Hacking Rate my soldering skillz

[Hooya]

Ironically, my installation was quite similar the poster. Which I thought was good. Due to the response here I've realized that it is not all that good. I've watched any soldering youtube vids I can find and feel much better about my technique. I realized i need to heat the points and add solder to the heated points. I was adding solder to the iron tip and trying to dab the points. I've ordered the wiikey and plan on installing with wires. Hope it goes well.


I too added a tiny bit of solder and dabbed it to the points. I know that I should heat the pad up and then add solder to it, but I was simply too afraid that I would desolder the pad.
Everything worked out fine, so I don't really care

Just so you all know, in my installation of these test wires (remember, I'm the OP) I did add solder to the original pads by heating the pads and adding solder to them. About .25 seconds of contact of the iron to each pad. I DID tin the wires.

So I used cheap wires that the insulation melted on when I tinned the tip. If I had used better wires that didn't have melted insulation would my test here be so much better?

A lot of people here have said: "it's horrible" but haven't said why, or the only reason they give is the melted insulation.

Is there something else that I'm seriously fucking up to make it "Horrible"? I came here for advice on how to improve you know. Thanks again to the two that actually offered suggestions on how to improve.

 

[Deleted User]

The solders should be shiny ... and not dull 'n rough. Man, let someone else do it for you. Hehehe. I have shaky hands, yet ... I've done so much soldering in school that I do a pretty good job at it. I remember I had to make this stupid phone from scratch materials ... and it was due the next day ... I've never done so much soldering in one night.

How to improve? Get a better soldering iron. Maybe it isn't you. Some cheap ones don't get hot enough. And make sure it's clean ... wipe it on a damp sponge. I'm sure you can google up info on how to solder properly.

 

[Hooya]

The solders should be shiny ... and not dull 'n rough. Man, let someone else do it for you. Hehehe. I have shaky hands, yet ... I've done so much soldering in school that I do a pretty good job at it. I remember I had to make this stupid phone from scratch materials ... and it was due the next day ... I've never done so much soldering in one night.

I don't want to have someone else do it for me. I mean, I know people that solder thousands of points a week in their daily jobs or in their studies, but this is a skill I want to learn for myself too.

Any tips on how to get the soldering points shinier? They look pretty shiny to me (maybe it doesn't come across in the picture...) but I'm a novice. They definitely are shinier than the original points on the board!

 

[andreq]

This might help some of you :

http://www.teamnovak.com/tech_info/how_to/solder/index.html

 

[korven]

Just so you all know, in my installation of these test wires (remember, I'm the OP) I did add solder to the original pads by heating the pads and adding solder to them. About .25 seconds of contact of the iron to each pad. I DID tin the wires.

So I used cheap wires that the insulation melted on when I tinned the tip. If I had used better wires that didn't have melted insulation would my test here be so much better?

A lot of people here have said: "it's horrible" but haven't said why, or the only reason they give is the melted insulation.

Is there something else that I'm seriously fucking up to make it "Horrible"? I came here for advice on how to improve you know. Thanks again to the two that actually offered suggestions on how to improve.

I'm sorry. My post wasn't directed at your soldering job. To me that looks good but I'm definitely not an expert. I would assume that installation would be just fine for installing a wii modchip. I'm not into the really fancy stuff... I just solder and make sure it works.

 

[saccorator]

Check out this nice soldering tutorial for all...

 

[Scorpei]

A lot of people here have said: "it's horrible" but haven't said why, or the only reason they give is the melted insulation.

Thanks again to the two that actually offered suggestions on how to improve.

Your very welcome

. Personally I think your solder job looks very nice (nicer then most of mine, but then again I hardly ever use proper wires or soldering tin

). They aren't up to NASA spec but you don't need that anyway. Those solders will hold properly and you shouldn't have any problems with your Wii modding if you do them in the same (though adding tape afterwords is a good idea

).

*addition* of course I can only see a 2D image, which makes it harder to judge any solder job.

 

[Entwinedwithsick]

As a few posters have said it is better to heat the point and add to the point rather than dab the tip which is filled with solder. To those wondering what makes the dabbing horrible..the joint is more likely to not be solid. When it comes down to it a modchip is only as good as the joints connecting the wires or pads.

Exposed wire isn't good as well. The goal is to have as little as possible bare, you don't want possible interference so avoid crossing wires when possible and make sure to have as little as possible of the wires exposed after the tip is in the actual solder joint.

A lot of you guys have the right idea and its cool to see you're not diving right in but rather practicing on old boards, just keep practicing. If its shiny and like a volcano its a good joint. If its dull and flat or looks broken up it MIGHT work but it may not always work. Keep practicing, not everyone can do this correctly from the beginning. I nearly killed my first XBox modding it, now I can mod one in under 5 minutes and it looks good. Just keep trying, you'll get it right

 

[frendly5]

i'm not sure. but as long as i can solder it normally. i'm sold. btw... how much are soldering irons?

Ironically, my installation was quite similar the poster. Which I thought was good. Due to the response here I've realized that it is not all that good. I've watched any soldering youtube vids I can find and feel much better about my technique. I realized i need to heat the points and add solder to the heated points. I was adding solder to the iron tip and trying to dab the points. I've ordered the wiikey and plan on installing with wires. Hope it goes well.

I too added a tiny bit of solder to the iron and dabbed it to the points. I know that I should heat the pad up and then add solder to it, but I was simply too afraid that I would desolder the pad.
Everything worked out fine, so I don't really care

My apologies. After I saw your pic and it looked similar to my soldering job, I thought that you had tried the same method.

 

[Hooya]

OK, does this look any better?

Picture, 578KB

I used slightly different wire but I think it's probably the same quality. It has a copper center instead of silver colored center, but the insulation wanted to melt just the same. I managed to tin it with a heatsink attached to avoid the insulation melt during tinning. I also used a slightly different tinning procedure based on the suggestions on the website andreq linked to. They also had a slightly different technique of forming the actual joint than I was using, and it seems to be easier, and the results are maybe nicer. It might be hard to see on this pic, but the joints are very shiny and smooth.

What looks like melted plastic on the board is just flux or something, it wiped away with a q-tip and looks the same as the rest of the board.

Improved? I did this straight away with no extra practice, I just used the other techniques. Everything else I used was the same except for the slightly different wire.

And before anyone says anything I do realize that I don't have this much space to work with on the serial port access points off the Wii. It was just a convenient spot I hadn't already tried to solder to.

 

[FAST6191]

I thought the first attempt was passable and this ups the quality. Clean off the excess flux (ethanol solution, a cotton bud or a simple jab of heat will do it) and it should be good enough for an installation. Once again make sure the wires will not be under any stress in the finished article.

Some improvements you could make:

the lowest one (the white wire) on the picture has a tad too much solder, it is not critical but if you ever had to remove it (i.e. for a later gen mod or for a softmod) and did not simply want to cut the wire then you could run in to a spot of bother. You could try melting it and drawing the iron away quicky or some try to get away with using the tinned wire solder to join.

It may not matter and may even make things a bit more difficult (especially if you are using a heat sink) but if you can not pass a wire through the PCB then you might want to try soldering the wires having had the end to be soldered bent to a right angle to the PCB (and make a sort of rainbow shape if you have to), it will help to lessen the effects of any stress (reducing any creep issues).
A bad example but it was the best I could drum at the time:

@everyone who pointed out my nomenclature screwup my apologies.

 

[SeaHawk22]

I am still reading/learning on how to properly install a modchip, ( I am still waiting for my wiikey). I have been watching videos on soldering and I have some questions.

1. Is flux always necessary? I have seen videos were people do not use flux.

2. I have heard people mention using a hot glue gun. Is that placed on the solder and then covered with electrical tape? If you dont use hot glue, then you just cover the solder spots with electrical tape?

3. Teflon costed wire is the best? And preferably copper wire?


Any help will greatly appreciated.

 

[FAST6191]

1. Flux serves to clean surfaces and is fairly important if you want it to work and last a while, most solder has it down the center of the solder though so that is probably why you do not see it. As an aside steer clear of acid flux (it is a fairly specialist item anyhow) and most will use resin/rosin. If you are not so comfortable try and track down some lead tin solder rather than silver based ones as well as for the most part they melt easier and flow better.

2. This is only really worthwhile to hold stuff in place and prevent stress in wires, electrical tape and some concentration during installation mean you can leave the glue gun alone.
The glue gun will also make removal (which will probably happen in about a years time) incredibly annoying, if you really want invest in some putty (make sure it is non conductive though).

3. Teflon wire is good (if a bit expensive but as you do not need more than 2m of the stuff you are not going to notice), copper is good as well but make sure it is multicore stuff (fatigue in wires is a nasty thing).

4. (very much optional) If you are in the electronics shop and they sell conductive ink pens fairly cheap grab one in case you remove something your are not supposed to.

 

[smid]

4. (very much optional) If you are in the electronics shop and they sell conductive ink pens fairly cheap grab one in case you remove something your are not supposed to.

If you have time, could you please elaborate on how you fix a desoldered point with a conductive ink pen?
I haven't soldered my chip yet but it would be good to know how to fix it just in case...

 

[SeaHawk22]

1. Flux serves to clean surfaces and is fairly important if you want it to work and last a while, most solder has it down the center of the solder though so that is probably why you do not see it. As an aside steer clear of acid flux (it is a fairly specialist item anyhow) and most will use resin/rosin. If you are not so comfortable try and track down some lead tin solder rather than silver based ones as well as for the most part they melt easier and flow better.

Thank you very much for your help, I have 60% Tin 40% Lead Rosin Core .063 Gauge Wire. Sound good?

 

[Tanas]

Flux is not needed for such a simple mod.

 

[FAST6191]

Conductive ink is just as it says, think of it is tip-ex for electronics: you draw a line (possibly scraping back some insulation to ensure conductivity) and leave it for a few minutes (read the instructions as they can be different) and bam it is done. Usually they are silver based so there is little worry of messing it up with a soldering iron as well.

@SeaHawk22 It may be a tad thick (more likely I can not remember gauge conversions) but that should work fine.

 

[Harsky]

I was about to solder buy and solder a PS2 chip but when I opened up my PS2 and saw the points to solder, it was absolutely tiny so I decided to just give it to my friend to chip it. My soldering experience isn't that great. I bought a 30W soldering iron and lead free silver solder years ago when I was on Battlebots/Robot Wars kick. I only picked them up again when the Viper Extreme chip came out and I think it was by pure chance that I fitted it without any problem. My soldering iron is being borrowed by my friend so I decided to order a 15 W one this time but I was wondering how important is it to order flux paste as well? When I ordered the iron, it also came with a core resin solder as well. My older soldering iron was abused to the point that solder won't even stick to the hot iron part to tin it.

 

[wuka]

Interesting stuff!

Question: Can I just file down the tip of an iron or am I just going to ruin it? I have a 1/32" tip and it seems to be too big for some of the stuff that I've used it on. Since I can't find anything smaller for it, I'm thinking of just sharpening the edge a little.

I have this cheap $15 solder station from mpja:

http://www.mpja.com/viewallpict.asp?dept=461&main=79

 

[FAST6191]

Most tips are just a copper alloy and if you can afford to sacrifice it (chances are it will break with far less usage then) then so be it sand/file it down (make sure to clean it afterwards). That being said the tip seems to be less than a millimetre across which should be small enough.

@Harsky flux paste is only really necessary for stuff like cars and exposed/corroded/coating protected electronics, the flux in the solder should do fine for a new Wii.