Collin's Lab: Soldering

Learn the basics of soldering from Collin Cunningham!
Adafruit guide to excellent soldering: learn.adafruit...
Entry level soldering iron: adafruit.com/pr...
Hakko FX-888 soldering iron: www.adafruit.co...
More Collin's Lab:
Breadboards: • Collin's Lab: Breadboa...
Multimeters: • Collin's Lab: Multimet...
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Subscribe to Adafruit on KZbin: adafru.it/subsc...
Join our weekly Show & Tell on G+ Hangouts On Air: adafru.it/showtell
Watch our latest project videos: adafru.it/latest
New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: learn.adafruit....
Music by bartlebeats: / bartlebeats
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[@RealDealHolyfield2099]

Wow, so many good things to say about this video. First, it's very well written and extremely clear an concise. The presentation and visuals are excellent. Even the "cinematography" elevates this video, making it more engaging. Then there's Collin, whose stellar delivery is a cross between Agent Smith and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He's also dressed for success! Kudos for another great video.

[@vapenation7061]

Christopher Kiefer well said

[@domobrah2671]

Yes!

[@djtoddles8750]

good call on the cinematography. Wouldn't have thought of that but yeah, Colin's the Speilberg of geek vids

[@michaelcoxjr]

I get the vibe of Alton Brown’s Good Eats show.

[@rwh777]

@@michaelcoxjr Me too, plus a little bit of Thomas Dolby! :-)

[@mikecraftin3564]

Collin is easily my favorite electronics guy. I've learned so much from him and he is just an awesome, unique personality that needs to make more videos! XD

[@danlespoir]

Just realized this was 8 years ago and is really keeping up to modern editing and instructors

[@adafruit]

*Learn the basics of soldering from Collin Cunningham!* Entry level soldering iron: adafruit.com/products/180 Hakko FX-888 soldering iron: www.adafruit.com/products/1204 More Collin's Lab: Breadboards: Collin's Lab: Breadboards & Perfboards Multimeters: Collin's Lab: Multimeters Collin's Lab: Soldering Collin Cunningham #soldering #solder

[@SherryNouraini]

Ben Shamsian

[@heidioliviamunksgaard9492]

I have tried to avoid the discipline of soldering, because it seemed so tedious and boring. After watching this video I am online ordering soldering gear. It is incredible how highly motivating Collin' s enthusiasm is on me! More of this please :)

[@ChrisKurtz]

I think this is the one of the best "how to solder" videos I've seen, and includes a good basic tip choice guide, which I really needed. I never understand why most soldering irons sold by Adafrui and Sparkfun come with a round tip that isn't best suited for their likely use, soldering to perfboard.

[@AustinGodber]

That guy cracks me up

[@AustinGodber]

Instructive too.

[@ChrisKurtz]

Yeah, he's amusing!

[@GRBtutorials]

Well, they come with that tip from the manufacturer, it's not the distributor's fault.

[@peterlake9448]

I had no idea there was more Collin's Lab, I'm so glad I've found these!

[@fuhgawz500]

I am so happy Collin's Lab has returned! The original videos were extremely helpful when I first started out in the world of electronics. He has returned with increased production quality and more nerdly awesomeness! Keep it up Collin! You are the host of my all time favorite how to series!

[@RaptorJesus696]

Thanks Collin you taught me how to solder and I just repaired 500$ worth of Camry speedometers soldering in a 3 prong ceramic resistor on them both and it was easy and fun. I had a cold solder joint and I hit it with the iron real fast and it fixed it. My setup was not as nice as yours I used 5$ iron, crap wash solder and some copper wick for desolder. Thank you!!

[@supersammy00]

Thanks adafruit for bring back collins lab your the best!!!

[@peteroakes9007]

I have never seen a better "how-to" about anything than this one. Clear, great presentation and photography.

[@liminal-m3g]

Bravo! It's amazing how Collin combines excellent teaching skills and clear and concise information within such a stylish and well produced video. Thanks!

[@seyinaike]

Thanks a lot! About to do some soldering on my PS5 controller to fix stick drift. I feel more confident after watching this ❤️

[@43monk]

I love this show! I hope Mr. Cunningham continues to make them.

[@brandonbraner]

Finally a video that shows the applying solder part and how to do it. I have been trying to hear the pad and apply the solder to the other side.

[@JustinHallPlus]

Possibly the best and most useful Collin's Lab to date.

[@williamlawson3617]

This is my first time watching Collin nice work on the video. Thank you for helping us learn. THIS is the true power of the internet. Thank you please keep making videos we love you're personality.

[@DGMDevGamingAndMore]

the man wears a suit and a tie in a workshop while recording videos. respect.

[@lytcomm88]

This is by far the best soldering tutorial I have ever seen.

[@el-domo]

i was a Labor-Tutor at a University and i can say: This video ist super and very correct.

[@elitejohnlp]

This is a great video. The colors are vibrant, close-ups amazingly detailed and focused, and his intensity made it seem like he was repairing control systems on a nuclear sub. The detail spoken about can be clearly seen in the examples shown.. I can't wait to show people this video - quite possibly the best made soldering video I've seen yet. Thank you for taking the time to make it!

[@rastislavpalenik1563]

Hi Collin, I watched this video 5-times and i still love it. Your videos are relaxing, funny and informative. You are the best. :)

[@CarolGardner60]

Great demo. Detail, Yes! Well paced. Close-ups Yes! Thank you.

[@bossysmaxx3327]

woah dude where have you been this whole time, youtube recommends me booties all the time but videos they don't even appear in my search. youtube's a simp

[@theoriginalwirelessmonk]

Thrilled to see more Collin's Lab!

[@stemjesus]

One of the best soldering tutorials I've seen

[@theshadowman1398]

Agent Smith how much wattage iron is best to buy ? Regards

[@SamReynolds]

Collin's Lab is the Best!

[@lstouder]

Great job, Colin! I always enjoy your workshops, even if I think I know how to do it. Keep up the good work.

[@technorenaissance]

I never knew a soldering video could be so badass.

[@ankushkakne9530]

Excellent work sir. You have made so many useful and one of the best videos. Keep the good work going.

[@seda8883]

great detailed and thorough video collin

[@landongreer]

Yes! Collin is awesome! I love these very basic concept summaries.

[@DaveMcAnulty]

My #1 soldering tip, Use eutectic (63/37) blend solder. It costs no more then regular (60/40) and makes producing a cold solder joint almost technically impossible.

[@davidledoux1736]

What a great tutorial! Alton Brown meets MIB. Thanks for the video.

[@MacRutan]

This as a great video with perfect pace and presentation. Nice work! Cool tunes as well, I bet they're from someone in house at Adafruit, are they?

[@morelenmir]

An absolutely *excellent* video--clear, concise and brilliantly presented. I was especially pleased to see that no emphasis was given to using external flux. This is a practise I have come to believe is actually counter productive and when using even moderate quality solder is completely unnecessary. The only issue I would raise is that as an example of an appropriate quality tool you highlight a Hakko 888 station. No doubt this is indeed of high quality but it is also *extremely* expensive and likely out of reach to beginners or even long-term hobbyists such as myself. Again--nothing wrong with showing the Hakko iron, but also give an example of a more sanely priced tool as well for those of us who can't afford £120 or even £60 for that matter! For instance the entry-level example given in the description is pretty good and could well have done with an appearance in the video itself, as could one of the reasonably priced but still decent quality Chinese stations. I know professionals in electronics who never used anything but a directly mains-powered, thermally balanced iron through their entire life. Otherwise a great presentation. I just wish Colin had his own channel!

[@emilybendsspace]

I'd argue that for anyone who is looking to do electronics at today's scale, including surface mount components, Hakko's FX888 is about as cheap as you'd want to go, and an excellent choice no one will regret. It's about $100-$110, which I would not call extremely expensive. The cost is comparable to that of any decent power tool, like say a Makita 18V drill. Hakko has $2500 soldering irons for people who do this for a living. The soldering iron is your main tool as an electronics hobbyist, cheaping out on it will affect absolutely everything you build or repair. Trying to do everything with a single 25W mains-plug iron is, IMO, a mistake of false economy; you'll lose the difference in cost over your first couple of weeks, as ruined boards and components, wasted solder, and by spending 5 times as much time fixing and debugging your bodge jobs than if you had a good tool. When I was a kid, I could get by with one 25W Radio Shack pencil iron too, but those were the days of discrete, through-hole components only. I can't say that I'd want to use that today on something like a microcontroller or TSOP IC. And on that note, a lot of people are going to find out pretty quickly that they need a hot air station too; soldering is not just for irons any more!

[@wolfrobots118]

I love everything Adafruit.!!!

[@MrUKTechReviews]

That was a really useful tutorial. Time to move my soldering to the next level!

[@_windows_software_wizard_2136]

i saw this vid 2 years ago and it stil intreags me today i just wish they stil did collins lab vids hees awsome

[@incognitoanonymous3739]

Waw, this was just perfect. In addition, the Matrix.

[@diredesire]

It should be noted that lead-free solders don't generally have the same shiny finish even on good joints. Those using lead-free solders should not be alarmed if your end joints look a little dull. The technique here isn't really great, either. It's fine for an introduction video, so I'm not going to criticize, but this technique (wetting the iron and then wicking to the joint) relies a lot on the flux in the core. Old solder (it has an expiration date!) may have some wetting issues. It's ok to pre-tin the tip and then contact both points of the circuit, and then apply the solder to the opposite side of the iron. There are also standalone flux applicators (dry/paste or liquid/pens/syringes). This will make your life easier, and it should be considered an essential tool.

[@electronash]

And yep - extra flux is definitely recommended, but probably not necessary for a lot of basic through-hole soldering, as long as you use a decent solder with multi-core flux to begin with. But, added flux is pretty much a MUST for a lot of surface-mount stuff, especially when doing drag-soldering on chips with many fine pins. I use often use extra flux for making things like the solder joints on small 0603 / 0402 sized components a lot neater. Many of the cheaper "stripboard" or "matrix boards" with bare copper tend to oxidise too easily as well. You can buy the nice pre-tinned proto boards really cheaply now, so luckily the bare copper boards are a thing of the past for newer prototypes. hehe I find lead-free solder to be OK to work with, as it's used in practically everything these days. It does tend to look slightly dull in comparsion to lead solder, but it doesn't take long to get used to using it. You do need a fairly decent soldering station with a good thermal capacity for lead-free really (due to the higher temps required). Thermal capacity of a soldering iron / station is NOT the same thing as it's rated wattage though. The cheapo irons you often see (usually with the giant screw that holds the tip in. lol) can get way too hot when just sitting "idle", and can have that charred / oxidised look in a very short time. They might claim to be "60 Watts" or "100 Watts", but that doesn't mean they have any kind of temperature control, nor have decent thermal capacity when soldering larger components / PCB planes / heatsinks.

[@lordblack998]

this is really helpful because I'm doing electronics in high school

[@insidiousfleen356]

+1 for Collin Cunningham

[@raj.qwerty]

That was great, Collin. 👏🏼 Thank you so much.

[@madchow1317]

The MiniPOV4 looks cool, when is it going to be available???

[@alecclews]

We used this at #shemakes Melbourne yesterday and it was great. No one needed a real human to show them. Great video, saved a lot of time.

[@Racerjr2387]

I like this video, it shows me so much and now I can start soldering. Also can I get song name? Its really......intriguing. It starts at 2:29.

[@southernkatrina8161]

Sounds somewhat like something you can generate in Musinum, a fractal, free, MIDI program that runs on random numbers and plays out thru the MIDI card already on your comp. Now Collin's music may be something he has composed, but it sounds enough like a Musinum generated work that there isn't much difference.

[@0h2ezy]

Again, wonderfully done!

[@rapidunscheduleddisassembly]

Alton Brown's Brother? :)

[@jonahnichols2158]

oh my god....

[@cruising84]

No, its the doctors son from Star Trek Voyager

[@TerraRiley]

Great minds... 😂😂😭😭

[@KulbirAhluwalia]

So much info. So easily said. Awesome video!

[@whitenorthstar]

I swear!...hes in "The Matrix"!

[@Dagoth_Ur_1]

"Mr anderson"

[@richardmoeller5351]

Pfft he IS the Matrix.

[@iyeetsecurity922]

He sounds more like the narrator from Twilight Zone.

[@THECIBOR009]

Me sorder

[@imanbarron3703]

Thankyou I learn a lot

[@liamp2648]

Collin is back! Yay!

[@n8than26]

You have no idea how many time i watch soldering video just to prepare my first time soldering my broken mechanical keyboard

[@sunilkhandagale9966]

👍Nice deeply info abt soldering technique

[@smithperks3313]

Best so far

[@OysterPir8]

I frigging love these videos.

[@zzScopoProductionszz]

Awesome tutorial! Got yourself a new sub! Very much appreciated

[@MidnightRambler1964]

Interesting video!! Great info labeled clearly,

[@kf7tkj]

Love Collins lab!!!! More Please!

[@TheRangeControl]

Collin, I'm new to all of this, so please bear with me: What I am confused about on this video, is that you sounded like you stated that: "I first touch the solder to the iron, and then bring it down and around the contact lead. This causes..." (Time Mark - 2:31). However, you "did not" touch the solder to the iron before soldering. Please clarify, if you would. Grateful appreciation (in advance) for your response, Collin.

[@C7eeN]

The solder does touch the iron first. He is talking about during soldering and not before. The "solder touches the iron first" at 2:34.

[@TheRangeControl]

+Mr Cliff Thank You. :-)

[@thespritman4052]

MAKES SOLDERING SIMPLE AND FUN !

[@nickrowan]

4:10 For metric people - 650°F is just under 350°C and 750°F is just under 400°C

[@thespritman4052]

This guys the reason I got a soldering iron

[@rlljr103082]

Short n simple, nice.

[@cheeriosaltcream]

more Collin's Lab!

[@MikeHeavers]

Any chance you can make a playlist of just Collin's Lab videos? Would love to subscribe just to that rather than all adafruit videos.

[@adafruit]

Here you go! :-) kzbin.info/aero/PLjF7R1fz_OOU08_hRcayfVZSmTpBCGJbL

[@MikeHeavers]

Thanks!

[@tim8602]

Best video on soldering ever!

[@Tahnvalas]

Awesome video Collin! Keep 'em comin'!

[@wolfrobots118]

that was a very well made video....nice!

[@rwh777]

How steady do your hands need to be in order to do this well? I'm a bit shaky. Should I give up or do you have any suggestions that might help?

[@SaiSurya300576]

Thank you! awesome presentation!

[@Oshbotscom]

I DEMAND MORE COLLINS LAB! \o/

[@giannislymperopoylos5574]

you make exceptional videos and complete to the tiniest ...finest detail....the most interesting thing though is that you are.....''seriously'' funny something very difficult and very rare.....cr7 bless you...!!!

[@linohidalgo818]

☝🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👌🏽 The most concise and useful video I’ve seen in regards to soldering.. Am I the only person that thought this video had some discreet humor which I found to be hilarious 🤔🤣 Stay classy my friend, I appreciate the educational video

[@SkaldRPG]

Creepy and AWSOME! Keep up the good work!

[@TRaddcliff]

what is the joint is smooth, convex but matte....not shiny. is that a bad solder? your vids are great...helpful!

[@6lu5ky86]

Thanks Collin! 🖖

[@CarputingYT]

this is such a good video

[@gixxygamma]

New Collin's Lab!!!!!

[@catslife5501]

I agree with some of the comments on so-der. I sod my car to a friend last week. As it is convertible, he gets very cod when driving. I also took the license paper and fo-ded it in ha-f. and tod him to keep it safe. Getting o-der by the day. Don't shrug your shoder, just smile and keep on soddering!

[@thomasalexander1563]

Again Simple and amazing cotent.. Thank you..

[@signalscout6020]

Any of the pros watching have a guess at the width of that screwdriver tip or a recommendation for a tip for a newbie to do some through-hole projects? My new hakko station came with a conical tip.

[@jdmarino]

Excellent video. Thanks. I pronounce it SAH-der, just like Collin.

[@db7271]

I like your style great vid glad to see this topic

[@electronicsvlog1574]

Fan of your videos

[@KJ7JHN]

Collin, what was the name of your laser game console? It had inter changeable color wheels, and was implemented on some arcade games. Thanks.

[@HellRiderSpirit]

This helped a lot, thanks!

[@quenjankosky7348]

Thanks, I need to learn this.

[@marsCubed]

My best tip for soldering is to make sure the iron has a high enough wattage for the job at hand.. else you can end up frying components waiting for the joint to get hot enough. It is worth spending a little more for a good iron that has a high watt rating.. preferably with a temperature control so it can also be used for small jobs too.

[@batzorogeo]

Thank you very much. Great video.

[@kulgan96]

you look a little like the nutty professor( the orginal movie) you are the best learning so much

[@kulgan96]

i was thinking of the 1963 movie with lewis booth have the same name i should have writed wich movie i ment my apology.

[@domobrah2671]

Collin could make paint drying the most interesting thing in the world

[@dawson345]

More Colin!

[@wayne_szabo]

Enjoyed that. Very Educational and sound track is quality :)

[@Gabriel-yw8lk]

What lead solder do you use? Any other good lead solder?

[@Mustachioed_Mollusk]

Did this guy work on the show Severance?

[@CSO3DOnline]

really nice video!

[@Mohammadalhashash]

What a great video !

[@mbchannelworld]

Collin, is that a cyberoptics Tie?