fruitoftheloom wrote:alpeace89 wrote:Hi,
I want to use a protected input board for my raspberry pi but as I have just learned I can't solder at all! I tried my luck with the Raspio pro board (
http://rasp.io )but I've managed it get all the pins stuck together, melt all the plastic bits and burn my hands all over. Any suggestions appreciated for alternative boards (or burns minor burns advice)? I want to try to keep costs down as I've just bought the raspio pro board and messed that right up
Alex
http://www.raspberrypi.org/learn-to-sol ... arrie-anne
Not a bad start, but there are a few simple rules that will make it even easier.
1 Dont buy cheap tools. Far and away the biggest problem with learning to solder is a cheap soldering iron and rubbish solder. A cheap iron will not maintain a good temperature and cheap solder will cause huge problems.
2 Clean. Almost tempted to repeat that with some exclamation marks. Solder contains flux, a chemical that will clean off corrosion, solder will not "stick" (actually form an amalgam) to copper oxide but there is only so much that the flux can do. So use a gentle abrasive and clean any surfaces that have become tarnished.
3 Tin (verb not noun). Tinning is applying a thin coat of solder. First the iron, a tinned iron will heat the joint much quicker so the heat will not have time to run and melt things or tarnish the component leads or PCB pads. To tin the iron push a small amount of solder onto it then flick it off, once tinned use quickly otherwise the flux will all burn and the solder tarnish. Tin the leads and PCB pads, this will create the solder/copper amalgam properly for each part of the joint, if you have one thick and one thin part of a joint you run the risk of the thin part overheating before the thick part is hot enough to tin. If you accidentally fill a PCB hole, a freshly tinned iron will wick off the excess and open the hole.
And as with anything, practice.
As for steady hands then rest your wrist on something nearby, lean on the edge of the bench.
