Soldering technique instructions

[Planetary Paul]

Turns out quite a few people who want to build the bGeigie Nano kit have little or no soldering experience. So I wondered if there are any good online manuals for learning how to solder.

This one jumped out. It covers the process in theory and practice extensively, with lots of illustrations. It's a PDF, so ideal for off-line use. 

I learned how to solder by disassembling scrapped valve radio's and B&W TV's. In these days of recycling there should still be enough old electronics around to use as practice material, before committing to a serious project like the BGN kit.

[ml harley]

Thanks for this link on soldering - it is particularly helpful on what is happening in the soldering process and visible signs of a poor soldering job which as a beginner one might think is OK.  I am a beginner; one of those who had no previous soldering experience.  I have a question about keeping headers in position.

My experience to date: 3 practice soldering joints on 2mm copper wire and I just completed the small parts and the 3-pin angled header.  Keeping the header in place to solder it was a problem and I used the end of the wooden handle of the boar-hair flux cleaning brush to keep the 3-pin angled header in position.

For the headers for the Fio, the instructions say “use the Fio itself as an alignment guide to position the headers on the board properly.”  Does this mean that I can leave the Fio on so it holds the headers when I carefully turn the board and solder the headers?  If not, what is the trick to keep a header in place and in alignment while soldering?

Any help is much appreciated.

[Planetary Paul]

On Sunday, July 31, 2016 at 5:05:41 AM UTC+2, ml harley wrote:

For the headers for the Fio, the instructions say “use the Fio itself as an alignment guide to position the headers on the board properly.”  Does this mean that I can leave the Fio on so it holds the headers when I carefully turn the board and solder the headers? 

Yes, sandwich the black plastic on the headers between the main board and the Fio and keep a little pressure on, so the assembly can't move. Then solder the main board side.

Before soldering the Fio side the six pin angled header should be in place and the little Fio switch set in the correct position.

 

If not, what is the trick to keep a header in place and in alignment while soldering?

 Apply some pressure at the centre of the header on the black plastic, so the header will settle in the exact perpendicular position on the board with no gap between the board and the header plastic. With short headers you can release the pressure after soldering one pin in the middle, which will then keep the header in place while you solder the others. With long headers you solder a pin on either side to keep it in place.

Using the Fio to position the headers is best in this case.

Success!

[ml harley]

Thank you!