Basic Soldering Tutorial

[@VELTN-RGB]

"Out of all the soldering videos I've seen in youtube, yours is the only one that really helped me as a beginner. Super informative, thanks a ton!"

[@canangagasan]

Thanks for this video, which has precisely the level of detail needed by my current soldering (in-)abilities. So far I did not dare doing any soldering on my C64. But already during the conversion of a Competition Pro USB to be used with the C64 many of the things you showed and explained came up. So, keep up the good work!

[@OGGamingABC]

Fun tip , he works on electronics with the year that starts with 19. For newer years , the thin tip soldering iron tip gets used more often. I prefer lead over flux for connecting points , the brand doesn't matter It's just the amount of lead. You just have to avoid the lead fumes. Don't inhale it

[@ege8240]

sir i would argue quarter century old isnt exactly newer :D

[@MrGeekGamer]

I discovered your channel today after seeing a post you made in comp.os.msdos.programmer in 1994 and randomly Googled your name. Looks like the kind of content I will enjoy too!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Whoa! I won't endorse anything I wrote THAT long ago. But at least you know the retro is legit :-) Hope you enjoy the channel!

[@davidkroeker1821]

Thanks so much for making this video! It's exactly what I've been looking for to give me some basic tips and good technique to get started without sitting through hours and hours of instruction. I appreciate the comments below regarding temperature as well.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

You're welcome. Glad it was useful! Happy soldering :-)

[@cajuncoinhunter]

That tip you showed was a 3.2MM chisel tip , I use that one but my fav is 2.4mm and 1.6mm I get those T-18 type tips from Home Depot here in the states for 6 dollars delivered to my door.... Kester is the best by far , I bought a 1 lb roll of .031 for 10 bux , yep angel hair fine , but I take 3 foot off the roll and double it then twist it , perfect size for me on SMD and thru hole types.... Great video Mon Ami.....

[@YesiPleb]

When I solder through-hole (TH) components into place, I push the legs through the holes and held them apart and cut them short THEN I solder them. Bending the legs away from each other helps hold the component in place while soldering and cutting them before soldering prevents putting any shock onto the solder joint. Check out my recap video of a BBC Master in my video titled "Recapping a BBC Master & disassembly of a Master PSU" :)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I've seen people recommend that, but it feels more complicated because if you cut them then they don't stay in place as well, so in the end I never do that :-b. Is it really necessary if you make sure to cut the leads well above the solder joint? (honest question, not saying it's not).

[@YesiPleb]

If you bend the legs back they won't move and there's no chance they'll fall out. It's impossible for them to fall out. Far safer on the solder joint especially on old PCBs.

[@hansford71]

Very informative video, really useful for a beginner.

[@HothEchoBase]

Very detailed walkthrough. Thank you for taking the time to put this video together!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

You're welcome. Glad it was useful!

[@SteveHacker]

Not only excellent content and educational material, but also excellent ASMR!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

😃

[@charleswiltshire]

Echoing what everybody else is saying - but - thank you for creating this video, now I see where I've been going wrong! I'm enjoying the rest of your content too.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Glad it was helpful!

[@robotnaoborot]

Thanks a lot! That was very helpful. I actually have to solder something here and there from time to time and I always was terrible at it because nobody ever taught me how to do it properly. Now I really hope I would do better!

[@minesapola05]

Hola Noel!! A qué temperatura aconsejas soldar? Y que estaño en concreto aconsejas? Saludos desde Málaga (Spain)

[@paoloselvini3449]

Thank you, indeed very well explained. Now, when another episode about DE-soldering techniques? It would be at least as informative and useful as this one.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Thanks for the kind words! I wasn't sure there was much demand for a desoldering video since this is one of my least popular videos :-) I'll keep it in mind.

[@laurentd9980]

@@NoelsRetroLab I second Paolo Selvini's request, I'd be interested as well at your take on a desoldering video (maybe you've already added one to your channel, I'll check !)

[@CitroenGS]

I'm interested too... I like that de soldering machine too...

[@Fin_nish_usr]

Excuse me, but I believe there may be a better method for soldering than using a wet sponge. I have heard from several professionals that if you have brass shavings and flux, it is preferable to use those instead. They claim that using a wet sponge can stress the solder tip and shorten its lifespan.

[@goodun2974]

I have been soldering for over 50 years, including 20 years as an audio repair bench technician, and I came to prefer the brass wool over the damp sponge. My soldering iron got used several dozens of hours every week at work and yet the tips typically lasted 4 or 5 months. Anyway, one mistake I've seen frequently in online soldering tutorials is that some people saturate the sponge with water: it's supposed to be damp, but not so wet that you see plumes of steam come up when you touch the tip of the iron to it! The use of distilled water is preferred because unlike tap water it contains no mineral contaminants; and a special soldering-tip sponge is preferred because a kitchen sponge will be made with chlorine or sulphur compounds that will tend to oxidize the tip.

[@ignaciojgarcia]

Very useful but I find more difficult desoldering. Maybe you could give us some hints for that as well

[@HairyDalek]

Thanks for this - to me, soldering is a mystery, and at best I can call my attempts as “bodging”. Anyway, after watching this, and some of your other videos, I thought I’d risk a composite mod on a Spectrum I have. It worked, and I managed to end up with a pretty neat looking fix too. Just waiting for a keyboard membrane now. Eventually, I’ll pluck up the courage to replace the capacitors!

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Nice! Glad that was helpful! I'm sure you can tackle replacing the capacitors. Just keep the polarity straight and use the polarity from the existing capacitors, not the markings on the board! 😀

[@paszTube]

Thanks so much, very clear explanation and demonstration. I want to recap a ZX Spectrum but have nearly 0 electronics repair skills. Before I start on the real thing I want to practice on stuff. Any tips on some kind of starter DIY project? A friend already suggested the Atari Punk Console, but perhaps there's something I could use with my retro computers (I have Amiga's, C64's, a C128, TRS 80 Coco and ZX Spectrum).

[@aussie_retro_dude9253]

Great video 👍 . What is the mat that you are working on ? Can most de soldering be done with solder wick ? Are magnification glasses a good idea?

[@svenpetersen1965]

Nice tutorial. Well, the „old toothbrush“ is not a good idea. You are using a proper ESD safe brush, which is good. A toothbrush might produce some electrostatic charges, so it is a potential circuit killer. The esd brushes are available for not a lot of money. Also an ESD mat is a good thing to use for all electronics tinkering. They don‘t cost a fortune, either.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

True about the ESD-safe brush. Although, to be 100% honest, I'm not sure how important that is for this kind of electronics. I get the sense they're not as sensitive to it as newer, smaller technologies, but I may be wrong. It certainly doesn't hurt :-)

[@svenpetersen1965]

Noel's Retro Lab The MOSFET based ICs have always been quite sensitive, like the 4xxx series. Nowadays, many (especially interface) ICs have some protection, but it is more for „normal“ EMI protection. The old ICs did not have it, I think. Just think of the protection diodes, that you find in C64 models after ASSY250407. The mean thing about ESD is, that it does not necessarily destroy the circuit at once and it takes plenty kV that a human can notice it. Most ESD damages happen at much lower voltages, that humans don’t feel, like a couple of 100V. And the result might be early failure or the specification of an IC are not reached anymore. It rarely happens that somebody touches a circuit, feels the discharge and the circuit is broken, so there is nearly no „learning“ effect. Most hobbyists would say „I have never ruined anything with ESD.“ Those, who say so, most probably have. Professional assembly houses pay really a lot of attention on ESD protection. The floors are covered with ESD paint or carpets, the chairs are ESD, the tables and instruments are grounded, people wear esd shoes and coats, the shoes are tested on a daily base. Tables and floors are measured regularly. This is expensive, but a good investment. When I watch youtube, I very often see those green cutting mats and also these light blue rubber mats, which are great, if you cut paper or repair wind-up toys, but with anything semi conductor, it is a bad choice. In my lab, every horizontal surface is covered with esd mats, which are grounded. It is not that expensive. The difference is like spending 10€ on a cutting matt or 25€ on an ESD mat.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Interesting! Do you have a link to a mat you'd recommend? I might give it a try.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Actually, I just realized that my silicon soldering mat is supposed to be ESD as well! I only use it for soldering because it's harder to clean, but you're making me consider using it all the time now.

[@svenpetersen1965]

Noel's Retro Lab Depends on where you are located. It should fit your workbench and have two snap fasteners. One for grounding and one for a wrist band. I think, I have bought mine from different sources, like ebay, Conrad and Bürklin (they all look the same, though).

[@Miidolf]

Very encouraging video for an novice wannabe c64 repair man, thanks. What temperature do you recommend when working on old c64 breadbin board?

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I can't recommend an absolute temperature. It depends too much on the solder, the tip, and the soldering iron you're using. I would say use the lowest temperature that heats up the joint enough after about a second so the solder melts well. In my case it's 330C as you can see there. With worse solder that can be 350C. And then, if you're working on a ground plane, you may have to raise it to 400C or more depending, but that's pretty rare.

[@YesiPleb]

I set my soldering iron to 280C and for most things it's fine but for the earth onto a large ground plain that zaps the heat, might want to crank the temperature up to 350C. Don't forget to use a decent flux with it and be generous with it as well as this will help the solder to adhere to the surfaces.

[@Terkzorr]

I once bought a cheap Chinese soldering iron on Amazon and it was 30€, just the iron with a few tips and some solder so I'm curious: What "station" you would recommend for that price range considering anything worth of quality would be above 100€ (your FX888D goes for 190€)? Because my 30€ iron is real garbage: the tips are already black as night as they couldn't handle 350°C (despite the iron being able to go up to 450°C which makes the tips glow red) and despite the (Chinese no-brand) solder having "2.0% Flux" in it it always results in terrible smudgy connections on the boards.

[@NoelsRetroLab]

The soldering station doesn't have to be very expensive (mine was around 80€). But another one that I bought first that was totally fine was a Yihua 937D www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074Z84TDL and it runs about 30€. I think that's a great one to start with. Solder is the most important part, so if you get a good quality one, and one that's not too thick, it'll improve your soldering hugely.

[@jcbritobr]

Nice technique, but how to do clean trails?

[@scorch33]

Thank you Noel. The only question I have is, if I'm soldering the pins, and if I make a mistake with too much solder and join two together, does that matter, or would I just heat up the solder and wipe it away? Or what would I do in that case?

[@Otakunopodcast]

Get yourself some desoldering braid (sometimes called wick.) It's a small ribbon of copper mesh type material. Place it over the excess solder you want to get rid of, put the iron on top of it, and it will literally suck it away.

[@scorch33]

@@Otakunopodcast Thank you, that is very helpful!

[@CPMG2000]

Informative video, thanx. On a side note, I love your Nostromo T-shirt. Alien fan here too.

[@DoubleRhonRhon]

Hi, is it safe to touch with fingers the cold wire of solder before soldering ? It contains lead, so should'nt we use gloves ?

[@goodun2974]

Lead isn't easily absorbed through the skin; just wash your hands after handling solder, and don't eat food while you're working with solder! BTW, the fumes from lead solder (from the rosin flux, actually) may be annoying to some and a few people can actually have an allergic reaction to it, but the fumes don't contain lead because solder melts at a temperature far below the boiling or vapor point of molten lead. If you find the fumes off-putting you can use a fan to blow them away, or work in a space with open windows or open garage door so you have good cross ventilation. Commercial electronics businesses might use a special solder-fume extractor, but that tends to be above the budget of the average hobbyist.

[@mcjacobson]

Can you post link for your solder wire?

[@michaelturner2806]

Thanks for this BASIC tutorial, I haven't watched it yet but I assume it's for Apple II, do you include modifications to make it compatible with C64 and DOS? Thanks for tolerating this terrible joke, I just saw Basic in the title and memories drifted back to old magazines with code in them. I only ever attempted soldering once, had some poor starting instructions/advice, burned myself and the kitchen table, and my mother threw it all away (after dunking the hot iron in water to cool it down). I've been kind of scared, even nearly 30 years later.

[@michaelturner2806]

After watching the video, I think I was pretty much set up for failure all those years ago. I didn't have a station, just the iron that plugs directly into the mains, with no indication of it was hot enough or even on at all. The only hint of safety was a small kickstand that flipped out of the base so it could be set down (theoretically) without the tip making contact with the surface. A really stiff cord, however, made positioning it so that it wouldn't fall over practically impossible. It did come with a small sponge in a basin, but no instructions anywhere to add water. I'm not even sure I ever actually soldered anything. Just young idiot me not knowing how long it would take to warm up (ten minutes? an hour? no clue) so I just picked it up and touched it to see if it was even getting warm. Dropped it and ran to the sink to run cold water over the burn (thanks end of cartoon PSA). Mother got upset over The Evil Thing That Hurt Her Son, and I guess I've only ever dealt with sockets and cables in electronics since. I've always wanted to try again with better equipment and instructions. I watch a lot of videos of people getting old consoles and computers and even before testing they recap just to be sure, and it's an oddly satisfying experience. Like ASMR for the eyes? Now that I know it's pretty simple with the right stuff, I might invest after next paycheck into proper tools and start looking for an easy kit to begin with.

[@CitroenGS]

Very interesting. I self learned it by tryong to do it, but would have like to learned it this way...

[@TaberBucknell]

Thank you for this tutorial!! I wish I had similar soldering instruction when I was building Heathkit electronic kits in the 1970s. As I recall, the Heathkit instruction manual said to use a fine point soldering tip (accounts for some difficulties), keep the soldering tip clean (check), and said nothing about cleaning the solder flux (which accounts for the slightly sticky trace side of the boards when done). I REALLY wish I'd known the trick of having a bit of solder on the soldering iron tip to enhance heat transfer. On the plus side, the 8 channel radio control I built (page 60 here www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Consumer/Heathkit-1974-03.pdf ) worked the first time I switched it on ... so I must have done something right. I'm currently looking for a soldering station that has the brass cleaner, not just the sponge, but I can't find one :( (in Canada).

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Glad you found it useful! Yeah, having a wider, chisel tip and putting some solder on the tip are huge to get good heat transfer. I wouldn't worry about selecting your soldering station based on the brass cleaner. You can easily buy it separately for pretty cheap. But if you really want to, this one is my favorite not very expensive model: www.ebay.ca/itm/Hakko-FX-888D-Canada-FX888D-29BY-Digital-Soldering-Station-CND-Duty-Paid/252282095008

[@laurentd9980]

Hi Noel and a lot of thanks for this excellent tutorial, probably the best I ever saw on soldering!! I must say I don't understand how this can be one your least popular videos but well, rest assured that for some people like me it was really useful and duly bookmarked!! Probably one of the most useful tips was... about the tip :-) of the iron! Most irons are sold with pointy tips and it's really hard nowadays to find some with other tips (you usually have to buy those separately), I suppose the pointy tips are only useful for soldering SMD components (and maybe you have a tutorial on those, haven't checked yet). Anyway, many thanks again for this perfect how-to guide at soldering, I'm subscribing to your channel now ! :-)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I'm really glad you found it useful! I don't have a tutorial on SMD (and I'm not super experienced with them either), but I might make one some day. I'll probably do a desoldering one before then since that I need to use *all* the time :-) Cheers!

[@laurentd9980]

@@NoelsRetroLab I'd be really interested in a desolderig lab/tips video, I noticed on you 'Amstrad CPC6128 Back Screen repair video parts 1 & 2" you used a desoldering gun, so it would be nice recommending some brands/models, and also of course idscussing pros and cons and applications of regular desoldering pumps & use of desoldering braid. PS - I'll post another comment on your CPC repair vids because I'd like if possible some advice about lightweight/portable and affordable oscilloscopes (can't see the one you use in the vid, shows just the probe & the screen), and also I might ask you for help because I have a spare CPC 6128 that boots to a black screen with white border without prompt, I had a go at identifying problems with it a year ago (did the same swaps as you did on socketed chips, and also checked for hot chips), I reckon it might some bad RAM or the CRTC like was the case in your video. SO I'll go thru the same steps as you did (checking voltages on chips, and getting a scope to check signals too)

[@NoelsRetroLab]

@@laurentd9980 Feel free to comment there, or ask me on the FB page, Twitter, or Discord if you prefer. The short answer is that black screen with white border is unusual. Normally a bad RAM causes black border with grayish screen in the middle. Start checking voltages and make sure the Z80 is active (M1 and RFSH). Could be a bad Gate Array, which would be a bummer. Keep me posted.

[@laurentd9980]

@@NoelsRetroLab thanks, I'll ask in your CPC repair video comments, although I'll check and add your FB page and Twitter, didn't know you had these accounts of course (As to Discord, never used it yet ! :-) Anyway I think I actually made a confusion, it must have been black border with grayish screen as you said, and when I looked up in Google most answers hinted to RAM as you said too. I'll check later in the week and keep you posted, and many thanks for taking the time to reply to my messages, I really appreciate it :-)

[@laurentd9980]

@@NoelsRetroLab I made some tests yesterday and added a new comment with my findings in your CPC Repair part 2 vid (kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5jNnKGBgd9_hM0), with a question to you as your take on a handheld oscilloscope I consider buying, I hope you can give me your thoughts on this :-)

[@spacepygmy4443]

thank you

[@AS-ly3jp]

Thank you! Could you please do a similar basic video for a multimeter? That would be awesome too!!! For example: if I want to measure a C64 power supply and have the data sheet which show me the voltages it should have, I still don't know where to measure and how it works. This srleems like a really stupid question for most of your experienced viewers, for me as a completely beginner, it is real riddle...

[@NoelsRetroLab]

Sounds good. I'll add it to the list. The short of it is: When you measure voltages you're always measuring the DIFFERENCE in potential between two places, that's why you have two leads. Most of the time you'll put the black one on "ground" which is usually all over the board (including heat sinks normally, which makes for a handy place). Then with the red lead you can probe different places and it'll tell you the voltage with respect to the other lead.

[@AS-ly3jp]

@@NoelsRetroLab Now I get it. Thank you very much!!! I really love your videos. It is a real joy to watch!

[@rodrigodiaz5003]

Uff thank you !

[@harisalic2568]

I have noticed that Amazon doesnt sell leaded solder anymore. I Was kinda dissapointed that i couldnt buy my favorite solder anymore, or at a reasonable price (12€ for 100g is waaay to expensive, before it was like 3,50€). Im kinda running out of solder and hoping to find some fresh one

[@NoelsRetroLab]

I've ordered solder from here before (MG Chemicals brand) and had really good experience: www.circuitspecialists.eu/mg-chemicals/solder-wire-wick-and-flux You can also try Mouser and Digikey (especially if you have something else to go over the free shipping threshold).

[@goodun2974]

If you buy solder through Amazon, AliExpress or Banggood it is most likely to be absolute crap and possibly a counterfeit version of famous brand. It's always best to buy solder, and even soldering iron tips to fit your iron, from an authorized specialty electronics distributor in your home country. The internet is absolutely awash in junk solder, flux, and soldering accessories.

[@Welther47]

Leaded is easier if you never used anything else. But lead isn't something you would want to us in general

[@jamesgrigor6734]

Sole-der-ing

[@goodun2974]

The Oxford English Dictionary says that "sod-dur" is also acceptable.

[@thanatosor]

I don't think that tiny fan can solve fumes toxicity 😂 Or soldering isn't that toxic ?

[@goodun2974]

Solder melts at hundreds of degrees below the boiling or vapor point of lead; the fumes are from the rosin flux but do not contain lead. A few people may find the fumes to be off-putting or occasionally even allergy inducing, but for most people a well ventilated working space and perhaps a fan is all you will need. A vacuum operated fume extractor to remove the fumes to outside is generally above the budget of most hobbyists.