(Topic ID: 140784)

TerryB's Soldering Guide

By terryb

8 years ago


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  • 400 posts
  • 85 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 1 year ago by cottonm4
  • Topic is favorited by 643 Pinsiders
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    Topic index (key posts)

    55 key posts have been marked in this topic, showing the first 10 items.

    Display key post list sorted by: Post date | Keypost summary | User name

    Post #2 Terry discusses temperature controlled soldering stations. Posted by terryb (8 years ago)

    Post #7 Maintenance of soldering tips. Posted by terryb (8 years ago)

    Post #16 Types of solder, flux, and their usage. Posted by terryb (8 years ago)

    Post #18 Desoldering equipment and how to use it. Posted by terryb (8 years ago)

    Post #29 Maintaining your Hakko FR300 desoldering equipment. Posted by terryb (8 years ago)

    Post #42 Basic lead solder safety practices for hobbyists. Posted by terryb (8 years ago)

    Post #44 Anti-static information. Posted by terryb (8 years ago)


    Topic indices are generated from key posts and maintained by Pinside Editors. For more information, or to become an editor yourself read this post!

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    #338 5 years ago

    So, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. Forgive this post in advance, but I wanted to share.

    I've been following this thread for a while, wanting to get more into board repair. I can solder switch wires together, but touching anything on a board has always made me nervous. I've just never done it before, and I've read so many instances of people screwing up their boards.

    About a month ago, I bought a new Hakko 888 with some Christmas money, just so I would have the right equipment to start learning. I decided to try my first board repair today, a fairly simple job, but one that just a few months ago scared me out of attempting.

    The story is that I had a solenoid expander relay board on my Special Force (Bally 6803) pin that no longer functioned. It has been acting up for over a year, working intermittenly. I had suspected the solder joints, but again, I was worried about ruining my only board. I first tried to find a new one. Many months ago, I bought one but it came DOA and the vendor never answered my emails. Annoying, but no big deal, as it was only $25. All other places were out of stock so I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, a couple of months ago, Marco had some in stock. I bought one, but when it arrived, I noticed that it was missing a jumper wire. I contacted Marco, and they took it back and gave me a replacement from another vendor they had. This took another few weeks, but I now finally had a working board, and my pin was back up and running.

    So, having a working board made me feel more comfortable experimenting with repairing my old board. If I messed up, who cared. I read many of the posts in this thread and watched several videos -- how to tin a new soldering iron, what temperature to use, how to reflow solder, etc. Today, I finally tried it out.

    I'm happy to report that I reflowed the solder on all of the pins on the board, and it completely solved the problem. It was much easier than I expected. I know this will sound simplistic to most of you, but as I said, I've never done this before, so I'm feeling pretty great that it all worked out. I now have a lot more confidence to keep trying board repairs, including more advanced stuff. Thanks, Terry, and Pinside!

    1 year later
    #374 3 years ago

    Question for the group. I’m trying to find a decent but not overly expensive helping hands station with a good size magnifying glass, and I’m having trouble. Amazon has several models in the $35-50 range with multiple arms, but the magnifying glasses all seem to be 2 1/4” in diameter which is smaller than I am used to and seems a bit too small.

    Anyone have any suggestions? Or, if you have used a 2 1/4” magnifying glass, how do you find it?

    I should note that I’m not just using this for pinball but some small side projects using prototype through hole boards.

    Thanks!

    #376 3 years ago
    Quoted from pinballinreno:

    I use a LED ring light with 8" lens.
    Something like this:
    amazon.com link »

    Thanks. A lot more than I want to pay for just a magnifying glass, but I’m guessing it’s pretty good. It also is separate from a helping hands station, but perhaps I just need to buy the stuff separately to get what I want.

    #380 3 years ago

    That HF one looks interesting, but I was hoping for something with a little more magnification.

    Thanks all. I’m probably going to have to spend a bit more than I wanted, as is typical. Probably get the magnifying lens separately from the helping hands.

    1 year later
    #397 1 year ago
    Quoted from Luk3:

    How do I clean it up off the wand and other stuff?

    Tin the soldering iron again before storage. That’s about it.

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