Newbie at soldering.

[Tronic56]

Can someone help me? Today i bought my first soldering iron and some solder. When i first plugged the solder and let it heat up the solder wouldn't stick on the soldering iron tip. It was just becoming a ball.
Do you know why is this happening and how to fix it?

 

[DinohScene]

Clean the tip and use rosin core solder of 60/40 lead-tin alloy.

 

[Tronic56]

On my solder it says: SOLDER LEAD 60/40 1.0 mm. How to clean the tip? My soldering iron didnt come with a sponge from the store

 

[Foxi4]

Fun fact - you're not supposed to keep the solder on the iron itself. When soldering wires, put that melted solder on the wire, spread it, then put the wire in the slot it's supposed to be soldered in or press it against the solder point and re-heat it. When soldering chips, hold the iron close to the solder point and press the tip of your bit of solder against it. That, and never forget about rosin.

 

[Tronic56]

But i think first i must tin the tip. And my tip oxidizes fast. How to keep it from oxidizing?

 

[raulpica]

When the solder doesn't stick to the tip, it's a good sign. Don't worry about it anyway, it'll start sticking to it pretty soon, and it'll be a big annoyance

Buy a sponge for that, you can then clean the tip, and re-tin it (solder will then stick to it).

 

[DinohScene]

You can't.
The heat causes oxidization.

Just clean it with a piece of kitchen/toilet paper.
It's not the best but it works ;p

Also, get rosin core solder wire.
It has a core of flux which prevents the solder from oxidizing quickly.

Also, what foxi said is true.
Heat the point where the wire needs to go along with the wire and push a little bit of solder wire onto the tip.
If done correctly, it should flow onto the wire and the point and should make a good connection.

I done a ton of MRA/JTAG/RGH/Mod chip/trace repairs and am pretty experienced in soldering.
I won't beat DeadlyFoez with soldering things ofcourse ;p

 

[Tronic56]

I was scared because i bought the soldering iron 1 hour before and i thought it was broken Thanks anyway! But what i am supposed to do now to solder properly?

 

[Vengenceonu]

Can you buy solder iron tips seperately? i burnt out mines doing a piss poor attempt at making a switch box. I even had the brillo gold sponge thing for stabbing and it still eroded in less then 3 months.

 

[DinohScene]

I was scared because i bought the soldering iron 1 hour before and i thought it was broken Thanks anyway! But what i am supposed to do now to solder properly?

Heat the point where the wire needs to go along with the wire and push a little bit of solder wire onto the tip.
If done correctly, it should flow onto the wire and the point and should make a good connection

Just heat the point where the wire touched for a second or 5-10 (soldering iron on the wire and the wire on the point) and you should be good.

 

[Tronic56]

Now im trying to connect the backlight of a nintendo DS lite to make it run with one screen and use it as gameboy. But still the problem is that whenever i try to tin the tip the solder becomes a drop and falls :// Thanks guys!

 

[DinohScene]

It takes some trial and error before you get the hang of it.

Best is to try and snip off components of an old radio and solder them back on ;]
That's how I trained me soldering skills ;p

 

[Foxi4]

It should be worth mentioning that you're not supposed to hold the soldering tip against the wire, the chips or the PCB board for too long - it's supposed to be a clean and quick job. Doing otherwise means risking internal damage to chips, burning the isolation off the wires or causing damage to the wires themselves, damaging the leads of the board, spreading the solder on an area larger than intended or simply making an easily cracking connection due to burnt out resin.

It takes some trial and error before you get the hang of it.

Best is to try and snip off components of an old radio and solder them back on ;]
That's how I trained me soldering skills ;p

Very true - if this is your first time doing this, train on a device that you don't mind breaking. That, and utilize wires and connectors to connect components together before you move onto soldering them on PCB's - that way you're not risking damaging expensive parts, just cheap wiring.

 

[Tronic56]

Yes body im doing this right now! But with some scrap metal and wires So to connect a wire to a point on my board i sould heat the point on the board and the wire? Then attach the wire to the board and melt some solder on the wire and the point on the board? Am i right? xD

 

[DinohScene]

^ exactly that yes.
5 seconds may be to long now that I think about it.
As I said, it just takes some trial and error ;]

 

[Tronic56]

You guys are great! All my problems solved now! Thank you! On a video i saw a guy tinning the wire with solder and then just touching the tinned wire on the PCB with the iron. The tinned wire sticked on the board because the solder from the wire melted and cooled on the board. Is this a good way of doing it?

 

[DinohScene]

That's also a good way to solder yes.

No problem ;]
Try to train yourself by practicing on old radio's.
It's the best advice I can give you since you need to learn it from experience ;]

 

[Tronic56]

When i touch the solder to the wires it just becomes a ball ://

 

[DinohScene]

Dip the wire in flux and then press the wire against the soldering iron, shortly after (second or so) press some solder onto the wire and soldering tip.
That should tin the wire ;]

 

[Tronic56]

I also need to buy some flux and a helping hand. ://