19 ms·

I hate soldering

264 points by _nxwj 5mo ago

deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
nippoo 5mo ago
To each their own. I find soldering (with a nice iron!) very therapeutic, much like knitting. I'll put on a good album or catch up with some friends on the phone. If you're impatient, plenty of fab houses (like JLCPCB) will do all the soldering for you, for about 0.1 cents per SMD joint or 2 cents per THT joint...
- michaeljx 5mo ago
  Nice iron,a good clamping set-up, and a high-quality correctly specked (to the task) solder make all the difference
- II2II 5mo ago
  I enjoy soldering, and like your comparisons. Yet I certainly don't blame the author for highlighting how unhealthy it is.
  - bityard 5mo ago
    The lead is leaded solder is entirely manageable. You should keep track of it all and dispose of it properly. (I.e. not in a landfill.) Wash your hands afterwards. It doesn't vaporize, or at least not in any quantities that you should care about. As long as you are not directly inhaling in the flux smoke while hovering over the project, it's not that unhealthy. If you are a hobbyist doing an hour of soldering a week, you probably get more smoke particle inhalation making toast. Or pizza. Or frying literally anything. (If I was soldering for a living, yes I'd want a really good fume extractor on the bench, though.)
chasd00 5mo ago
When i was in college I was soldering something really small (don't remember what it was) and flicked molten solder right in to the tear duct on the inside corner of one of my eyes. Not fun but didn't hurt anything permanently.
- throwup238 5mo ago
  Always wear eye protection! Electrical engineers don’t think about these things cause they’re not dealing with power tools but I’ve seen a wire fly off from a wire cutter into someone’s eye doing considerable damage.
peteforde 5mo ago
I had to click, because it turns out that I love soldering. It's relaxing and has a skill curve such that there's a trick to it but with a bit of practice, you can be someone who is really good at soldering, too. For anyone reading, the key is to invest in a proper stereo microscope and a decent fume extractor. I recommend this one: https://www.strangeparts.com/a-boy-and-his-microscope-a-love-story/ https://www.strangeparts.com/a-boy-and-his-microscope-a-love... If you're up for a bit of a bonus round, I absolutely love my Pixel Pump. https://shop.robins-tools.com/products/pixel-pump https://shop.robins-tools.com/products/pixel-pump I picked up a used Ninja toaster oven and hacked a https://reflowmasterpro.com/ https://reflowmasterpro.com/ to it. I also modified the plans for Stencil Fix to make it substantially bigger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am3ztQIkss0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am3ztQIkss0 So, I do a fair bit of both reflow and hand SMD soldering at this point, depending on what the situation calls for. It's great fun.
- erwincoumans 5mo ago
  Agreed on stereo microscope, also suggest flux and a good iron with exchangeable tips and hot tweezers (I enjoy the Hakko).
  - wrs 5mo ago
    The new breed of irons with temperature measurement built into the tip (invented by JBC, cloned by Geeboon and similar) is amazing. The tip heats to exactly the temp you want in 3 seconds, then cools down to avoid damage when you put it back in the stand. As you solder, the power is automatically controlled to keep the tip at the specified temp regardless of the load you put on it. I never thought I'd replace the Weller station I've used for 20 years, but I'm glad I did. Edit: For a specific recommendation, look for the Geeboon TC22 on AliExpress or Amazon. Don’t forget the tips, you may need to get them separately.
    - peteforde 5mo ago
      Share a link! Don't be shy.
dale_glass 5mo ago
So get yourself a solder fume extractor? There's plenty cheap ones to pick from.
sowbug 5mo ago
Watching skillful SMT soldering on YouTube fascinates me in a way that helps me understand the ASMR videos that the kids watch these days.
- Pr0ject217 5mo ago
  Recommendations?
  - sowbug 5mo ago
    No particular channels or videos come to mind, but here are a couple good ones (with timestamps to skip the intro fluff): https://youtu.be/0LSG5uIdqJc?t=190s https://youtu.be/0LSG5uIdqJc?t=190s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs&t=40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs&t=40s
    - omgtehlion 5mo ago
      I would not call 2nd video "skillful", that SOIC was molested, not soldered :(
      - sowbug 5mo ago
        Fair enough, perhaps I'm easily impressed. :)
  - Joel_Mckay 5mo ago
    With the exception of a hot air rework tool, a soldering iron should complete a nice fillet within 3 seconds. Adjustable temperature kits tend to hide the skills needed to work with the thermal mass of the iron itself. Soldering with an iron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvl_KYif9zA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvl_KYif9zA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RXugDd0xik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RXugDd0xik Drag soldering with a hoof tip iron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyele3CIs-U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyele3CIs-U Hot air techniques (mid size QFN, soic, and other SMD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v58m-S35s24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v58m-S35s24 Recommended equipment: WE1010EDU for fine and medium work (remember the 3 second fillet rule) https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE1010EDU-Soldering-Education-Kit/dp/B07J49HJ4T https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE1010EDU-Soldering-Education-... A set of hoof and screwdriver tips: https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Weller-WE1010-Soldering-ETSET-5/dp/B08ZDRG2QP/139-0515044-3258320 https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Weller-WE1010-Soldering-ETSET... Flux and solder wick for cleaning pad areas on PCB: https://www.amazon.com/Lesnow-Desoldering-Electronics-Disassemble-Electrical/dp/B0F8BJPC9Y https://www.amazon.com/Lesnow-Desoldering-Electronics-Disass... CREWORKS 858D cheap hot air tool for basic SMD rework: https://www.amazon.com/CO-Z-Soldering-Temperature-Desoldering-Electronics/dp/B01MR2IWBN https://www.amazon.com/CO-Z-Soldering-Temperature-Desolderin... 1. never use metal wool to clean the iron tip coating 2. Before use, clean by dragging a hot iron across water dampened sponge (or paper) to smear off oxidized material. 3. Never use Bismuth solder, it was invented by fools for fools. Also, indium contamination can make you go bald. 4. Your iron should choose one (and only one) of the following i. Sn63/Pb37 No-Clean eutectic solder for low temperature industrial machinery ii. RoHS compliant SAC305 Lead-Free No-Clean Solder 5. No Clean means the flux core in the solder may be left on the work. However, it is recommended to clean it off with 99% IPA. 6. Fume extraction blows crud outdoors, and charcoal filters just makes crud smell nice. 7. Practice PCB kits are cheap, and getting 2 in case you cook something by inserting it backwards may be wise. https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/soldered-electronics/333140/21720460 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/soldered-electron... Best of luck =3
proee 5mo ago
Soldering is fun, especially if you designed the circuit and the pcb yourself. It's like putting together your own frankenstein, with a huge amount of anticipation toward when you finally get to give it power. Just be sure to get the polarity right on those electrolytic caps ;-)
tamimio 5mo ago
I disagree, it’s a joy actually, shame that jobs that involve soldering don’t pay well, yes, even embedded engineers aren’t paid that well plus soldering is less than 10% of the work.
billfor 5mo ago
I hate to say I love the fumes - that rosin smell is unique. Did many soldering projects in an enclosed area back when I was a kid. Everyone worked that way years ago. I wonder if the fumes kill more people than being neurotic about the fumes.
- foobarian 5mo ago
  Yeah I grew up with it too. Also the smell of cigarettes and coffee typical of so many communist government offices brings back pleasant memories.
- jazzyjackson 5mo ago
  I had a friend that taught with leaded solder and say 'you can wash your hands, but you can't wash your lungs', and considered the fumes from lead-free solder as more exotic and cancerous than burning rosin. Lead free is regulated to prevent the metal from getting into the environment on a large scale, there's not health regulations around what gets burned off when hitting lead-free solder with a soldering gun at the wrong temperature. It's meant to be cooked in an oven with ventilation away from humans.
- PunchyHamster 5mo ago
  lead-free solder fluxes tho... they are fucking vile stench
- userbinator 5mo ago
  It probably varies; some people are allegic to rosin, some develop an allergy from long-term exposure, and others seem to effectively be immune to it.
Animats 5mo ago
He's soldering like it's fifty years ago. Everything is lead-free surface mount now. Solder paste, stencils, reflow ovens. Hand soldering is precision temperature controlled irons, hot air rework stations, magnifiers, cameras, and exhaust fans. The tools are more complicated, more expensive, and better. One of the lessons of surface mount work is that you really can move your fingers a thousandth of an inch. But you need magnification to see what you're doing. I'm encouraged to see more hobbyists going surface mount. In my TechShop days, I was the only one doing surface mount. Everybody else was using 1980s 0.1 inch spacing DIP components. That's a US thing. If you learn to solder in Shenzhen, you start with surface mount.
- PunchyHamster 5mo ago
  lead solder is so much better tho. But yeah, everything's smd now and stencils and PCBs are cheap enough there is little reson to not go that way
- birdsongs 5mo ago
  It's also shockingly easy to just get boards made and populated these days. I of course have a station but I use it less and less. I paid like 40€ last week for 5 smaller PCBAs, 0402s all nice and correct, jumpers, all my ICs. Don't have to worry about diode orientation or solder bridges. Just complete boards shipped to me. Easily beats my own labour rates.
  - joshmarinacci 5mo ago
    Where did you buy your populated boards from? I want to make a small in and not deal with SMT at all.
    - birdsongs 5mo ago
      I use jlcpcb, they're common in the prototype and hobby domains. But there's quite a few board houses in taiwan and china that do this, definitely shop around. The annoying part is getting the bom and component placement files correct. I use kicad since it's free, and there's solid instructions from most houses on what they need.
HiPhish 5mo ago
I love soldering, even though my skill ceiling is SMD components. There is something almost spiritual and humbling about soldering because you cannot force your will onto the solder, you have to listen to what the solder wants to do and work with it, not against it. When I first tried my hand at soldering I was using the "butter knife" method: apply solder to the iron, then try to smear it onto the wire like spreading butter with a butter knife. Of course the solder would never stick to where I wanted it to go. I had to learn that solder goes to where the heat is, so I instead had to heat the components or wires instead and then feed the solder onto the hot components. I also had to learn that a soldering iron is not a pencil, sometimes even when doing small parts you want to use the large tip. Don't try to tell the solder where to go, instead apply a big blog and watch it snap into place on its own. Last year I installed an HDMI mod[1] into my Wii, this has been so far the hardest project. It took me many attempts to get it right, mainly because I was working against the solder instead of with it. But now that I have succeeded I could easily do it over and over again (not keen on the disassembly and reassembly of the console though). EDIT: while I'm at it I might as well mention the iron I was using: the Pinecil[2]. It's a really neat and fast soldering iron at a very cheap price. Great for people like me who don't want hardware store cheap garbage, but also cannot justify buying an entire soldering station. [1] https://electron-shepherd.com/collections/kits-mods/products/electronave-kit https://electron-shepherd.com/collections/kits-mods/products... [2] https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/ https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...
- birdsongs 5mo ago
  Flux, liberally applied, is the sudo of soldering. It lets you force your will and make the solder do what you want. No one ever uses enough. I always have either a pen with a felt tip, or a syringe of chip quik. It (a good proper flux) is what most people are missing when they struggle with SMD, the flux makes the solder almost magnetic and it jumps perfectly to the pad and the component. Mess up, make a bridge or bad connection? Add more and wave the tip through like a magic wand. Poof. Fixed. Thanks for coming to my Church of Flux presentation.
  - fennecfoxy 5mo ago
AdamH12113 5mo ago
I feel like this poem isn't really about soldering, but if anyone is actually bothered by it, there are some options. Unleaded solder and a decent fume extractor make the process cleaner. A decent soldering iron and solder wire with good-quality flux (e.g. Kester) makes it faster. If you'd rather not deal with the iron, you can manually apply solder paste and use a hot air rework tool or even a heat gun (careful!) to melt it. (A proper reflow oven is better, of course, but that's pricey.) This makes working with surface-mount components much easier. If you'd rather not deal with it at all, have a PCB assembled somewhere else. JLC is pretty cheap, especially on simpler boards.
- floxy 5mo ago
  >A proper reflow oven is better, of course, but that's pricey. You can do a lot worse than a $55 temperature controlled hot plate. Plus you can watch the magic happen. Of course that only works for single sided boards. I've been very impressed with the results. https://www.amazon.com/Soiiw-Microcomputer-Soldering-Preheating-200X200mm/dp/B082H12PPT https://www.amazon.com/Soiiw-Microcomputer-Soldering-Preheat...
- _nxwj 5mo ago
  Yes, you are quite correct in the first point. I've also met people who recommend crimping where possible as a safer and cleaner solution.
PunchyHamster 5mo ago
As long as it isn't soldering connectors, I like it. Connectors tho... PITA
jhbadger 5mo ago
Whatever happened to wire wrapping? That used to be a viable alternative.
- stavros 5mo ago
  I have used wire wrapping, and it's a good alternative to through-hole, but SMD is just miles better
- duskwuff 5mo ago
  It only works for thru-hole parts and the special wire-wrap sockets you needed to do it properly got expensive (and are no longer in production).
analog31 5mo ago
I've used pretty good soldering stations at work and at home. But I needed to set up a new station at my workplace, and asked our best technician to recommend a new unit. He recommended Hakko FX-971, and I got one despite the price (to my employer), with 3 sizes of tips. It was a true splurge, but I love it. Warm-up in 15 seconds, and the tips are integrated with the heaters so there's no thermal contact to worry about. Tiny and big tips both work great. You can change tips while they're hot. At home I have a typical Weller station, and it's OK for the electronics side business that I run, but nothing like that Hakko. ... and I love soldering.
philipnee 5mo ago
Soldering was my favorite part of ee course in the university… i even kinda liked the fume..
pclark 5mo ago
Any tips on how to improve soldering? I just started learning electronics, it’s so fun with Claude doing the code for the device.
- throwup238 5mo ago
  Use flux liberally before soldering (the flux in flux core solder is useless) and clean it off afterwards. It changes the surface tension of the solder, making it much easier to work with.
- mrheosuper 5mo ago
  Apply heat to thing you want solder to stick to, not to the solder wire. There is no such thing as "too much flux" (Actually there is, when doing BGA reflow, but that's advance topic)
dang 5mo ago
Of all the threads to not have a single bad comment! (as of 11:10pm PST 2026-05-11, I hasten to add)
hn111 5mo ago
I got into soldering as a child, but never learned how to do it properly. Years later I found this comic-book-style guide somewhere online, which made it quite easy to do without messing it up: https://mightyohm.com/files/soldercomic/FullSolderComic_EN.pdf https://mightyohm.com/files/soldercomic/FullSolderComic_EN.p...
- Doxin 5mo ago
  Important to note that these days you really should use lead-free solder. You'll find all sorts of people going around claiming that leaded is better, but it's really not, and it's not worth the health risk. Your iron needs to be about 20c hotter than for leaded and your solder joints will look dull instead of shiny. If you find lead-free solder to not flow properly to be grainy your iron isn't hot enough. Still wash your hands after using lead-free solder by the way. You don't want to be eating rosin or copper either.
  - BenjiWiebe 5mo ago
    Did you know that "real" Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano) is made in copper vats? And copper plumbing is super common for potable water? And plenty of spirits are distilled in copper stills? I mean, encouraging handwashing is fine but copper isn't what you need to worry about.
    - Doxin 5mo ago
      Maybe not. I don't know. I'm not a scientist. I have to err on the side of caution with these things because I don't know.
      - yuye 5mo ago
        Copper is an essential trace element for many living organisms, including humans, meaning you need copper to survive. Generally, copper has low toxicity. (That is, unless you have rare genetic defects such as Wilson's Disease) Lead is nothing like that. We don't need lead to survive, we shouldn't put lead in our bodies. Lead is also known to accumulate in your body (especially your brain). Avoid lead exposure as much as you can.
voidUpdate 5mo ago
Soldering is something where bad tools do genuinely make it extremely hard to do a good job. I used my dad's old soldering iron for a while, where it just plugs into the wall and gets hot, with no other temperature control than (I assume) some kind of thermal switch to stop it melting. I always hated soldering with that thing, and my joints looked awful. Then I got a pinecil, and my experience changed completely. Super cheap, heats up in seconds, does perfect soldering, and makes everything so much more fun and easy. Heavily recommend if you want to solder but are having problems with your existing iron https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/ https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...
- AussieWog93 5mo ago
  I'm an electrical engineer (look in my bio if you want a shameless plug for my commercial OSHW project), can't go wrong with an Aifen A9E. Honestly 90% as good as my genuine JBC CDB and only costs something like $65 USD.
_nxwj 5mo ago
Thanks for all the advice! For context, this poem was only partially about soldering. It's also about questions regarding ever-progressing technology on Earth, which I think some caught on to. I did use solder paste and a heat gun with a fume extractor after writing this poem. :)
brendamn 5mo ago
I enjoy soldering. I enjoy using solder paste, being a human pick and place machine, and then putting boards in the oven. I enjoy building physical devices. But then I had a hardware startup and learnt something about myself. I enjoy building one or two of something. I absolutely hate building anything more than that.
articsputnik 5mo ago
Nice poem.
deleted 5mo ago
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axegon_ 5mo ago
Love-hate relationship here. I make and fly drones as a hobby (mostly build-since around July last year, 98% of the times, when weekends come, it's always raining). While soldering can be fun, I hate soldering big, fat cables on large pads, it's just so tedious, even with a powerful soldering iron.
lukko 5mo ago
Some nice Schlieren photography on show here too [0]. Also seen on John Martyn's Solid Air [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieren_photography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieren_photography [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_Air https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_Air
Toutouxc 5mo ago
For anyone thinking about learning to solder, there are several levels of what you can do with a soldering iron. The surface-mount stuff and ovens and microscopes, that's like level 3. Level 1 is just being able to take two wires and connect them, reliably and cleanly. That's already immensely useful and requires very little skill and equipment. $50 gets you a nice soldering pen, another $50 gets you some tweezers, some flux and a roll of solder and you're set. Work near an open window and have a desk fan blow the fumes away from you, and you're already being more responsible than most people. Level 2 is something like through-hole soldering, soldering wires to pads, the kind of stuff you'd do working with ESP32, building RC cars, FPV drones or custom IoT devices. Still easy to learn, just a few simple rules. Work quickly, know when to give up and let things cool down. Avoid touching the expensive e-ink display with your soldering iron. Get something better for fume extraction, spend 10 hours soldering and bam, you're better at soldering than literally 99% people out there, you can build and repair all kinds of stuff. This is where most of the cool YouTube stuff happens, your rctestflight and Tom Stanton and Stuff Made Here and Styropyro. You can do most of that with $300-$800 worth of gear, depending on how brave you are. And then you can worry about SMDs and reflowing and other arcane stuff, or decide that you probably won't need it.
- rcxdude 5mo ago
  I do a lot of SMD rework and TBH soldering two wires together cleanly can still be a bigger pain in the backside. It's different, but not necessarily much more difficult (until you get to footprints like QFNs and BGAs where you can't see the pads at all, at least).
  - Jolter 5mo ago
    Well, you’re saying that after you already learned how to do it.
    - fsniper 5mo ago
      I am very new to the crafts and I can attest trying to solder smd stuff, with correct equipment is way easier than soldering 2 wires correctly together. And I also kinda hate QFN like packages where you can’t see the pads.
foo42 5mo ago
This is somewhat off topic, but a question to Americans: Why do none of you seem to pronounce the "l" in soldering? Every US video seems to say "soddering"
- BenjiWiebe 5mo ago
  Don't know - we also don't pronounce plenty of other letters too. Plumbing is plumming not plum-bing. Also apparently the word solder comes from Middle English 'soudure' which doesn't even have an L in it.
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
- LegionMammal978 5mo ago
  I always thought of it as analogous to the silent Ls in would/should/could, calf, half, chalk, caulk, and Polk.
- phendrenad2 5mo ago
  This question is impolite, just so you know.
  - troad 5mo ago
    No, it isn't. It's never rude to respectfully try to understand how others speak. If it were, we'd have to shutter all the linguistics departments.
    - phendrenad2 5mo ago
      Would you consider going to Jamaica and asking people "why do you pronounce man 'mon'?" respectful? Of course not. Well, I can see the case where someone is so ignorant that they don't know the basics of how language dialects work, but that doesn't make it less rude for the average person.
thearn4 5mo ago
I became significantly better at electronics soldering by learning to do glasswork (stain glass fixturing, etc). It wasn't intentional and it isn't even the same solder chemistry, but having to do broad asthetics on large pieces meant I "got it" better for the small scale electronics connections.
contingencies 5mo ago
Anti-Schematic fantastic Hacked the physical: pentastic! Got the pump-wickin' stickin', Who didn't turn off the bench? Where's the 100x lens Gibson? IC damage and bits of French Master fine STM RPI ATM 329 Fuckin' A to the Zed Fill your lungs with lead Y'all shit's funded by Venture rebrands for A&I.
486sx33 5mo ago
[dead]
Liftyee 5mo ago
This sounds like an opinion written by a "clean hands" computer scientist. Electronic engineers have it easy with their soldering - mechanical engineers deal with much more stubborn oils, greases, metal swarf... Isopropyl alcohol removes all the soldering residue. Personally, all it took is decent equipment and some practice to make soldering enjoyable. It can be frustrating at times, but usually the problem is (lack of) heat, flux or patience.
ubermonkey 5mo ago
I do not know how to solder. I've gotten to 56 without knowing how. It's unclear if that will change now.
asn_tech_2019 5mo ago
[dead]
socratic_weeb 5mo ago
Crappy poetry if I've ever seen one
TrackerFF 5mo ago
My first part-time job was at this old appliance store, I was 14. In the back they had a small repair shop, from ye olden days when such stores actually repaired stuff. The repairman was this older gentleman that used to work in telecom, but had retired back to his small home town (where we lived), and repaired the stuff at the shop, at his own leisure. Let's just say things took forever, and the backlog was probably as long as the stores inventory. But my first day there, after dusting and throwing cardboard, he asked me "Hey kid, wanna learn on how to solder?" and we spent a good hour going through the basics. That sparked my interest in electronics, and put me on my path the electrical engineering. I still do a lot of soldering, as I build guitars, and repair audio equipment. I enjoy the tranquility soldering gives me...the things that usually suck, is not the soldering itself, but the environment you work in. You don't always get the circuit boards out. Sometimes you're working in a rats nest. Sometimes you don't helping hands.
solderingblob 5mo ago
[flagged]
AntiUSAbah 5mo ago
He is right though with a shitty solder iron its just not fun. My 50Euro hardware store solder iron was garbage. Bought one of these pencil type solders for 100 Euro years later and that small thing was 10x better than the heavey shitty hardware store solder iron. I'm sure a good station makes it even nicer but if your normal iron doesn't get hot fast and doesn't keep it properly hot, you can play lots of guessing games why your stuff doesn't do what that person on youtube is showing you how it should work
ginkgotree 5mo ago
I love soldering.
delis-thumbs-7e 5mo ago
If you hate soldering, try weldng. Especially TIG with a rod. Pretty much anything is easy after that.
ge96 5mo ago
I like it, simple through-hole stuff still but what is gross is when flux gets on my hands.
mrheosuper 5mo ago
1 mistake I see a lot of beginners make is, they bite more than what they can chew. You can not suddenly be able to replace your PS5 HDMI port if you've never soldered before. Also you need the right tool, a $20 solder is never enough. Soldering is a skill, you need to practice.
Beijinger 5mo ago
I hated it too because I had a shitty soldering iron. Could have used a ironing iron instead, so shitty was it. Use this, stop complaining: https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/07/29/pinecil-v2-soldering-iron-gets-bl706-bluetooth-le-risc-v-mcu-usb-pd-epr-support/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/07/29/pinecil-v2-soldering... Pinecil RISC-V soldering iron with the Pinecil V2 featuring a new Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V microcontroller with Bluetooth LE connectivity, optimizations for higher power levels, as well as tentative support for the new USB PD EPR standard (Extended Power Range) working at up to 28V.
- Beijinger 5mo ago
  26 USD: https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/ https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde... It runs IronOS - Open Source Flexible Firmware for Soldering Hardware https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS
- Tade0 5mo ago
  I picked up soldering around the time lead-free solder started being required in the EU, so imagine my frustration when suddenly stuff stopped unsoldering like it should. Of course a lot of electronics were compliant before 2006, but that point in time marked the moment when even the most suspicious dropshipped Chinese items had to use it and suddenly you needed way more heat to do the same things.
- arionmiles 5mo ago
  they put RISC-V in a soldering iron?
  - Beijinger 5mo ago
    No shit. And an Open OS. It works great.
  - ssl-3 5mo ago
    Sure, why not? It's OK to have fun with tools.
Yhippa 5mo ago
The first time I soldered, it was for a job interview to work for a professor building gastric pacemakers after university graduation. My eyes were still sharp so it was actually kind of fun.
deleted 5mo ago
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phendrenad2 5mo ago
Soldering is ready for disruption by robots or 3d printing. It just needs someone to take the problem seriously and not aim for quick wins for marketing clout.
deleted 5mo ago
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264 points by _nxwj 5mo ago

deleted 5mo ago

[deleted]

To each their own. I find soldering (with a nice iron!) very therapeutic, much like knitting. I'll put on a good album or catch up with some friends on the phone. If you're impatient, plenty of fab houses (like JLCPCB) will do all the soldering for you, for about 0.1 cents per SMD joint or 2 cents per THT joint...

michaeljx 5mo ago
Nice iron,a good clamping set-up, and a high-quality correctly specked (to the task) solder make all the difference
II2II 5mo ago
I enjoy soldering, and like your comparisons. Yet I certainly don't blame the author for highlighting how unhealthy it is.
- bityard 5mo ago
  The lead is leaded solder is entirely manageable. You should keep track of it all and dispose of it properly. (I.e. not in a landfill.) Wash your hands afterwards. It doesn't vaporize, or at least not in any quantities that you should care about. As long as you are not directly inhaling in the flux smoke while hovering over the project, it's not that unhealthy. If you are a hobbyist doing an hour of soldering a week, you probably get more smoke particle inhalation making toast. Or pizza. Or frying literally anything. (If I was soldering for a living, yes I'd want a really good fume extractor on the bench, though.)

chasd00 5mo ago

When i was in college I was soldering something really small (don't remember what it was) and flicked molten solder right in to the tear duct on the inside corner of one of my eyes. Not fun but didn't hurt anything permanently.

throwup238 5mo ago
Always wear eye protection! Electrical engineers don’t think about these things cause they’re not dealing with power tools but I’ve seen a wire fly off from a wire cutter into someone’s eye doing considerable damage.

peteforde 5mo ago

I had to click, because it turns out that I love soldering. It's relaxing and has a skill curve such that there's a trick to it but with a bit of practice, you can be someone who is really good at soldering, too. For anyone reading, the key is to invest in a proper stereo microscope and a decent fume extractor. I recommend this one: https://www.strangeparts.com/a-boy-and-his-microscope-a-love-story/ https://www.strangeparts.com/a-boy-and-his-microscope-a-love... If you're up for a bit of a bonus round, I absolutely love my Pixel Pump. https://shop.robins-tools.com/products/pixel-pump https://shop.robins-tools.com/products/pixel-pump I picked up a used Ninja toaster oven and hacked a https://reflowmasterpro.com/ https://reflowmasterpro.com/ to it. I also modified the plans for Stencil Fix to make it substantially bigger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am3ztQIkss0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am3ztQIkss0 So, I do a fair bit of both reflow and hand SMD soldering at this point, depending on what the situation calls for. It's great fun.

erwincoumans 5mo ago
Agreed on stereo microscope, also suggest flux and a good iron with exchangeable tips and hot tweezers (I enjoy the Hakko).
- wrs 5mo ago
  The new breed of irons with temperature measurement built into the tip (invented by JBC, cloned by Geeboon and similar) is amazing. The tip heats to exactly the temp you want in 3 seconds, then cools down to avoid damage when you put it back in the stand. As you solder, the power is automatically controlled to keep the tip at the specified temp regardless of the load you put on it. I never thought I'd replace the Weller station I've used for 20 years, but I'm glad I did. Edit: For a specific recommendation, look for the Geeboon TC22 on AliExpress or Amazon. Don’t forget the tips, you may need to get them separately.
  - peteforde 5mo ago
    Share a link! Don't be shy.

dale_glass 5mo ago

So get yourself a solder fume extractor? There's plenty cheap ones to pick from.

sowbug 5mo ago

Watching skillful SMT soldering on YouTube fascinates me in a way that helps me understand the ASMR videos that the kids watch these days.

Pr0ject217 5mo ago
Recommendations?
- sowbug 5mo ago
  No particular channels or videos come to mind, but here are a couple good ones (with timestamps to skip the intro fluff): https://youtu.be/0LSG5uIdqJc?t=190s https://youtu.be/0LSG5uIdqJc?t=190s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs&t=40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs&t=40s
  - omgtehlion 5mo ago
    I would not call 2nd video "skillful", that SOIC was molested, not soldered :(
    - sowbug 5mo ago
      Fair enough, perhaps I'm easily impressed. :)
- Joel_Mckay 5mo ago
  With the exception of a hot air rework tool, a soldering iron should complete a nice fillet within 3 seconds. Adjustable temperature kits tend to hide the skills needed to work with the thermal mass of the iron itself. Soldering with an iron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvl_KYif9zA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvl_KYif9zA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RXugDd0xik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RXugDd0xik Drag soldering with a hoof tip iron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyele3CIs-U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyele3CIs-U Hot air techniques (mid size QFN, soic, and other SMD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v58m-S35s24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v58m-S35s24 Recommended equipment: WE1010EDU for fine and medium work (remember the 3 second fillet rule) https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE1010EDU-Soldering-Education-Kit/dp/B07J49HJ4T https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE1010EDU-Soldering-Education-... A set of hoof and screwdriver tips: https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Weller-WE1010-Soldering-ETSET-5/dp/B08ZDRG2QP/139-0515044-3258320 https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Weller-WE1010-Soldering-ETSET... Flux and solder wick for cleaning pad areas on PCB: https://www.amazon.com/Lesnow-Desoldering-Electronics-Disassemble-Electrical/dp/B0F8BJPC9Y https://www.amazon.com/Lesnow-Desoldering-Electronics-Disass... CREWORKS 858D cheap hot air tool for basic SMD rework: https://www.amazon.com/CO-Z-Soldering-Temperature-Desoldering-Electronics/dp/B01MR2IWBN https://www.amazon.com/CO-Z-Soldering-Temperature-Desolderin... 1. never use metal wool to clean the iron tip coating 2. Before use, clean by dragging a hot iron across water dampened sponge (or paper) to smear off oxidized material. 3. Never use Bismuth solder, it was invented by fools for fools. Also, indium contamination can make you go bald. 4. Your iron should choose one (and only one) of the following i. Sn63/Pb37 No-Clean eutectic solder for low temperature industrial machinery ii. RoHS compliant SAC305 Lead-Free No-Clean Solder 5. No Clean means the flux core in the solder may be left on the work. However, it is recommended to clean it off with 99% IPA. 6. Fume extraction blows crud outdoors, and charcoal filters just makes crud smell nice. 7. Practice PCB kits are cheap, and getting 2 in case you cook something by inserting it backwards may be wise. https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/soldered-electronics/333140/21720460 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/soldered-electron... Best of luck =3

proee 5mo ago

Soldering is fun, especially if you designed the circuit and the pcb yourself. It's like putting together your own frankenstein, with a huge amount of anticipation toward when you finally get to give it power. Just be sure to get the polarity right on those electrolytic caps ;-)

tamimio 5mo ago

I disagree, it’s a joy actually, shame that jobs that involve soldering don’t pay well, yes, even embedded engineers aren’t paid that well plus soldering is less than 10% of the work.

billfor 5mo ago

I hate to say I love the fumes - that rosin smell is unique. Did many soldering projects in an enclosed area back when I was a kid. Everyone worked that way years ago. I wonder if the fumes kill more people than being neurotic about the fumes.

foobarian 5mo ago
Yeah I grew up with it too. Also the smell of cigarettes and coffee typical of so many communist government offices brings back pleasant memories.
jazzyjackson 5mo ago
I had a friend that taught with leaded solder and say 'you can wash your hands, but you can't wash your lungs', and considered the fumes from lead-free solder as more exotic and cancerous than burning rosin. Lead free is regulated to prevent the metal from getting into the environment on a large scale, there's not health regulations around what gets burned off when hitting lead-free solder with a soldering gun at the wrong temperature. It's meant to be cooked in an oven with ventilation away from humans.
PunchyHamster 5mo ago
lead-free solder fluxes tho... they are fucking vile stench
userbinator 5mo ago
It probably varies; some people are allegic to rosin, some develop an allergy from long-term exposure, and others seem to effectively be immune to it.

Animats 5mo ago

He's soldering like it's fifty years ago. Everything is lead-free surface mount now. Solder paste, stencils, reflow ovens. Hand soldering is precision temperature controlled irons, hot air rework stations, magnifiers, cameras, and exhaust fans. The tools are more complicated, more expensive, and better. One of the lessons of surface mount work is that you really can move your fingers a thousandth of an inch. But you need magnification to see what you're doing. I'm encouraged to see more hobbyists going surface mount. In my TechShop days, I was the only one doing surface mount. Everybody else was using 1980s 0.1 inch spacing DIP components. That's a US thing. If you learn to solder in Shenzhen, you start with surface mount.

PunchyHamster 5mo ago
lead solder is so much better tho. But yeah, everything's smd now and stencils and PCBs are cheap enough there is little reson to not go that way
birdsongs 5mo ago
It's also shockingly easy to just get boards made and populated these days. I of course have a station but I use it less and less. I paid like 40€ last week for 5 smaller PCBAs, 0402s all nice and correct, jumpers, all my ICs. Don't have to worry about diode orientation or solder bridges. Just complete boards shipped to me. Easily beats my own labour rates.
- joshmarinacci 5mo ago
  Where did you buy your populated boards from? I want to make a small in and not deal with SMT at all.
  - birdsongs 5mo ago
    I use jlcpcb, they're common in the prototype and hobby domains. But there's quite a few board houses in taiwan and china that do this, definitely shop around. The annoying part is getting the bom and component placement files correct. I use kicad since it's free, and there's solid instructions from most houses on what they need.

HiPhish 5mo ago

I love soldering, even though my skill ceiling is SMD components. There is something almost spiritual and humbling about soldering because you cannot force your will onto the solder, you have to listen to what the solder wants to do and work with it, not against it. When I first tried my hand at soldering I was using the "butter knife" method: apply solder to the iron, then try to smear it onto the wire like spreading butter with a butter knife. Of course the solder would never stick to where I wanted it to go. I had to learn that solder goes to where the heat is, so I instead had to heat the components or wires instead and then feed the solder onto the hot components. I also had to learn that a soldering iron is not a pencil, sometimes even when doing small parts you want to use the large tip. Don't try to tell the solder where to go, instead apply a big blog and watch it snap into place on its own. Last year I installed an HDMI mod[1] into my Wii, this has been so far the hardest project. It took me many attempts to get it right, mainly because I was working against the solder instead of with it. But now that I have succeeded I could easily do it over and over again (not keen on the disassembly and reassembly of the console though). EDIT: while I'm at it I might as well mention the iron I was using: the Pinecil[2]. It's a really neat and fast soldering iron at a very cheap price. Great for people like me who don't want hardware store cheap garbage, but also cannot justify buying an entire soldering station. [1] https://electron-shepherd.com/collections/kits-mods/products/electronave-kit https://electron-shepherd.com/collections/kits-mods/products... [2] https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/ https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...

birdsongs 5mo ago
Flux, liberally applied, is the sudo of soldering. It lets you force your will and make the solder do what you want. No one ever uses enough. I always have either a pen with a felt tip, or a syringe of chip quik. It (a good proper flux) is what most people are missing when they struggle with SMD, the flux makes the solder almost magnetic and it jumps perfectly to the pad and the component. Mess up, make a bridge or bad connection? Add more and wave the tip through like a magic wand. Poof. Fixed. Thanks for coming to my Church of Flux presentation.
- fennecfoxy 5mo ago

AdamH12113 5mo ago

I feel like this poem isn't really about soldering, but if anyone is actually bothered by it, there are some options. Unleaded solder and a decent fume extractor make the process cleaner. A decent soldering iron and solder wire with good-quality flux (e.g. Kester) makes it faster. If you'd rather not deal with the iron, you can manually apply solder paste and use a hot air rework tool or even a heat gun (careful!) to melt it. (A proper reflow oven is better, of course, but that's pricey.) This makes working with surface-mount components much easier. If you'd rather not deal with it at all, have a PCB assembled somewhere else. JLC is pretty cheap, especially on simpler boards.

floxy 5mo ago
>A proper reflow oven is better, of course, but that's pricey. You can do a lot worse than a $55 temperature controlled hot plate. Plus you can watch the magic happen. Of course that only works for single sided boards. I've been very impressed with the results. https://www.amazon.com/Soiiw-Microcomputer-Soldering-Preheating-200X200mm/dp/B082H12PPT https://www.amazon.com/Soiiw-Microcomputer-Soldering-Preheat...
_nxwj 5mo ago
Yes, you are quite correct in the first point. I've also met people who recommend crimping where possible as a safer and cleaner solution.

PunchyHamster 5mo ago

As long as it isn't soldering connectors, I like it. Connectors tho... PITA

jhbadger 5mo ago

Whatever happened to wire wrapping? That used to be a viable alternative.

stavros 5mo ago
I have used wire wrapping, and it's a good alternative to through-hole, but SMD is just miles better
duskwuff 5mo ago
It only works for thru-hole parts and the special wire-wrap sockets you needed to do it properly got expensive (and are no longer in production).

analog31 5mo ago

I've used pretty good soldering stations at work and at home. But I needed to set up a new station at my workplace, and asked our best technician to recommend a new unit. He recommended Hakko FX-971, and I got one despite the price (to my employer), with 3 sizes of tips. It was a true splurge, but I love it. Warm-up in 15 seconds, and the tips are integrated with the heaters so there's no thermal contact to worry about. Tiny and big tips both work great. You can change tips while they're hot. At home I have a typical Weller station, and it's OK for the electronics side business that I run, but nothing like that Hakko. ... and I love soldering.

philipnee 5mo ago

Soldering was my favorite part of ee course in the university… i even kinda liked the fume..

pclark 5mo ago

Any tips on how to improve soldering? I just started learning electronics, it’s so fun with Claude doing the code for the device.

throwup238 5mo ago
Use flux liberally before soldering (the flux in flux core solder is useless) and clean it off afterwards. It changes the surface tension of the solder, making it much easier to work with.
mrheosuper 5mo ago
Apply heat to thing you want solder to stick to, not to the solder wire. There is no such thing as "too much flux" (Actually there is, when doing BGA reflow, but that's advance topic)

dang 5mo ago

Of all the threads to not have a single bad comment! (as of 11:10pm PST 2026-05-11, I hasten to add)

hn111 5mo ago

I got into soldering as a child, but never learned how to do it properly. Years later I found this comic-book-style guide somewhere online, which made it quite easy to do without messing it up: https://mightyohm.com/files/soldercomic/FullSolderComic_EN.pdf https://mightyohm.com/files/soldercomic/FullSolderComic_EN.p...

Doxin 5mo ago
Important to note that these days you really should use lead-free solder. You'll find all sorts of people going around claiming that leaded is better, but it's really not, and it's not worth the health risk. Your iron needs to be about 20c hotter than for leaded and your solder joints will look dull instead of shiny. If you find lead-free solder to not flow properly to be grainy your iron isn't hot enough. Still wash your hands after using lead-free solder by the way. You don't want to be eating rosin or copper either.
- BenjiWiebe 5mo ago
  Did you know that "real" Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano) is made in copper vats? And copper plumbing is super common for potable water? And plenty of spirits are distilled in copper stills? I mean, encouraging handwashing is fine but copper isn't what you need to worry about.
  - Doxin 5mo ago
    Maybe not. I don't know. I'm not a scientist. I have to err on the side of caution with these things because I don't know.
    - yuye 5mo ago
      Copper is an essential trace element for many living organisms, including humans, meaning you need copper to survive. Generally, copper has low toxicity. (That is, unless you have rare genetic defects such as Wilson's Disease) Lead is nothing like that. We don't need lead to survive, we shouldn't put lead in our bodies. Lead is also known to accumulate in your body (especially your brain). Avoid lead exposure as much as you can.

voidUpdate 5mo ago

Soldering is something where bad tools do genuinely make it extremely hard to do a good job. I used my dad's old soldering iron for a while, where it just plugs into the wall and gets hot, with no other temperature control than (I assume) some kind of thermal switch to stop it melting. I always hated soldering with that thing, and my joints looked awful. Then I got a pinecil, and my experience changed completely. Super cheap, heats up in seconds, does perfect soldering, and makes everything so much more fun and easy. Heavily recommend if you want to solder but are having problems with your existing iron https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/ https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...

AussieWog93 5mo ago
I'm an electrical engineer (look in my bio if you want a shameless plug for my commercial OSHW project), can't go wrong with an Aifen A9E. Honestly 90% as good as my genuine JBC CDB and only costs something like $65 USD.

_nxwj 5mo ago

Thanks for all the advice! For context, this poem was only partially about soldering. It's also about questions regarding ever-progressing technology on Earth, which I think some caught on to. I did use solder paste and a heat gun with a fume extractor after writing this poem. :)

brendamn 5mo ago

I enjoy soldering. I enjoy using solder paste, being a human pick and place machine, and then putting boards in the oven. I enjoy building physical devices. But then I had a hardware startup and learnt something about myself. I enjoy building one or two of something. I absolutely hate building anything more than that.

articsputnik 5mo ago

Nice poem.

deleted 5mo ago

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axegon_ 5mo ago

Love-hate relationship here. I make and fly drones as a hobby (mostly build-since around July last year, 98% of the times, when weekends come, it's always raining). While soldering can be fun, I hate soldering big, fat cables on large pads, it's just so tedious, even with a powerful soldering iron.

lukko 5mo ago

Some nice Schlieren photography on show here too [0]. Also seen on John Martyn's Solid Air [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieren_photography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieren_photography [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_Air https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_Air

Toutouxc 5mo ago

For anyone thinking about learning to solder, there are several levels of what you can do with a soldering iron. The surface-mount stuff and ovens and microscopes, that's like level 3. Level 1 is just being able to take two wires and connect them, reliably and cleanly. That's already immensely useful and requires very little skill and equipment. $50 gets you a nice soldering pen, another $50 gets you some tweezers, some flux and a roll of solder and you're set. Work near an open window and have a desk fan blow the fumes away from you, and you're already being more responsible than most people. Level 2 is something like through-hole soldering, soldering wires to pads, the kind of stuff you'd do working with ESP32, building RC cars, FPV drones or custom IoT devices. Still easy to learn, just a few simple rules. Work quickly, know when to give up and let things cool down. Avoid touching the expensive e-ink display with your soldering iron. Get something better for fume extraction, spend 10 hours soldering and bam, you're better at soldering than literally 99% people out there, you can build and repair all kinds of stuff. This is where most of the cool YouTube stuff happens, your rctestflight and Tom Stanton and Stuff Made Here and Styropyro. You can do most of that with $300-$800 worth of gear, depending on how brave you are. And then you can worry about SMDs and reflowing and other arcane stuff, or decide that you probably won't need it.

rcxdude 5mo ago
I do a lot of SMD rework and TBH soldering two wires together cleanly can still be a bigger pain in the backside. It's different, but not necessarily much more difficult (until you get to footprints like QFNs and BGAs where you can't see the pads at all, at least).
- Jolter 5mo ago
  Well, you’re saying that after you already learned how to do it.
  - fsniper 5mo ago
    I am very new to the crafts and I can attest trying to solder smd stuff, with correct equipment is way easier than soldering 2 wires correctly together. And I also kinda hate QFN like packages where you can’t see the pads.

foo42 5mo ago

This is somewhat off topic, but a question to Americans: Why do none of you seem to pronounce the "l" in soldering? Every US video seems to say "soddering"

BenjiWiebe 5mo ago
Don't know - we also don't pronounce plenty of other letters too. Plumbing is plumming not plum-bing. Also apparently the word solder comes from Middle English 'soudure' which doesn't even have an L in it.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
LegionMammal978 5mo ago
I always thought of it as analogous to the silent Ls in would/should/could, calf, half, chalk, caulk, and Polk.
phendrenad2 5mo ago
This question is impolite, just so you know.
- troad 5mo ago
  No, it isn't. It's never rude to respectfully try to understand how others speak. If it were, we'd have to shutter all the linguistics departments.
  - phendrenad2 5mo ago
    Would you consider going to Jamaica and asking people "why do you pronounce man 'mon'?" respectful? Of course not. Well, I can see the case where someone is so ignorant that they don't know the basics of how language dialects work, but that doesn't make it less rude for the average person.

thearn4 5mo ago

I became significantly better at electronics soldering by learning to do glasswork (stain glass fixturing, etc). It wasn't intentional and it isn't even the same solder chemistry, but having to do broad asthetics on large pieces meant I "got it" better for the small scale electronics connections.

contingencies 5mo ago

Anti-Schematic fantastic Hacked the physical: pentastic! Got the pump-wickin' stickin', Who didn't turn off the bench? Where's the 100x lens Gibson? IC damage and bits of French Master fine STM RPI ATM 329 Fuckin' A to the Zed Fill your lungs with lead Y'all shit's funded by Venture rebrands for A&I.

486sx33 5mo ago

[dead]

Liftyee 5mo ago

This sounds like an opinion written by a "clean hands" computer scientist. Electronic engineers have it easy with their soldering - mechanical engineers deal with much more stubborn oils, greases, metal swarf... Isopropyl alcohol removes all the soldering residue. Personally, all it took is decent equipment and some practice to make soldering enjoyable. It can be frustrating at times, but usually the problem is (lack of) heat, flux or patience.

ubermonkey 5mo ago

I do not know how to solder. I've gotten to 56 without knowing how. It's unclear if that will change now.

asn_tech_2019 5mo ago

[dead]

socratic_weeb 5mo ago

Crappy poetry if I've ever seen one

TrackerFF 5mo ago

My first part-time job was at this old appliance store, I was 14. In the back they had a small repair shop, from ye olden days when such stores actually repaired stuff. The repairman was this older gentleman that used to work in telecom, but had retired back to his small home town (where we lived), and repaired the stuff at the shop, at his own leisure. Let's just say things took forever, and the backlog was probably as long as the stores inventory. But my first day there, after dusting and throwing cardboard, he asked me "Hey kid, wanna learn on how to solder?" and we spent a good hour going through the basics. That sparked my interest in electronics, and put me on my path the electrical engineering. I still do a lot of soldering, as I build guitars, and repair audio equipment. I enjoy the tranquility soldering gives me...the things that usually suck, is not the soldering itself, but the environment you work in. You don't always get the circuit boards out. Sometimes you're working in a rats nest. Sometimes you don't helping hands.

solderingblob 5mo ago

[flagged]

AntiUSAbah 5mo ago

He is right though with a shitty solder iron its just not fun. My 50Euro hardware store solder iron was garbage. Bought one of these pencil type solders for 100 Euro years later and that small thing was 10x better than the heavey shitty hardware store solder iron. I'm sure a good station makes it even nicer but if your normal iron doesn't get hot fast and doesn't keep it properly hot, you can play lots of guessing games why your stuff doesn't do what that person on youtube is showing you how it should work

ginkgotree 5mo ago

I love soldering.

delis-thumbs-7e 5mo ago

If you hate soldering, try weldng. Especially TIG with a rod. Pretty much anything is easy after that.

ge96 5mo ago

I like it, simple through-hole stuff still but what is gross is when flux gets on my hands.

mrheosuper 5mo ago

1 mistake I see a lot of beginners make is, they bite more than what they can chew. You can not suddenly be able to replace your PS5 HDMI port if you've never soldered before. Also you need the right tool, a $20 solder is never enough. Soldering is a skill, you need to practice.

Beijinger 5mo ago

I hated it too because I had a shitty soldering iron. Could have used a ironing iron instead, so shitty was it. Use this, stop complaining: https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/07/29/pinecil-v2-soldering-iron-gets-bl706-bluetooth-le-risc-v-mcu-usb-pd-epr-support/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/07/29/pinecil-v2-soldering... Pinecil RISC-V soldering iron with the Pinecil V2 featuring a new Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V microcontroller with Bluetooth LE connectivity, optimizations for higher power levels, as well as tentative support for the new USB PD EPR standard (Extended Power Range) working at up to 28V.

Beijinger 5mo ago
26 USD: https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/ https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde... It runs IronOS - Open Source Flexible Firmware for Soldering Hardware https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS
Tade0 5mo ago
I picked up soldering around the time lead-free solder started being required in the EU, so imagine my frustration when suddenly stuff stopped unsoldering like it should. Of course a lot of electronics were compliant before 2006, but that point in time marked the moment when even the most suspicious dropshipped Chinese items had to use it and suddenly you needed way more heat to do the same things.
arionmiles 5mo ago
they put RISC-V in a soldering iron?
- Beijinger 5mo ago
  No shit. And an Open OS. It works great.
- ssl-3 5mo ago
  Sure, why not? It's OK to have fun with tools.

Yhippa 5mo ago

The first time I soldered, it was for a job interview to work for a professor building gastric pacemakers after university graduation. My eyes were still sharp so it was actually kind of fun.

deleted 5mo ago

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phendrenad2 5mo ago

Soldering is ready for disruption by robots or 3d printing. It just needs someone to take the problem seriously and not aim for quick wins for marketing clout.

deleted 5mo ago

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