Soldering is easy.
Here's how to do it.
Download this comic book and share it with your friends!
https://mightyohm.com/files/soldercomic/FullSolderComic_EN.pdf
@rationaldoge
Oh, wow! This is awesome. I've gotten into custom keyboards this year, but haven't felt confident enough to try soldering my own yet and this will be a fantastic resource.
@rationaldoge Thank you! My 2 cents: Lead-free SAC-305 is lovely solder which is perfectly easy to use, and I'm going on at least a year on my hoof tip with daily soldering. I would encourage the reduction of leaded solder in our world, especially for those just starting out.
@rationaldoge is the bit about "bang the board against the work table to fling the excess molten solder to the table" serious advice?
This part left me wondering if the comic was actually satirical.
I don't know much about soldering, but I thought that using a wick or pump would be the right way to do it.
@tinsuke @rationaldoge it works actually :p
but yes, it would be better to use specialized tools
@rationaldoge Soldering is a great thing to learn how to do! I practiced on a couple of easy soldering kit projects and made some LED's light up. Then I turned around and started soldering my ebike stuff.
@triker @rationaldoge Any skill can be learned... A person with a few simple tools and way to access youtube is a force to be reckoned with...
@rationaldoge if it was that easy how come I sent my phaser pedal to the repair shop last week only for them to tell me the problem was the power cable I, er, 'customised' with my soldering 'skiils' :D
@rationaldoge
Hey thanks for this! I got started soldering to build radio kits and antennas, and now I regret not learning this sooner. Like ya said, it is an easy skill
@kieran
It's very important to remember that it isn't pronounced "soddering". Some people do.
@Walrus @rationaldoge Naw, it's pronounced "sautering."
"Soddering" is a British thing that British people never ever do.
*well, hardly ever
I'm sure there are people here who say "soddering", but I don't want to know what it means.
@Walrus @rationaldoge *it's one of those "see also: Gomorah" things
@Walrus @rationaldoge Like most British/American splits, both pronounced it "soddering" based on the 14th century English word "sawd" but the British changed their pronunciation to a more Latin/French base sometime after the colonies formed and Americans continued using the original 14th century English pronunciation. I've read multiple anecdotes where British engineers born before the 1920s or so continued to use the old English pronunciation as well.
@rationaldoge Soldering is fun!
@rationaldoge
What about ventilation?
@rationaldoge
Soldering is an art, comparable to learning how to play the guitar. It takes a couple of years to be decent, and longer to be really good.
@rationaldoge Thanks @maltman23 for making it!
@rationaldoge oh boy... already in high school I'm destined to speed up my eventual madness building arduino bots.
Granted we did it with no mask and honestly pretty relaxed safety rules.
@rationaldoge I know how to solder, but at the part of the resistors I always drop off because for some reason people thought it was a good idea to color code things when doing electronics....
But the guide looks good and I'll share it with a friend who wants to get into it.
@rationaldoge@hachyderm.io I been scared about trying out retro console mod as it required solder and don't want to brick it, will take the look of that comic soon so I stop being paranoid about it
@rationaldoge Adding this to the training library for @hiveboston !
Ventilation
Eye protection
(Also non-synthetic clothing including long pants, and shoes in case you drop something scalding hot
Don't ask me how I know that but don't worry everything turned out ok
)
@rationaldoge Tip no. 4.
If you get into the habit of removing excess solder from the iron by flicking it towards the floor (OK with someone else's solid floor, like a school lab where you may have learned to solder, less clever with your own carpet) then it's a good idea *not* to be wearing sandals and socks.
Because sooner or later a blob of solder will land on your foot, soak through the sock, and start burning you whilst the sock holds it firmly against your skin.
@rationaldoge this is awesome! Every year I build retrocomputer kits with a high school club. This is going to be into the act!
@rationaldoge I was a certified welder for several years after I got my art degree. I initially learned to weld & solder in college working on sculptures.I’ve always been pleasantly surprised how often even just knowing how to solder has come in handy in the decades since.
@rationaldoge
This is excellent! (and with a touch of humour to make it fun)
Thanks, Bruce!
@rationaldoge
a handy tool for anyone in the resistance!
@rationaldoge
It's never been the same since they took the lead out of the solder... Ah the good old days of heavy metal electronics!
@foolishowl
@rationaldoge I think I’ll have to download this as I’ve repaired headphones by replacing a damaged jack plug and the switch on a battery powered LED light fixture and the soldering looked like pigeon droppings but I’m with you ,why not repair something rather than throwing it away and buying a new one ! And another thing why aren’t things made so as they can be repaired or upgraded ( I do know the answer to this question, then there would be no need to buy more stuff) reuse
They forgot the part where you do all this the way they said and then the thing doesn't work and you have no idea what to do about it because you aren't a professional technician and don't own or know how to use a benchful of diagnostic equipment so the thing becomes avant garde art.
Maybe that's the next book.
Context: I solder. I build stuff. I like it. I've gotten better at it and have success more frequently now. But you can't build circuit boards reliably without human help, meaning an actual live human being watching you or at very least on-call to troubleshoot your work.
This point is rarely made in ham radio circles, where direct human contact is feared and avoided.
A public service announcement from KB7PWJ.
@rationaldoge Thank you for making this available, I’ve printed it out and now I’m going to teach myself to solder without the pigeon guano effect