How much solder do i need

Think of flux and a prepping agent for the soldering process. Flux removes any oxidation that may be present and slightly etches the surface to promote wetting.

No-clean flux is a good choice for soldering where cleaning is to be avoided. The light residue can be left on the board, or removed with a flux remover. Rosin activated flux RA provides excellent solderability in a wide variety of applications.

It is best to remove the residue after soldering for aesthetics and to avoid corrosion down-the-line. Water soluble flux OA is a very active flux engineered to be removed easily with DI water, like in a batch or in-line system.

It can also be removed with isopropyl alcohol IPA. It is very important to clean off water soluble flux residues because they are highly corrosive. These classifications are for companies that have green initiatives, or have to comply with halogen restrictions due to regulatory or customer restrictions.

Halogens include chlorine, fluorine, iodine, bromine and astatine elements. If soldering a simple connection, like 2 wires, or a thru-hole lead, the flux in a flux core solder should be enough. For more complex soldering techniques, like drag soldering multiple leads on a surface mount component, additional flux may need to be added. The flux is activated and consumed when it originally flows from the core.

If the solder is worked further, like when you drag across multiple leads, you run the risk of cold joints or bridging without additional flux. While more flux seems like it should be better, take care not to over apply flux. Flux can be painted on with an acid brush, or applied with either a needle bottle dispenser, or a pen dispenser. You want the tip hot enough to melt the solder efficiency, but excess heat can damage components as the heat travels along the leads, and it will reduce the lifespan of the soldering tip.

Inspect the solder joint to make sure there is full coverage over the contact area and lead. Some things to watch out for:. The goal is to match the tip shape and size to the contact pad. This allows you to maximize the contact surface area, so that you heat the lead and contact area as quickly as possible. If you choose a tip that is too large, you have more tip volume to heat, which will slow down the heat recovery - the time it takes for the tip to reheat after soldering a joint.

It also runs the risk of interfering with other components and contact areas. It will take more dwell time, which slows you down and could increase the thermal stress of the component.

Make sure you are using a soldering iron and tips intended for electronic PCB soldering. Tips intended for other applications, like stained glass, plumbing, or heavy electrical work, are generally much larger than what is appropriate for electronics. Soldering tips come in all kinds of shapes to facilitate different PCB geometries:. The solder will tend to melt but just drip off the tip.

This makes it difficult to move in order to solder around contact areas the way you may need it. The purpose is to remove excess flux and solder from the tip. If too much flux builds up and burns onto the soldering tip, it will eventually dewet and be unusable but not necessarily unrecoverable.

Unless the tip cleaning tools are used properly, they can do more harm than good. When choosing a sponge, make sure it is made of natural cellulose like Plato replacement sponges. Synthetic sponges will melt onto the soldering tip and can shorten tip life. Use clean DI water.

Tap water may include minerals that can build-up on the tip. When you saturate the sponge, wring it out so that it is not dripping wet. Too much water can increase the thermal stress of the tip, and slow down tip recovery. When the soldering tip has turned black from baked on fluxes and no longer wets properly, it is time for the cleaning tools of last resort.

Tip tinner Plato TT is a combination of lead-free solder and cleaner. While the soldering iron is at full temperature, roll it in the tip tinner. As you roll it, it should change from black to shiny silver as the baked flux is cleaned off. Then wipe off the excess tip tinner from the soldering tip, and re-tin using wire solder. Polishing bars are also available and are used to scrub the tip clean of flux residues.

This should only be used as a last resort because you will be removing iron along with the burnt flux.

Once a tip shows pitting - actual holes in the iron - it is time to be replaced. Remember to use a jabbing motion using a brass tip cleaner. Wiping across the surface increases the likelihood of flinging molten solder.

Since the move from lead to lead-free solders, a common complaint has been short tip life. The higher heat needed for lead-free solders and flux combined with greater activity leads to faster tip burn-out. Also, how much solder to you typically need to feed into one joint? I've read once reference that suggests 1 inch.

My concern is that, because the coupling is vertically oriented, would I end up soldering both joints if I feed solder from the top joint first? Soldered with No-Lead Solder. Last edited by a moderator: Apr 7, This isn't a rule! It's not set in stone and I will tell you that I have never in my life measured solder. You are right If you don't pay attention when soldering the top joint a lot of solder will be dripping out of the bottom joint. More important than how much you use is cleaning the copper good and fluxing good and not overheating the joint.

Redwood , Dec 19, Joined: Nov 25, Location: CA. The nice thing is that solder has surface tension - so though it will wet to clean copper wonderfully well, even in a vertical orientation it will form a fillet on the joint when there is enough solder in there. You're really going to do both at nearly the same time, but thinking it over I'd do the bottom half first and then the top - for no particular reason other than I can see the top better than the bottom. Finesse with the flame, watching the joint and add just enough heat to completely flow the solder into the joint, fillet a bit and you're done.

As Redwood wrote, don't overheat the joint and you'll be fine and done in no time. Probedude , Dec 19, Just sharkbite coupling it! Joined: Jul 30, Occupation: Tech. Instructor Location: S. Flux is a substance that cleans the metal surfaces to create a stronger bond and help prevent oxidation.

Most -- but not all! For details about soft solder vs. What is Soft Solder? Because it melts at a low temperature, you can apply soft solder with an electric soldering iron or gun.

You might also be able to carefully use a torch with soft solder it depends on the application. Use soft solder to create custom base-metal jewelry, fuse base-metal components, repair costume jewelry, and solder shut base-metal jump rings.

Brass, copper, and bronze components can also be fused together using hard solders see below. Warning: If you use a tin-based soft solder on a piece of sterling silver jewelry, you will never be able to use a torch or hard solders on it. When you heat silver with soft tin solder on it, the tin and silver combine and become a very low-temperature melting alloy. Your piece can be destroyed under heat as the metal melts away from the soft solder patch.

MSDS and instructions included. This solder can only be shipped within the USA and to parts of Canada. Flux needs to be purchased separately.

You can control the temp of the soldering iron so you will never have it to hot and if its not hot enough you can always turn up the temp. I have a 60 Watt one and I have it set to C F most of the time unless I'm working on something delicate. Just keep in mind when buying a soldering iron solder melts around C F so if you are buying a 40 watt soldering iron that can reach temps of C F with a small thin tip it will take longer to heat a wire then one with a big or wide tip.

More surface contact will transfer heat quicker. I was a design engineer at NASA for 8 years. All engineering, techs and assemblers had to undergo their 3 day soldering and mechanical assembly course. A good solder joint starts with clean surfaces. Whether you are soldering wire, connectors, circuit boards, etc. Denatured alcohol was used with an acid brush to clean all surfaces prior to soldering. Tin and clean your iron as usual, but clean your surfaces with alcohol and then apply solder.

You will be happy with the results. Thanks for the tip! Would rubbing alcohol work? I also heard you can clean PCB's with rubbing alcohol to remove dust and dirt and it won't hurt anything if you let it dry over night. Never tried it though.

Don't heat the components to much you can damage them. Some flux wouldn't hurt if you are using a old board. Make sure you double check your work before applying any power.

As for the wire it could be dirty. Did you try cutting off the end and striping? You want the wire to have a copper shin to it. Heat the wire up while adding a little solder once you see the solder flowing to the wire you add more solder to cover the exposed wire.

Very useful. If you're working on PCB's, the thinner the diameter of the solder, the better. Radio Shack sells a. If you do find it, stock up since no one knows for sure how long RS will be around.

If you're in a club e. Introduction: Soldering for the Beginner. By robmawe91 Follow. More by the author:. In this instructable I will try to teach you the basics of soldering.