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Just wanted to see what peeps here on the board thought of my soldering. Keep in mind I just started practicing about a week ago.
Picture, 769KB
I included the little ruler so you could see the proportions I was dealing with. This was done on an old PCI soundcard (soundblaster Live that I've had since 2000 if anyone is curious). The wires are from an IDE cable. I used a 30w iron with a tiny tip and .032 solder. The bottommost point was one I decided to do at the last minute so I didn't tin the point properly. All the wires hold securely to a pretty strong tug. I tried to find a place on the card that had the closest points to give myself the greatest challenge and most accurately approximate what I'll run into on a Wii modchip install.
The one thing I'm having issue with is the insulation from the wires melting back no matter what... I've tried using a heatsink but with it clamped on there I can't control the wires as well on the board when I make the connection. As long as I make sure they don't touch anything it won't do anything bad, right? I mean, it's not up to NASA spec, but whatever. I still have about two months before I get my Wii, so I still have lots of time to improve.
Picture, 769KB
I included the little ruler so you could see the proportions I was dealing with. This was done on an old PCI soundcard (soundblaster Live that I've had since 2000 if anyone is curious). The wires are from an IDE cable. I used a 30w iron with a tiny tip and .032 solder. The bottommost point was one I decided to do at the last minute so I didn't tin the point properly. All the wires hold securely to a pretty strong tug. I tried to find a place on the card that had the closest points to give myself the greatest challenge and most accurately approximate what I'll run into on a Wii modchip install.
The one thing I'm having issue with is the insulation from the wires melting back no matter what... I've tried using a heatsink but with it clamped on there I can't control the wires as well on the board when I make the connection. As long as I make sure they don't touch anything it won't do anything bad, right? I mean, it's not up to NASA spec, but whatever. I still have about two months before I get my Wii, so I still have lots of time to improve.