Soldering tips

De-soldering braids are a PITA and slow, use a suction pump instead. Use a soldering iron that has temperature control. You can buy a "learn to solder" kit off amazon that comes with a pcb board and a bunch of different parts you solder to it and builds some worthless noisemaker but it will build your confidence and experience and I think it's like $15. If you're removing and replacing a component like a resistor, snip it first, then desolder and remove the leads. Ground yourself.

I know lots about soldering and computers but little about specific pinball related PCB boards. This will hopefully change shortly when I try and fix a lamp matrix column issue.

Use a liquid "no clean" flux and clean and tin your irons before you put them away. A solder sucker and a good pair of tweezers are musts.

Whenever replacing damaged chips on your pcb it is best to install chip sockets so that should the chip in question ever require replacing again you will simply have to remove the old chip, plug in the new, without the need to desolder and resolder with the associated risk of damage to the board itself. Pcb's are by thier nature (being layered) not designed to withstand repeated soldering attempts; this is especially true for the desolding aspect when repairing any board as you generally will be forced to apply heat several times in order to clear componet sockets which could result in lifting, or even breaking the traces (thin electrical paths that can be seen connecting the various componets on the boards). Also of great import is whenever completing your componet replacements remember to clean the area with a soft toothbrush and some alcohol as the flux left behind from the soldering process has been known to carry current which could bridge componets and possibly damage them in the process (not to mention ruining the soldering job you just completed).

Heat is your best friend and your worst enemy.

It should take you maybe a second to heat the components, flow the solder and get the heck out of there. If you are spending 5 seconds with your iron heating the board, something is not correct. This applies to both soldering and desoldering.

Almost everybody has a junk electronics item in the basement that has a pcb board in it. Rob the board and start practicing. Remove a component and reinstall the component. Check for continuity, etc. and keep doing it until you are comfortable.

Use the best quality iron you can afford. Metcal/OKI are way out at the top of the list followed by Hakko, Pace and Weller. Then there's the various Chinese clones of Hakko irons which are cheap and tend to work great for most hobbyists.

Also important is choosing the right tip for the job. Generally, the right tip is the smallest needed to melt the solder very quickly at a reasonable temp—6-700° or so. A large tip (at the same temperature setting) will transfer more heat to the object faster since there's a larger heated surface area and possibly a larger area contacting the soldered piece. A smaller tip will transfer less heat to a smaller area. Therefore having the right size tip can optimize the amount of heat spreading through the joint and onto the component itself reducing the potential for heat related damage.

When desoldering, it's best to cut out the component prior to removal leaving as little lead as possible. Then wick or suck the solder away from the joint. Don't try and wiggle a resistor or a bank of IDC pins out with pliers while heating. The worst thing that can happen when desoldering is lifted traces and through holes an tugging and pulling on a part or lead will exacerbate this issue. Inspect your board carefully before attempting to desolder to make sure the traces are still sturdy. If there's been heat damage around a part the potential for trace lifting will be magnified.

In most of the boards I have played with, trace repair is better stated as trace replacement with wire. The rule is match the voltage/amperage in the circuit to the correct thickness of wire. Then I drill out the connection hole on the board to accommodate both the component and the wire. Clean, solder, and viola, working again. When the wire has to be soldered to a comb, I go for the cleanest, flattest, soldering job I can with the least amount of exposed wire.

Yes it is. I find often with DIP IC's I will cut each leg and then lift the remaining pins out using the solder iron and pliers. Often in older PCB's the age has caused the traces and pads to become very heat sensitive where you can damage or destroy them entirely using a desolder iron / solder wick etc.

After that clearing the holes of remaining solder requires much less heat.

Just a tip I wanted to toss in.

This is the video I used when I started soldering. I found it very helpful I hope it may be of use to you as well:

I bought a cheap little board and some cheap capacitors from Radio Shack and practiced soldering and de-soldering on it for a while before I moved on to remove & replace all the capacitors in the TV I was working on. The practice paid off. I agree that a solder sucker is a must. An adjustable LED head lamp is pretty inexpensive and can prove very helpful when you need to light up a particular spot well while working.

I needed to repair the under playfield opto board on my Shadow pinball, I couldn't work out which chip was busted, to be honest it was just a guess my problem was on this board..... anyways I replaced all 3 lm339 chips and fixed my issue....

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/oops-the-shadow-is-broken-again

But during my fix I tore up a trace wire off the board which ran under one of these chips, this was a major pain in my ass, the trace came off the board as I pulled up the chip, using glue, a steady hand and magnifying glass I replaced the wire to its original position then soldered the new chips back in place. Probably not the best repair in the world, but it worked!!!!