The 1337 Guide to Soldering for Beginners

Here are a few simple tips to help you improve your soldering as you create your own 1337 robotic projects:

• Start with a blob of solder on the tip of the iron. Load the tip of the iron with a small blob of solder before each joint. Without it, the tip of the iron won't make good contact with the track and the component, they won't heat up enough, and you'll get a bad joint.
• Touch both the track and the component. Make sure that the blob of solder on the end of the iron is touching both the track and the component lead so that they both heat up.
• Solder in order of heat sensitivity. Some components are easily damaged by heat, so do these last. This means generally in the order: IC sockets, plugs/sockets, resistors, capacitors, transistors.
• Don't take too long. Heat can damage components, so don't leave the iron touching them for more than two or three seconds.
• Use a fan. Even though the fumes smell quite nice (well I think so anyway), they're toxic. Have the window open while you're working, and use a small fan to blow the fumes away. I use a little fan I pulled out of an old computer. Point it just above the circuit board you're working on, so that it blows away the fumes but doesn't blow on the board.
• Clean the tip. Once the solder has been on the tip for more than 10 seconds or so, its properties change. I don't know why, but it no longer flows well and will form spikes when you lift the bit away. Clean the tip of the iron on a damp sponge and use some fresh solder.
• Check it. Before powering on your finished board, look at every joint and every component. Check that you haven't missed any, and you haven't created any solder bridges (unwanted connections, where the blob of solder is too big and touches another track). This can save you a lot of time and spare you from blowing up your circuit!