soldering help

alright... ive done some soldering in the past (just in middle school metal shop though), but im a complete newb to what stuff you are required to have to solder on a wire (gonna mod a saturn)... i would take it to a place where they could do it for me, but unfortunately no one will do mods for saturns anymore since its a defunct system. so im left with no other choice...

i know that you need to have a soldering iron (i got a 15 watt iron, not sure if thats enough) and the solder wire itself, but is there anything else that im REQUIRED to have?
 
A steady hand is really useful.

Something to practice on first would be good too.
 
i got a 15 watt iron, not sure if thats enough

That's just fine for light electronic work.

is there anything else that im REQUIRED to have

Desoldering braid (also called solder wick) would be good. Strictly speaking you don't absolutely need it, but that's only true if you get good joints 100% of the time and never need to clean one up.
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I use braid and a solder sucker, fantastic tool
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Also, a damp sponge is useful to keep the tip of your iron clean as you work.
 
You've got to be really careful with solder suckers.

It's really easy to suck tracks straight off a PCB. ???
 
ive got this soldering iron from radio shack... i think on the back, it said that you have to screw on a tip to use it, but is it completely mandatory?

and i also saw some rosin stuff... what does that do?
 
i've modded saturns, ps2's and other system modifications. Heres the low down from my experience

15 watt soldering iron (25 watt iron will work too)

Either can be purchased from radio shack. They are fairly nice and you can buy new tips when they get used/abused.

Tinner - Good to tin your soldering iron to prolong the life of the tip and keep that tip in good condition.

Rosin - This really isn't needed too mcuh for what you're doing but it is nice to use on some hard or small to solder areas. Basically what rosin does is all you to solder to a piece easier. A good number of manufactures spray their boards with anti-soldering type film. Rosin helps to bind the solder to an area basically

Scratch brush- This also you probably won't need but its good if the manufacturer has sprayed the board with a film. Basically you scratch the area that you're going to be soldering to. (scratching off the film on a chip or just making a coarser area to make solder stick better)

Desolder braid - This is a thing that i would highly suggest you get especially if you're somewhat new to soldering. Basically its a copper type braid that has been handed down by god himself to help save your shaky hand. Basically if you screw up, you can take the desolder braid(press the iron on the braid) then succeed to suck up any solder that has been misplaced. Works very well if you have gotten solder inside the bridges of a chip.

Desolder bulb- used to also suck up solder but i've found that the desloder braid is really all thats necessary.

Pick

Magnifying glass

That should get you set for the most part. Also if your chip isn't wired yet and you have to solder to the chip itself i would suggest getting kynar wire from radio shack to solder to the cd board. Its very thin wire (like dental floss) and makes soldering to a small point easy and quick. Then you would need a slighty higher guague wire to solder to the power.

You may already know but... When you first sodler try to get a little bit of solder onto the wire First then proceeed to place the wire on the point of destination and touch the iron to the wire. If you try to get a big ball of solder on the iron then touch the wire and chip all at once it could be a disaterous effect.,
 
Rosin - This really isn't needed too mcuh for what you're doing but it is nice to use on some hard or small to solder areas. Basically what rosin does is all you to solder to a piece easier. A good number of manufactures spray their boards with anti-soldering type film. Rosin helps to bind the solder to an area basically

Fluxes such as rosin are essentially corrosive agents. What they do is dissolve anything that might be contaminating the area so that the solder can properly interface with the metals to be joined. The two major classes of fluxes are no-clean and aqueous. No-clean fluxes are neutralized during the soldering process and can be left on the board. Aqueous fluxes retain some of their corrosive property and must be washed off. Most common electronics solders have a "core" made of no-clean flux. Make sure that you get the appropriate type of flux; some are intended for heavier metalworking and can eat right through a PCB over time.

Anyway, the #1 tip I can give you for soldering is this: clean everything. Solder will not stick to dirty surfaces, and contaminated joints are unreliable. Isopropyl alcohol is your friend. Also, don't try to "carry" solder to the joint by putting it on the iron; this is a recipe for disaster.
 
The most important thing I've found over time: always, always, always have a clean tip.

Use a damp sponge, or a damp paper towel folded over many times into a small square to constantly wipe the tip. Clean the tip everytime you are going to do the next solder connection.

A clean tip will make the job 100 times easier.
 
sweet... thanks for all the help guys... i still gotta get that desoldering braid before monday, the day that my saturn comes in :>
 
i didnt see ne1 mention this

if your bad at soldering and take a long time on each part then mabey you should get somekind of metal clamp to heat sink so no teperature sensitive compnents get damaged - if you solder close to them
 
oh yeah... i got a quick question before my sega saturn arrives
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i heard that the power cable you have to solder doesnt even need to be soldered, but instead can be taped in w/ electrical tape. i was just wondering if duct tape will be fine also, since i dont have any electrical tape... and will it be safe if i tape the wire down on the board with the duct tape as well so it wont be loose?
 
im not sure if the adhesive on your duct tape is not electricaly conductive if you have a multi meter check it out

other wise it may be ok -- but i ususaly use electrical tape for anything like that

some duct tapes will come off when the adhesive dries (especialy the cheapo duct tape)
 
arg... im not brave enough to find out if its electrically conductive or not
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im just gonna go with soldering it on...
 
if its one wire don't worry

you can also try pre-soldering the wire or trace youll be soldering to, that way all you'll have to do is hold the wire in one hand and the iron in another and ZAP! its done

-- just dont take forever pre-soldering so that your blob just wants to stick to its self
 
send it to me, i'll mod it for 5 bucks (you pay shipping both ways)
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(the 5 bucks makes it buisness not charity, sort of a nominal fee)
 
Originally posted by Merc248@Aug. 20 2002, 8:29 pm

oh yeah... i got a quick question before my sega saturn arrives
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i heard that the power cable you have to solder doesnt even need to be soldered, but instead can be taped in w/ electrical tape. i was just wondering if duct tape will be fine also, since i dont have any electrical tape... and will it be safe if i tape the wire down on the board with the duct tape as well so it wont be loose?

thats the easier joint of the two anyway, its a nice big post to solder it onto rather than a little pin on the ic chip, so you might as well solder it, that also means you shouldnt need to open the saturn up later to stick it back down as well
 
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