Soldering tuition

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Rickles

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#100275 6-Apr-2012 20:11

Does anyone know of a short-course program (day or night classes) where soldering skills are tought?

Thanks,

R.

mattRSK

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#606235 6-Apr-2012 20:17

Just practice :)

edit: Sorry youtube tags are not working for me, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4

gzt

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#606248 6-Apr-2012 20:44

are you looking for job qualification type things or just building hobby skills?

scottr

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#606251 6-Apr-2012 20:55

Two most important things...

you'll need to ensure that what you're soldering is clean (i.e. not old manky wires or a circuit board covered in grime).

Heat both sides of what you're soldering evenly before you apply the solder (very important). Solder doesn't stick that well to a cold joint.

Soldering can be a bit difficult to learn but as MattRSK says, practice practice practice.

michaelmurfy

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#606269 6-Apr-2012 22:06

I learnt to solder when I was 5 (after I asked Santa for a soldering iron for Christmas, he was quite amused) - how I learnt was just to assemble random hobby projects + take things apart.

Now, I'm constructing surface mount boards, but 17 years later and with quite a good soldering iron :P

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Rickles

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#606276 6-Apr-2012 22:25

Thanks for all your replies.

I'm asking for a cousin's son, about 10 years old as I recall, and wanted to ensure all the bases were covered, e.g. heat settings, tip types, solders, techniques, safety, etc right from the start.

In my day it was irons with a broad tip and told to heat the wire before the solder ... ok for some stuff but no todays SMD work.

R.

gzt

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#606326 7-Apr-2012 09:29

Some worthwhile links here but does not cover SMD yet:

http://www.ladyada.net/learn/soldering/thm.html

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Rickles

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#606328 7-Apr-2012 09:36

Unitec have an ideal program called "Introduction to Electronics" where they learn about componentry, soldering skills, kit/project building, and testing equipment.

Can't find similar here in Wellington though.

R.

michaelmurfy

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#606474 7-Apr-2012 19:16

It's a shame you can't get those DSE "Funway into Electronics" kits - those were perfect.

nickb800

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#606478 7-Apr-2012 19:36

michaelmurfy: It's a shame you can't get those DSE "Funway into Electronics" kits - those were perfect.

+1
They started me, and Im sure many other hobbyists.

I would think that you would want to master basic soldering before your get cracking on SMDs. I reckon practice would be more valuable than a course

gzt

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#606486 7-Apr-2012 20:12

Watching someone else with a bit of guidance is always best so you can see the finer points of pressure used to transfer heat etc. I learned from books and it took me a fair amount of time to really understand what was required to get it right.

Jaycar have a $2 mini-book thing for kit construction:

http://www.jaycar.com.au/images_uploaded/Kit_Construction_Manual_BI-8200_v1-1.pdf

and they have similar kits to the old DS ones:

http://www.jaycar.co.nz/kits.asp

If I remember correctly the old DS kit PCB's were straight bare copper with no pre-tinning - very tricky for a beginner.

Rickles

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#606603 8-Apr-2012 10:02

gzt,

>Watching someone else with a bit of guidance is always best so you can see the finer points of pressure used to transfer heat etc<

That is exactly my feeling.

R.

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merve0o0

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#606964 9-Apr-2012 09:16

Do the high schools there do evening classes? I learnt at high school in an electronics class. Teacher told me my soldering was horrible I am now working in an electronics company soldering fine pitch and I.C.'s.

If he is goin to be doing a lot of soldering a hakko fx-888 is a great iron. Is what I use at work at home I just use a cheap pencil iron I got from dse takes longer but does the job.

As above making sure both bits you are soldering are clean is a big help. With a good iron and flux cored solder you almost never need to add flux. If you do then clean it off as it is corrosive. I have had to repair many people's repairs because the flux has eaten through the wire