First of all, thank you so much for this thread! I appreciate all of the time you are putting into sharing techniques, tips, etc.
I'm about the biggest beginner when it comes to anything electrical that you'll find. I'm trying to learn as much as I can, both to challenge myself and to understand my limits before I do any damage to a machine. Do you have any suggestions for exercises to practice soldering before I attempt actual repairs? I am pretty sure I have a lot of cold solders and ugly connections in me!
PS: If one of your photos has a NSFW tag, I fat-fingered it while reading on a phone! I hope I removed it but I can't tell if the tag stuck. There was nothing offensive in your soldering pictures...now if *I* were to post any right now, I'm sure a lot of people would be horrified, lol!