I was inspired by seeing the "how to solder" thread. and I don't mean to step on anyone toes here but I love soldering its one of my passions. So id like to make a tutorial, this will be an on going tutorial. Tools: Soldering Iron: Its best to get a variable soldering iron of at least 50w I use a YouYue 8586 rework station If I remember correctly it was around $50usd. This Iron can use Hakko Tips. Solder: What I like to use is a .022 62/36/2 silver bearing solder. but a cheaper 60/40 will be fine its up to you for this general application no special stuff here. keep the diameter small 0.5 is a good area if your looking at Chinese solder. Vice: A vice is a valuable tool you will use in many situations. personally I don't care for helping hands but they do come in handy when but jointing. A vacuum vice from HF will work great. Your going to need a stand for your Iron. My rework station came with one. although you should get a better sponge. U used a Brillo backed sponge took the Brillo off and cut it down to fit. Flux: There are many types of Flux but I recommend a Pine rosin liquid flux for dealing with wires Wire strippers: There are a lot of strippers In the world but the best for beginners is a Pitsburgh standard stripper. you also have automatic strippers but are hard to use in tight spots. Alcohol: you will need this to clean you work with. Brush: your going to need a nylon brush any will do. Part 1 : Prep the wire Prepping your wire is very important and will make or break your solder quality. With properly prepared wire the job will look nice and be strong. and it really is a simple thing to do. these are the steps I take. 1: Stripping wile a necessary step it can be done wrong. Begin by finding the gauge of your wire. The wire I've pick is a standard speaker wire from the late RadioShack, it is 16 gauge. Take the wire and place it into your stripper in the proper gauge location. Squeeze the crimps down all the way. DO NOT PULL THE CRIMP OFF WILE SQUEEZED. Instead release the crimps and pull the end of the jacket off with your fingers. you can damage the copper core if you pull the crimps off wile closed. An automatic stripper is simple, place the wire in and squeeze. Now take some alcohol and your brush and clean your wires. After cleaning place your wires in the vice with the bare end locate in a place that's comfortable for you. Prep is complete. Part 2 Soldering: Start by heating up your iron. If your Iron is brand new you need to get Solder on the Tip to prevent it from oxidizing. But its necessary to Leave solder on your iron at all times to prevent damage to your tip. Add water to your sponge to make it damp. Now we can add Flux to the wire. Flux serves many purposed depending on the flux and the type of wire. Some fluxes are designed to work with metals like aluminum and stainless steel. In our case where going to be using Pine Rosin liquid flux. this is a standard type of soldering flux and is cheap. So in solder we flux for a few reasons, one is to remove oxidization from the copper wires. The other is a Flow agent to allow solder to flow into the wire quickly. All you need is a drop. Now with your Iron heated and your Wires fluxed take the Iron wipe it on your sponge and add clean solder. Now dab the iron into your wires. the Solder will flow into the wire in a matter of seconds. Clean your wire with alcohol and your brush. Congratulation you have solders a wire!
