Using Solder | Soldering Basics | Soldering for Beginners

[@HowDoYouDIY]

The description of this video has links to some playlists I've made for basic soldering. I also added some links to help you find items that are similar to what I'm using in this video.

[@chsbadsly]

withing the first minute I've already learned more than i've been able to find. The animations were exactly what I needed to make the concept click!

[@viks4an]

FINALLY someone actually explains this coherently... nothing extra and nothing missing. Thanks!

[@whjess]

Iv watched many soldering youtube vids and this one would be one of the best, as u have shown the correct way to use a soldering iron and the process of how soldering works on wires. thank you

[@moemoes5989]

Hi, I did some soldering in the military but that was decades ago. I've always wanted to teach my kids to solder. Now because of your simple and very easy-to-watch video, I can. Please make more.

[@Pulsonar]

Thank God for these helpful videos to resolve these beginner issues with soldering. Whoever you are you're doing an excellent service for free, I am very grateful, as Im sure other people are from around the world.

[@ED-es2qv]

You’re awesome. I need this, despite having experience (self taught, with a fool for a teacher).

[@xyzn.]

Thanks a lot for this series. Super informative and helpful!

[@InterstellarModeler]

thanks for these videos. I've already learned important points in just the first 2. Will be recommending this to my subscribers. Lighting has become very popular with scale models and many of us have no prior experience with this important skill. Thanks for taking the time to not only post these but to make them very concise and to the point. Really appreciate that. Thanks again

[@HowDoYouDIY]

Thanks for the feedback! One of my goals for these videos was to make them concise and to the point. I'm glad that's been helpful!

[@vubee2]

This is so helpful and to the point thankyou for the video

[@gary7seven120]

About to "build" a small PCB for a flashing LED light consisting of a couple of resistors, a capacitor, an integrated circuit and a transistor. These videos are very helpful. So glad to have found you! Any more suggestions, recommendations etc. that you can give is appreciated. Thank you very much.

[@manojprasad7729]

Thanks very much for such great information 👍!

[@HowDoYouDIY]

You're welcome!

[@Mochi_Wan]

this is very useful. thank you for making this series

[@ChiefBridgeFuser]

As a long time solder-er and user of rosin core, I have been converted to water soluble flux. Cleaning is way easier than via acetone / isopropyl alcohol.

[@goodun2974]

Rosin flux is preferable for use with leaded solder, but lead free solder requires far more caustic fluxes to be either contained within the solder or used as a soldering accessory to add to a connection prior to soldering. I Have been soldering for over 50 years including 2 decades as a full-time audio repair technician, and I personally detest lead-free solder, which doesn't wet or flow onto connections as well as leaded solder does, and Breaks down more easily under vibration and mechanical stress as well as the extremes of both heat and cold. Traces of lead-free type flux left behind can sometimes become conductive or corrosive and so the boards or connections must be thoroughly cleaned. Rosin flux however is pretty much inert and only rarely becomes corrosive or conductive , under high humidity and high voltage conditions. I don't find cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol to be any particular kind of chore.

[@FoldupKibbles26]

These videos were really useful, have had such a hard time finding someone to just explain the basics. As a beginner, I'm still left with a question. Solder Iron Temperature. I have no idea if the dial on my iron is too high, what consequences are of having the wrong temperature, why I'd want it higher or lower temperature etc. A reflow video would be nice as well. Appreciate the work.

[@HowDoYouDIY]

Soldering iron temperature is a tricky topic to explain, partly because there are so many soldering irons that don't have temperature adjustments. But for those people that do have adjustable soldering irons, it's a good question to ask about. Different types of solder will work better at different temperatures. If the temperature is too high, I think the biggest issue would be damaging the parts that you're trying to solder. The components usually have a high tolerance to high temperatures, but if you're unsure then you should be able to google the temperature limit for the part. Too much heat can also separate the copper traces from the board, but usually that's something that only happens when you're trying to remove the parts. If the temperature is too low, the solder doesn't flow or bond very well. If you have done a little bit of soldering already, this will be pretty obvious because the solder won't be acting quite right. This also happens if you try soldering to a big part because the bigger metal will absorb more heat. Because of these things, choosing a temperature is something that kind of comes with experience. But while you're still learning and getting a feel for it, you should be fine to put your temperature setting about half way. You can try adjusting the temperature a bit to see if the solder flows better. I hope this is helpful. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

[@toughtimes6596]

Awesome! Makes it so much easier - thanks 👍

[@HowDoYouDIY]

I'm glad you liked it!

[@wadewade5915]

Excellent!

[@jcuvier135]

Good video (and you sell yourself short on the animations - they were fine). But, when you solder larger wires, rather than simply increasing the dwell time on the wire with the iron, a better approach might be to use a larger iron tip, or possibly get a higher wattage iron that puts out more heat faster. For electronic components, I've read that you want to be on the heat for no more than 2 seconds to prevent damage to parts. Even on plain wires this makes sense as you don't want to melt the insulation off the wires by heating them too long. Just a thought.

[@HowDoYouDIY]

Thanks for sharing this extra info! It's definitely a better approach with larger wires. This is the type of comment I appreciate the most because it's a helpful addition to the video.

[@alderusan]

Thank you!!

[@HowDoYouDIY]

You're welcome!

[@VintageVash]

I have been trying to figure out why I couldn't get some very thin wire to solder right but I'm pretty sure I'm using the wrong material apparently. Thank you so much! I was having such a hard time that the wire would actually burn.

[@goodun2974]

If you were buying solder, flux or even soldering iron tips from Amazon, ebay, Bangood or AliExpress you're probably getting junk. There's a lot of crappy solder of unknown alloy composition, or with poor or no flux inside of it being sold online. Unless you intend to sell the products you make, there's also no reason for a hobbyist to use lead-free solder which is much more finicky and more difficult to work with, requires higher temperatures that make it more likely for inexperienced hobbyists to damage whatever they're trying to solder, and tends to pit and corrode the tips of the soldering iron more quickly (higher operating/melting temps plus more corrosive , caustic fluxes). It's best to buy solder and accessories from specialty electronics distributors located in your own home country. Also worth noting that the tips sold in bulk for a dollar or so a piece direct from China are usually made of garbage metal (solid iron, and lousy plating material) that doesn't transfer heat efficiently and can negatively affect the quality of your solder connections or lead to frustration with damaged components and burned wires because you have to keep the tip of the iron on the connection for way too long while trying to get a decent flow of solder. The Chinese made soldering iron tips often fit the soldering iron far too loosely, inhibiting the fast efficient transfer of heat. Tip size and shape also matter and in general you should use the largest tip size that you can comfortably work with for the type of connections you are making. The larger the tip and the more mass it has the more heat it will hold and the less it will cool as soon as you touch it to the work. It shouldn't take much soldering iron wattage or a big large tip in order to solder very fine wires however there is the possibility that what you are unknowingly trying to solder is known as Litz wire where the individual strands of the wire are coated in a fairly clear or reddish brown varnish insulation, and the only way to remove that coating effectively is to scrape the varnish off with a sharp razor or fine sandpaper. Also note that some metals, such as certain types of stainless steel, spring steel,, and aluminum of course, cannot be soldered. I hope this helps you!

[@ngguideline]

Very informative

[@HowDoYouDIY]

Thanks!

[@Vrig]

God damn dude, beautiful. Thank you

[@iamanonymous9061]

I am pretty sure this video has best Like:Dislike ratio.

[@billgrabbe9992]

Here are a few issues you could cover if you want to expand this: 1) Different soldering iron tips and their uses; 2) Diameter of solder to use; 3) soldering temperature; and 4) leaded versus lead-free solder. The first two issues don't seem to get a lot of attention.

[@MikeRoxly]

My motorcycle has a wire that needs to connect 2 electrical wires together. Is this resin core solder what I should use

[@HowDoYouDIY]

Sorry for the late reply. For your need, crimp connectors should work fine, but soldering them (with rosin core solder) would be more secure. Make sure you use heat shrink tubing on them to protect the connection.

[@mufmuf]

What is your opinion of lead vs no-lead solder and how important is to have some kind of fan?

[@HowDoYouDIY]

I don't have much experience with no-lead solder. It is safer to use, but can be a bit more difficult to work with. Using a good flux should help with the difficulties tho. Using a fan is very beneficial. Whatever type of solder you're using, you don't want to breath the fumes or get the fumes in your eyes. Having a fan the just pulls/blows the fumes away from you helps. But if you can get one that has a filter, that would be even better.

[@VVachTheWorld]

Thank you very much

[@eddiephysics4107]

I tried to do the thing you did where you melted som solder onto the iron and then used that to more easily melt more solder onto a component. But the solder I tried to melt onto my iron did not stick to my iron. It kinda just formed a ball. Any idea on why this is and how to fix it?

[@HowDoYouDIY]

You might need to clean and tin the tip of your soldering iron. Here's a link to some tip tinner that should help with that:amzn.to/3p8xRbP Just make sure that you do NOT sand or file the tip. I hope this is helpful.

[@goodun2974]

The soldering iron isn't "burning" the flux, at least not initially: the flux is dissolving and removing oxides from both the tip of the soldering iron and the metals or wires being soldered; Oxidation layers ---- which are formed even more quickly when the metals are hot compared to oxidation that took place at room temperature ---- interfere with the capillary flow and wetting action of a good solder connection. The flux in the satyr or any additional flux that you have added prior to Saturn will remove oxides from the metals and allow the sadder to flow quickly and smoothly and make a chemical, molecular level bond to the metals. The flux does vaporize continually during the soldering process which is why you see some fumes or smoke, and as the flux boils off it becomes more difficult to get a good clean solder connection. This tends to happen when either your iron isn't hot enoughor the tip is badly oxidized and the solder won't wet to it and so you get a poor heat transfer. Using too high a heat can also cause problems in creating solder joints because the more heat, the faster the flux boils off and the more quickly the metals and the tip of the iron will oxidize..

[@ryanwilliams3157]

I can set the temp on my soldering iron...what temperature should i set it at ?

[@catskittensandmore7540]

I need to cut it and bring it closer like u do I see because at my job they don't even do that I got it I think

[@MikeRoxly]

Rosin core solder to connect copper wire together?

[@goodun2974]

Yes

[@hannaram7439]

Did you say "Rosin Core solder?? 63-37 Tin Lead Rosin Core Solder Wire for Electrical Soldering (0.8mm 100g)

[@konchy]

Isopropyl alcohol concentration at 100% or 70%?

[@goodun2974]

At least 90% , and a 100% is best

[@PN1296]

Ha I'm watching this to solder. Thank you.

[@HowDoYouDIY]

You're welcome 🙂

[@TheFractusman]

I'm going insane trying to solder two thick (10 gauge) solid copper wires together. I absolutely cannot get the solder to stick. It's coated in flux, I'm using a Weller soldering iron, melts the solder like butter, but it will NOT stick to the wires.

[@HowDoYouDIY]

Something that can happen with thicker wire like that is it will pull more heat from the soldering iron. It will take longer to heat up enough for the solder to stick to it, especially if you're using a default size of soldering iron tip. If you have a bigger/thicker tip for your iron, use that. Another issue that it could be is a thicker oxide layer on the wire. You can remove it with a fine grit sandpaper, some steel/brass wool, or a scotchbrite pad. Sometimes I've even used a knife or razor blade to scrape off the oxide layer from thick wires. I hope this is helpful.

[@TheFractusman]

Well, hell, that made all the difference! The tutorial videos don't show just how long you need to let the wire heat up first, I wasn't giving it near enough time. Thank you so much, this has been bothering me for so long! @@HowDoYouDIY

[@Najimi420]

I'm a beginner and my hands are very shaky when doing this.

[@petersmith5219]

Thank you. flux flux flux

[@HowDoYouDIY]

You're welcome!

[@kasirujayashan9432]

Nice video sir

[@darrenfleming6225]

what is sorder? Its solder. sowl-duh

[@kodiakfamily8032]

Thank you!!

[@HowDoYouDIY]

You're welcome!