board. When working on the active null modem (from
fox delta), the pc board pad is minute (compared to the velleman
kits) and was appropriately size for the .05" tip. (They are
comparable to the pads on the K1 pc board.) However, only
rarely would the solder flow in the 3 seconds that is suggested
in the K1 manual to avoid damage to components. (I'm applying the
recommendations in the K1 manual to these other kits.) The only
occasions that the solder flowed within 3 seconds was when I'd just
finished soldering a nearby location, for example when working on
a 16 pin socket. The solder tip was clean and silvery; the temperature
was set to 700 degrees (though I did not verify that with a separate
soldering tip temperature guage). Any thoughts on what I might be  
doing wrong?

(The velleman kits that I assembled clearly needed a bigger tip than
I was using... 30 seconds was needed to solder some connections. I was
considering them to be mostly practise, as they were my first attempts
at soldering. Surprisingly, the electronic die did work. The signal
generator doesn't smoke, but there are no blinking lights to tell me
whether it is working correctly. )

I also sometimes noticed that, when soldering, a tiny piece of solder
would sometimes fly off the tip of the solder wire and would impact
the soldering iron about halfway up the metal shaft (two inches above
the solder tip). Is this indicative of a static problem? This occurred
two or three times. This made me want to wear gloves in addition to the
eye protectors that I had on.

thanks,
  robert