Soldering: Help a chap out.

[Greg_L]

Also how long do i have to do the pot wiring?! I feel like the longer i hold the iron to the pot the more risk i run of damaging. Maybe im not giving it the time it needs to do what it needs to do in fear of damaging the pot.

I bet it's this ^^^^^

Pots can be damaged but they can take more than you might think. Also are you using any flux?

[Lt. Bob]

Also how long do i have to do the pot wiring?! I feel like the longer i hold the iron to the pot the more risk i run of damaging. Maybe im not giving it the time it needs to do what it needs to do in fear of damaging the pot.

I bet it's this ^^^^^

Pots can be damaged but they can take more than you might think. Also are you using any flux?

AND for a pot I always sand or file or scrape the back where I'm gonna solder so it's fresh metal before I even use any flux.
I find that the scraped metal usually doesn't need more flux than the rosin core provides most of the time

[WhiskeyJack]

I didn't use any flux actually no. I always just assume whats in the rosin core is plenty to get the job done. I'll see if i can clean this pot off and get some metal exposed. Again.

I really hope i don't have to buy a new pot for this guy and have to take all this shit apart.

[WhiskeyJack]

About ready to friggin lose it up here. Im serious. My blood is boiling. Whyyyyyyyyyy does this keep happeneing!

I cleaned the pot up from the mess from yesterday. Got it down to as clean a metal as i could. Started over. Added a little more heat (between 382-393C and a little flux and left my tip on the pot for as long as i could comfortably do so. Well over a minute. . Same.fucking.thing.



Look at this mess. I cant even clean it up with desoldering braid or the solder sucker now. 1st picture is what the job part looks like. 2nd pic is what the shit looks like when i flick off the bigger pieces of it. And the third is my old shitty practice pots.

Interesting thing about the practice pots is i managed to get one good clean shiny blob out of like 6 attempts. Didnt expose fresh metal and didnt use flux and i can't say for certain but i feel like i had the side of the chisel tip laid on the side of the pot and shit melted and blobbed up nicely and quickly.

Tried to replicate it on the bare metal on the other side of the same pot. Nope..... got the clay like shit masses. So yea. Thats where im at.

Which may lead me to believe that maybe my tip might be dirty? And if it is dirty how do i clean it?! It looks fine. Its all bright silver. Should i sand it all off and retin it?

There has got to be an answer here. I just watched a handful of youtubes and guys are getting shiny nice blobs in a matter of seconds. I am doing something wrong or using something wrong. And it keeps getting worse and worse and worse. This isnt normal and it is seriously making me irate for something so simple

Last pic is the flux i am using. Maybe that is whats wrong. But i doubt it. It makes nice shiny pretinned wire leads so i dont know what is going on.

[WhiskeyJack]

Ok back onto this bulkshit.

I think i may have been using a roll of shit solder?! Is that thing?! Does solder actually go bad?! Like, at one point i held it up against a hot iron amd it didnt even melt. So? Maybe? At the very least plausible?! Follow along.

I reduced the heat on my iron to 315C on the low setting of the umgar station and remarkably got the same shitty sludgey results. After some conversion and talking to my dad 393C (740F) was poaaibly too hot.

However,

on a whim i then grabbed the newer of my two rolls of solder and managed to get those two nice blobs of shcmutz on the back of that practice pot.

I think i am going to try to unfuck the working pot of the grey sludge and try again. Im worried that perhaps if it was shit solder getting it off is gonna suck and there is no guarntee ill get all of it and may cross contaminate any good joints i might be able to come up with.

Stay tuned i guess.

I don't feel like i am going to have coronary amymore though. Thank the maker.

[Armistice]

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Potentiometers would like a word...

[JD01]

I have similar problems with soldering - it just doesn't work for me!

[Lt. Bob]

you can have bad solder so that's a possibility.

Also you want to make sure you're using 60/40 rosin core and also you don't want thick solder ...... I like fairly small gouge solder.

That tip looks fine to me ...... I'd put that flat section when hot, on the pot back and don't even touch the solder to it for a few seconds ...... then touch the solder to the part of the pot you're soldering to ...... when the pot gets hot enough so the solder melts on it, then it should flow better.

BUT ..... those two shiny ones you did look good so it may have simply been bad solder.

[WhiskeyJack]

you can have bad solder so that's a possibility.

Also you want to make sure you're using 60/40 rosin core and also you don't want thick solder ...... I like fairly small gouge solder.

That tip looks fine to me ...... I'd put that flat section when hot, on the pot back and don't even touch the solder to it for a few seconds ...... then touch the solder to the part of the pot you're soldering to ...... when the pot gets hot enough so the solder melts on it, then it should flow better.

BUT ..... those two shiny ones you did look good so it may have simply been bad solder.

thanks. I was able to get the thing wired up and making noise despite not being able to ungunk it. Though the only real safe real estate left on the project pot was on the sides so that's where the leads went to. turned out ok, despite the mess i made on the back of the pot. I sent a pic to the guy and he said he doesn't care so long as it makes a noise the way it is supposed to. I Imagine this is a flip guitar for him like all the rest he brings me to look at.

It think it must have been something with my first spool of really cheap made in china solder that came with my super cheap kit i got off amazon a bunch of years ago combined with just way way to high a heat on my iron perhaps. What gunk was left on the project pot simply wouldn't melt any more. NOr would it melt away on my practice pots. Frustrating as hell.

And yea, the second spool i grabbed was clearly marked 60-40 .8 Dia. rosin core. Huge difference in how it responded and flowed over the project. Like butter. The first one simply said flux core made in china. that was it. And it didn't really work great. I can't hep but wonder if perhaps i may have melted all the core out using such high heat? A possibility. A long shot but a possibility?

I have similar problems with soldering - it just doesn't work for me!

It's frustrating as hell. Definitely an art, but when it works the way it is supposed to it's great and goes pretty smoothly. But this instance here there was so many moving parts to process it was hard to really dig into what might be wrong. I know now at least to maybe keep an eye out for bad solder!!! Keep a few pots around so i can "test on scrap" as @muttley preaches.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Potentiometers would like a word...

[Lt. Bob]

I can't hep but wonder if perhaps i may have melted all the core out using such high heat? A possibility. A long shot but a possibility?

I don't think ...... I'd have that bad solder in the garbage or whatever, prolly expensive, environmentally-friendly disposal you have for stuff like that.
It would never come near my soldering iron again.

[WhiskeyJack]

I can't hep but wonder if perhaps i may have melted all the core out using such high heat? A possibility. A long shot but a possibility?

I don't think ...... I'd have that bad solder in the garbage or whatever, prolly expensive, environmentally-friendly disposal you have for stuff like that.
It would never come near my soldering iron again.

Went to out with the weekly garbage this morning.

[muttley]

Pot cases are a different beast. They draw the heat out of the tyip and you need to leave it on long enough for the tip to heat up again. I feed the solder onto the pot right next to the tip and DON'T wave the tip about and keep the solder in contact as well and in the same place. As soon as it flows you whip it off.

Tips are key, as are clean pots. Also just like an oven or a shower the temp on your iron has absolutely no relation to the dial or the numbers on the power supply. Go by feel, get used to how your tools work, ignore the dials. It either works or it doesn't.

Highly unlikely the solder is duff but it's easy to test. Get a new real.

[Lt. Bob]

Highly unlikely the solder is duff but it's easy to test. Get a new real.

he did ...... new one worked ..... old one in garbage

[Ausrock]

One could write a treatise on this subject but to attempt to remain concise I would say that Mutts comments are worth taking note of.

I rarely fiddle with electronics these days but was "building" amps and stuff back over 40 years ago. I would NEVER use a chisel tip iron on electronics, having been guided by a TV/radio tech mate, I will only use an iron with a smallish diameter conical tip, something which has never let me down.

Also, I have never experienced solder "going off" with age. Maybe it can happen with some brands but not in my experience and you should not need to use flux if you're using resin/rosin core solder.

Oddly enough, most of the soldering I've done was during the years I had my stained glass studio and that is a whole different kettle of fish .....much bigger irons and definitely not resin/rosin cored.

[Armistice]

Been wondering about the resin / rosin thing... which is it?

[Greg_L]

I use a knife tip...



You get a combo of fine point and broad chisel tip in one. I also use high heat. Probably around 750F. I want to solder fast and true...especially if I'm messing with PCBs. I don't want to let the tip contact the parts for too long. I've lifted traces using lower heat and it's no fun. High heat is a fast job and less collateral damage.

It's possible you got a bunk roll of solder. I've used a lot of different solder and they do sometimes act different.

As for cleaning the tip...do not sand it. Sanding will ruin a solder tip. All you need to do is get it hot, dip it in flux, wipe it off with a wet sponge, and re-tin it. Repeat as necessary. No abrasives on a solder tip. The flux/re-tin process will clean it. And then when you're done for the day, before you turn the iron off, melt a huge glob of solder on the tip and then it turn it off with the solder still on there. The glob will cool and harden and seal the tip from oxidation. When you fire it up again that old glob will re-melt and you can wipe it off.