Guest guest Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 The soldering stations are nice but not necessary. As long as you have a circuit board vise any soldering you do can be handled by a good quality pencil type soldering iron. They're simple and cheap. If you were going into business soldering boards I would say go with the station but for a few LOR boards and a transmitter just get the pencil type and buy a couple of extension cords:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 What causes the tip to erode? Are there better tips that don't do that? I have the radio shack dual temp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Tip erosion is caused by the molten solder. It actually dissolves the metal (iron or copper) over time. I have always preferred copper tips, keeping them well tinned and always wiping them clean before use if they have been sitting with molten solder on them. A side effect of tip erosion is that if you don't clean that old solder off, any dissolved iron or copper will now be deposited on your new solder joint.If you are using Tin/Lead solder, your joint should be SHINY! If it isn't, then your solder is either not hot enough, you "moved" the joint while it cooled or have contaminated solder.If any of you are using Silver (no-lead) solder, you just have to live with dull solder. I'll start using no-lead when they come to my house and confiscate my hoard.When a tip gets bad, you just file it smooth, re-tin it with lots of flux and solder, and continue on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Thanks for the tips & solder infoWe've had a cold front move in for 2 days, back down to single digitsBasement is the coldest it has been - 55.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 What is a cold solder Joint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 A cold joint is where the solder does not make good contact with the component lead and/or the printed circuit board pad. With a pro they usually occur when the component lead moves before the solder is completely cooled. With an amateur they most likely occur because poor heating/pre-heating of the surfaces to be soldered. Cold solder joints are a bad electrical connection.Cold joints look bumpy and are dull gray... It is best to remove the old solder and re-solder the joint however if you re-heat the solder and you see it re-flow nicely then you are probably okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Richard III wrote: What is a cold solder JointClick HERE for a lot of information and pictures from NASA on soldering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 I am not a LOR user but I just bought a CSI-Station2A.http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7508Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 The LOR kits comes with solder.Would it be safe to assume its the 60/40 type?And just chuck it and switch to 63/37 for better joints? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 I just got an email from MPJA and they have a pretty nice solder station on sale this month. I have ordered several times from this place with no problems and fast delivery. It's the fourth item down on the page.http://www.mpja.com/email/03-28-07.asp?r=AZ256028#15845+tl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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