Electronics Adventure

[hondabones]

I decided, since I had a soldering iron, to take a part some old circuit boards. I wanted to salvage the parts for later when I study it at school. It was a pain in the butt.

I rigged up a clamp stand thing using vise grips. I started to heat the solder. to remove the stuff. The solder cools so fast that it is impossible. I thought how are you supposed to do this crap. lol

I researched it on the internet and there are several methods for removing solder. One is a suction device. I like that the best. It is a syringe/plunger thing it just sucks the molten solder up clean as a whistle.

Now that I am a bit smarter and hours of frustrating labor I did manage to salvage:

1. 7 LEDs
2. 6 Capacitors (multi-sizes)
3. 19 Resistors
4. 1 Switch of some sort
5. 2 IDKs
   

I failed in these areas:

1. My soldering iron is hard to tin (this is necessary and very important)
2. The tip is now dirty and almost ruined because of it (I don't think I need a new one, just need to clean it)
3. Three dead Capacitors (RIP)
   

The capacitors, the first one I ripped it off the board. The second one I smashed. The third one the dielectric started to spray out of it.

In my adventures I also salvaged 3 DC Motors.

That is what my adventures were last night.

[Dngrsone]

You can clean your tip using a wire brush to get the scaly crud off. If you brush it off while hot, then you can tin it using rosin-core solder. Be sure to use rosin-core and not acid-core (which is for use when sweating and joining copper pipe)

You will want to have a damp sponge handy when soldering-- this will allow you to clean your tip while working. I wipe the tip on the sponge every time I pick the iron up and every time I put it down while working. Having a stand is useful, as well.

If you are planning on doing a lot of soldering, then it might be a good idea to invest in some soldering flux, be sure it is rosin-type for use in electronics. I use liquid at work, but paste is convenient, too.

I use copper braid for removing solder. There are times when the solder sucker is necessary, but often as not it's just a hassle. I would prefer to have a solder-removal iron, but they are expensive and clean-up is a pain in the rear.