Latest: tried soldering parts onto a perfboard. This was easier than the motor but harder than wire joins. They tell you to heat the joint first for a couple of seconds before adding the solder. Easier said than fine. These are bad joints but at least I didn’t damage parts.
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Initially I was bad at cleaning and running the tip. Either I’d end up with tiny beads on the tip, or a large blob.
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But I’ve discovered tinning the tip is not optional. Heat transfer is nearly non-existent if you don’t. Here’s crappy current state after post-session tinning.
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I think the trick is to let the tinning blob flow around and down the cone/chisel tip? Dunno. Definitely not like applying paint. More like trying to get a drop of water to coat an oily toothpick tip. To be investigated further 🧐
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Flux is shady stuff. It does allow solder to wet metal better but is a mess to apply and creates liquid goopy conditions at joint 😡. The solder is rosin-core so can kinda work without flux, but I wanna master flux use. It’s hard to apply. I use a q-tip.
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Replying to
I like Kester brand solder and flux (don't remember brand) in soldering pen form. Not messy and helps with many things and assists in desoldering. The lazy and safe way to do a quick clean is a rinse with 99% alcohol. Flux can be slightly conductive and cause problems if left.
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Replying to
what size solder do you use? as in 0.6, 0.8 mm etc? And do you use leaded or lead-free?
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Just ordered pen sized Kester .033 both leaded and unleaded and conducting tape and pen, so thanks for recos. Also got some strip board which is likely what I’ll end up using in the end, over isolated hole perf boards.
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I really like the breadboard style perf boards. They have good quality control and come in lots of sizes.
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Oh sweet, didn’t know these existed. I’ll get some with my next order.

