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Soldering is the process of joining two metal pieces through a temporary bond. The process involves the usage of a solder, which is melted and forms the bond. During soldering, the metal is heated and not the solder. The solder is the material that you can find easily around the components or the connections. A solder is comprised of metal alloys that can form an electrical connection. In most of the electronic jobs, the thin-copper alloy solder is used, which is the lead-free solder. The use of lead-free solder is getting increasingly common because of the bad effects of lead and market-related restrictions.
The tools of soldering
Soldering can only be accomplished with the use of the soldering tools. Today a variety of soldering tools are available and are used by both enthusiasts and the professionals at industries including the electronics industry.
Soldering iron
The hand tool can plug into any wall socket (120 V AC socket). It comes both in soldering gun and pen forms and may vary in wattage strength (from 15 W to 40 W). The 40 W strength variant can handle almost all soldering jobs. The tips may or may not be interchangeable.
The tip heats to a great extent and hence it is important to use the soldering iron carefully and cautiously. You can always use a soldering stand for placing the soldering iron when not in use. A sponge can be used for cleaning the soldering iron and its tip.
Soldering station
The soldering station has the inbuilt power centre and a temperature adjustment knob so that you can easily control the temperature of the tip in lieu of your project or soldering job. It may use a conical tip for the precision electronic jobs, and the chisel tip for working on the larger components.
Tips for soldering
Before you start the process of soldering you should tin the tip so that it can transfer the heat efficiently, have the necessary protection, and suffers from lesser wear.
For tinning, the tip heats the soldering iron sufficiently. On a soldering station, you can adjust the temperature to around 400 degrees Celsius. Wipe the tip on a sponge that is damp wet. Heat the tip again, touch the solder with the tip, and ensure that the solder flows throughout the tip evenly. This solder layer will provide protection to the tip during soldering and will also provide for the effective transfer of heat.
Now you can start the process of soldering.
Soldering component on a printed circuit board PCB
Place the components within the hole of the PCB. Also, bend the leads of the component so that it remains in its place. Put the heated tip of the soldering iron on your pad for heating the lead as well as the circuit board’s pad. After heating for around a second, remove the solder wire and iron. Now inspect the joint. If it is satisfactory you can disconnect the lead from the joint by cutting it off.
Soldering of two wires
For best results, tin the wires first. Now place iron’s tip on a wire and apply heat for up to three seconds. You can then melt the shoulder so that the wire is soaked in it. Tin the other wire the same way.
Now you can hold the two wires close to each other and together, and apply heat, which will melt the tin and hold them together through a joint.
Remember to use safety goggles and to solder in a well-ventilated area. Use only high quality and reliable equipment for your soldering process so that possess long life, and provide for high-quality work.
