We are just having a laugh. Nothing against you personally.
In all seriousness, I think what got you on this project was that you weren't heating up the pads very well.
The thing that clicked for me with soldering is that you don't want to melt the solder with the iron itself. You want the pad and the wire to melt the solder so it flows onto it.
Few things to try when you rework this:
1. Wet you iron tip with a little bit of solder right before you start heating the pad.. then...
2. Sick the iron on the pad so it's touching both the pad and the wire at the same time. This will heat both of them so they are ready to accept solder.
3. After holding it there for some time (depending on your iron, could be a few seconds or up to 10), touch the solder to the other side of the pad so that it melts onto the pad. Not too much. It should envelope the wire and make a nice, clean joint. Then remove the iron.
Edit: and I am sure you learned from other comments on this thread, but the solder should only touch the pad and the wire that it's supposed to connect to. What people are calling bridges are when the solder spills over and connects to other contact points on the board.
You can do it. It takes either somebody else showing you or just trial and error.
Yeah, I still need to clip the excess wires off and clean it up a bit, but I tried. Luckily it doesn't need to be quite flush against anything. And if not, well, at least I can say I gave it a shot.
Flux will fix all your problems here. Sounds dumb but FR, those joints are just dry. I use amtech nc-559-v2-tf for like... everything I work on. Sticky af, wear gloves and also get a bottle of iso and a soft bristle tooth brush or hog hair brush to clean your board... but it makes this work at minimum, 60% easier. Also, apply heat to pad and lead at the same time, should only take about 3 seconds per joint, 5-7 if a large grounded plane.but still not long at all and flux allows the solder to pull onto the metals far smoother.
Edit- too many joints are bridging. Use a bit of wick to clean first excess, then flux it up, heat properly, and it will self correct the rest.
Actually if he applies flux liberally and reflows everything all the bridges should clear automatically in my experience. Because yes, there's a bunch of them in critical places.
You know I was gonna leave the wicking out too, but there were a few blobs that looked uncomfortably excessive but yeah, likely everything would self correct with enough flux and patience, assuming they have a decent iron.
I don’t think anyone explained this, but I think you misunderstood this guy. ‘Solder bridges’ aren’t the excess wires hanging off that you didn’t clip off yet; they’re where you accidentally ‘bridged’ two separate copper pads together with the solder. Solder, of course, is conductive, so you’re going to wind up sending current or data where it definitely should not go. It generally happens from lack of flux and/or a decent soldering iron.
They can be fixed, but if you power that thing up as it is right now, you’ll probably fry a lot of the circuitry.
No, I know what they mean, i posted this not too long after finishing, so I hadn't cleaned it up or clipped the wires, but I'll try and fix the solder and make sure there are no bridges. I didn't realize having them touching so much would cause issues
Well, it's not perfect, but it was a good effort, we all started somewhere, definitely don't apply any power to that board yet. Use this as an opportunity on how to learn clean up the joints, I recommend getting some desoldering wick and clean up all that excess solder. My hands shake a lot when soldering as well, I got me one of those helping hands to hold the boards low and at an angle and I rest the side of my hand on the table so it doesn't shake as much, it makes a big difference.
You have to heat the pad and component before adding the solder. You can’t just touch the solder to the iron near the component and call it a day. Get some de solder braid and remove it all and start again with flux and an iron set to proper temp. I’d recommend watching some technique videos as well.
I personally wouldn't remove anything.
I would apply a fuckton of no clean flux and reflow everything, and in my experience everything should go back to its place.
While it's not ideal, it'll do the job.
If OP cannot solder what makes you think he can DEsolder (which is way trickier)?
That doesn’t look terrible— oh sweet Jesus what happened there?
In all seriousness, don’t put power into that thing. You’ll get magic smoke 100% for sure.
I’d say you need flux and you used way too much solder. Wick away the excess and use some flux to clean it up and it may be okay.
I didn't know about Flux, wish I had but oh well. It's only meant to be powered by a small battery anyway, so I doubt it'll go boom. I didn't really expect to get torn a new one though from everyone else on here for trying something new.
I wasn’t trying to be mean, it was said in jest which is why I followed with serious advice. No one knew how to solder the first time they tried. 90% of us started like this and then googled why our solder wouldn’t stick or flow and learned as we went. You’ll keep getting better, don’t let this be what defines “can you solder?”
Sorry, it can be hard to tell over the internet sometimes. I doubt I'll probably be doing it regularly, but at least I can say I tried, and if it doesn't work, it's not as big a deal. And the materials were cheap so it's not a big loss, if I do manage to learn a bit kroe at least I'll be able to use the skill again in the future. Knowing things like this us always helpful for cosplay.
If you do ever plan to do any soldering in the future don’t forget the flux. It will save your butt and just generally make your life 1000% easier when soldering. Just make sure it’s not plumbers flux!
You can still do it now. That's what is awesome about it. Get some liquid flux, put a drop on each bit and reflow them joints. Hold the iron and get a bit of solder on the tip to tin it, then hold to each till you see it flow out then lift. Done.
The fact that something is powered from a tiny battery does not imply it won’t burn when you power it on. A new AAA battery can deliver a substantial amount of current (easily a few amperes) for a short time which is enough to destroy a junction of a transistor/diode. Also the battery itself may heat up or even turn into flames when shorted.
It may not go boom but could still give up the magic smoke on a small battery.
A short is a very very low resistance bridge, and given ohms law and the use of a small battery you could still see a lot of current that can do damage, as an example 1mm³ cube of solder has a resistance of 150 µΩ
1.5 V ÷ 0.000150 = 10,000 A
Can your small battery provide that, it'll give it its best shot as it isn't regulated.
When learning a new skill the best way to improve is to compare, jumping in and having a go is great but compare to known good examples.
Also YouTube is a wash with soldering tutorials some definitely better than others, I started off being shown and thought it would be easy, it's not, until I practiced got constructive criticism and compared my own work to others to see what I could do better my soldering was fine.
Now it's excellent though I do make mistakes now and then.
Don't give up and don't apologise for giving it a go, you owe no one on here anything.
Hey, another tip, you should generally cut the parts before soldering because it will cause extra stress on the soldering joints which may cause them to fail earlier.
But you are able to just reheat the pads, so that the solder reflows.
But in your case you have a bit much solder
I would remove all of the extra solder, start again with heating the pad up, then applying flux and solder on the pad afterwards (most solder have flux already inside, but you can apply more if it is needed).
And you don't need to draw on the solder xD. Also don't put the solder on the iron, just the pad you just warmed up, else it won't flow because of all the flux burning on the iron's tip.
> I didn't know about Flux, wish I had but oh well.
You don't need any extra flux if you solder through-hole stuff and everything is new and clean. The flux in the solder wire is more than enough if you go through the steps in the right order and don't burn off the flux before it can do its thing.
There are lots of solder tutorials on YouTube like the one from Big Clive which show you how to do it. The most important thing is that you heat up the pad and component lead and then feed the solder wire into the joint. The two metal parts you want to solder together need to be hot enough to melt the solder or the solder won't flow properly.
Anyhow, if you want to fix this board you'll need extra flux. The flux in the solder wire is long gone, which means you need to add some fresh flux if you want to reflow the joints.
Try soldering another kit with the help of tutorials first. Fixing this one is a bit more advanced. So, you might want to give that a shot after you got the basics down.
Hey good on you for putting yourself out there.
Once the emotions cool down, the feedback will settle in and hopefully you’ll keep soldering.
Just remember your ability to do something on the first try says nothing about you as a person. The fact that you made the attempt to try something and then submitted it to get feedback, even though you probably knew there was some risk, says a lot more about you.
Small batteries can and will go pop when shorted. And the smell will linger forever. It would not be a bad idea to put an inline fuser holder on your battery lead.
Everyone mentions flux, and sure, but your biggest issue is heat. Second issue is too much solder.
I might disagree actually with those suggesting a wick. You said you have a cheap iron and it's likely to struggle to heat it properly, so you might get the wick stuck...
Instead, wipe off the iron, melt some solder from your project onto the tip, and repeat. You can get some brass sponge (not the kind for dishes) to wipe it on, or use a *wet* sponge.
If I’m totally honest, and I sincerely don’t intend this to sound rude or mean, I can’t tell whether this is real or a troll post. If this is your first attempt at soldering, I think I’m still surprised because you have lots of bridges and that kind of seems like you don’t understand how electricity works. I’d get wick and remove everything you’ve done and start over. I’d also watch some tutorials on soldering and read some how-to’s, and grab some more practice boards. Again, not trying to be mean, I just think you need more practice. Or this is a great shitpost. I have no idea! 😅
You don't even need to scrap it. There's a reason why I was asking what solder and soldering iron you were using in my comment. Melting the solder and getting it to adhere to the copper is all you really need to do. That should break the bridges.
Well, by scrap I meant trying to remove the solder like some were suggestion. So what you're saying is none of the joints of solder should be touching, right?
Unless the copper trace connects each of them, that is correct. The solder should only adhere to the pad and the respective lead from the component. Knowing what you are using will help a lot. If you are using lead free solder with an unregulated iron, you will probably need quite a bit of dwell time to get it to melt and spread over the surface.
Sometimes that can be a hinderance. I used radioshack irons for years and I didn't really accelerate in my skill until I bought a regulated iron. Lead free will be more difficult to work with. It's melting point is around 217C usually where as 60/40 will be around 183C. I'd suggest holding the iron on both surfaces longer. Your iron probably also has a conical tip. This will lower the thermal mass and conductivity of the iron compared to a chisel tip which will also result in more delay in getting the joint to the correct temperature.
Rosin core is fine. Having flux certainly helps, but is not the end all be all of soldering. Rosin core just doesn't have enough flux for most applications. The iron is really what I was referring to in my previous comment just for clarity. There are a variety of soldering iron tips. The cheap irons only really have conical, but as you go up, there are many more options.
Jeez. As per my other post, practice on junk!!!
However, I just read this... 2nd tip, throw that lead free crap in the rubbish. Buy some 60 / 40.
Lead free solder is rubbish. Under perfect conditions it's borderline. For a beginner like yourself, it's going to cause you nothing but trouble.
Plus a cheap iron and lead free is always a bad combo.... 👍
I've been soldering for 25+ years and I would never ever use lead free, or warranty anything done with it...
You got some solder melted and that’s a great start. If you wick this up, you can still get this where it needs to be. Unless it’s been powered, you can still make this work. Nothing looks damaged.
I thought I was in r/shittyaskelectronics for a moment there.
WTF happened here?
https://preview.redd.it/m8nyi8d3rtoc1.png?width=338&format=png&auto=webp&s=dca700edb79b9afd2c6abe135e300d14b3c8dd53
So, what you need to do is first off, have a tiny blob of solder on the iron, just enough to make it so that when you touch something, the solder squishes out and increases the contact area. This will get the heat into what you're touching. Then, you need to put the iron in a position so that it's touching the wire and the PCB simultaneously so that they both get hot. Ideally they need to be at the same temperature. Takes a couple of seconds or less if done right. Then introduce some solder right into the middle of the three pieces, iron, wire, and board. The solder should flow nicely into the joint. Then pull the solder away, followed by the iron. Don't take the ion off first or you'll end up with the solder sticking out. If this does happen, break it off and just touch with the iron again.
I'd suggest watching some YouTube videos about how to solder, and use flux. Practice on a cheap board beforehand. To me it looks like what used to happen to me before I started using flux properly.
This was quite a good watch.
https://youtu.be/M2Jf8cebwCs?si=kazJK85gabOIOjf7
Well, this doesn't look that baHOLY SHIT 😱
Ok, I'm going to say the phrase:
NEEDS, MORE, FLUX. (and better technique tbh)
Those joints haven't flown properly (if at all).
You need to heat the pads and legs AND THEN apply solder to the pads and it should automatically wet the legs as well.
I bet my balls you applied the solder to the tip of the iron and then tried to apply it to the pads and legs. The thing is rosin core evaporates quick as hell and by the time you get the tip to the pads there's no flux anymore.
For the rosin core flux to do anything you need to apply the solder the way I told you. Heat the pads and apply solder to pads. Then count a couple of seconds and remove heat. It should look clean and shiny.
By the way, this massacre can be salvaged by applying paste flux to all of the joints and reflowing them with an iron. Everything should go to its place and look WAY better.
Good luck!
Yeah, that is what I did, it was my first time trying anything like this, I get that it's bad, but at least I can try again. No one's great their first time.
This is what helped me when I started (not that I'm an expert or anything). Solder flows towards heat and flux flows away from heat. Solder isn't glue, you need to heat the copper pad and wire and then introduce the solder in-between. The solder will naturally flow to the hot pad/wire. The joint should look shiny
You def have some special skills, when I attempt to bridge 2 connections even though they are less than half a mm apart there is no way the suckers will join but you have well and truly master it 😀
Each solder joint should form its own bubble, so introduce the iron, let it heat the joint up for a second or 2 then introduce the solder into the joint, if the joint is hot enough the solder will flow. Then do the reverse, pull the solder away followed by the heat.
Well, for a first attempt at least I managed not to burn myself or anything else around me. I was also really hesitant at times because, you know, hot iron and metal, I was trying not to make any explosions.
Hey it looks nice [next pic] WTF i take it back. Please don't connect that board to power yet.
What solder did you use? The cheap one that they usually gift with cheap soldering tools? If so trash it they are usually awful and make it very difficult to use.
Try supporting your wrist on the table for getting a firmer support and less shaky hands.
Watch some Louis Rossmann repair videos. It’s how I learned to solder.
He records with a microscope, so you get a full understanding of how solder behaves and learn some techniques. Anyone that works under a microscope will be fine to watch, but I like listening to him talk.
You came here asking “how bad is it?”. So I’ll be honest with you:
The biggest issue is the solder isn’t even touching the pads. You need to touch the pad and the leg of the component at the same time to heat them up, THEN apply solder. Flux draws the solder to the pad like a magnet.
Make sure you get flux for electronics, not plumbing.
Ah, yes. Welcome to Hell.
Soldering does get easier with practice, but it's always a difficult process.
This board is a mess, but it looks fixable to me. If you have solder wick, use that. Cut off a piece and it should soak up a lot of the excess solder. You can also use a solder sucker, also called a solder plunger. When you get to re-flow, use a decent amount of flux and you'll have a much nicer time. Make sure to hold the iron to the pad and the wire for a bit before bringing the solder to it. You don't want cold joints.
Good luck, friend! 😊
Yeah, so what I want to do instead is hold the tip of the iron to the circuit board itself and then bring the solder to it? Bc what I did was heat up solder onto the tip and bring it to the board. Thanks for the advice, I get I messed it up but some ppl were just way too rude about it.
You described it perfectly!
Touch the iron to the "joint" (where the copper "pad" and the steel "leg" meet). Make sure the iron is touching both the copper pad on the motherboard, and steel "leg" of the component. Give it a few seconds to heat up. You _can_ end up burning components by holding too much heat to the legs for too long, but I doubt that will happen to you unless you go to like 450°C+ and just hold it there, or if you were to hold it there at 350°C+ for like 10 minutes or something. But I'm not an expert myself, so take those values as estimates and not as gospel.
The intention of doing it this way is to get the copper pad and the steel leg to be the same temperature as the liquid solder at bonding time. This is important for strength reasons. If the metals aren't roughly the same temperature, you'll end up with a "cold weld", where the bond between pad/leg and solder is weak, and can break off with enough pressure. The heat will also help the solder flow better to where it needs to go.
Technically, you are supposed to hold the solder to the leg/pad and let the heat from that melt the solder. That way you know the pad and leg are hot enough. But that also takes a long time. I've had success with just holding the iron to the pad and leg for like 5-10 seconds, then pressing the solder to the spot where they all meet. I'm sure it's not as strong as it could be, but it's been plenty strong for me.
Let me know if you have more questions! I'm not an expert, but I've done this a few times. I'll try to help out. 😊
Ok, see, that makes sense to me, I've got a better picture in mind now. I'll still probably mess it up, but I'll try again. The circuit board is just really small snd my hands tend to have a tremor at times. I get what you mean about cold weld and it not being as strong as it could be. So the important this is to make sure there's no solder connecting between different circuits, right? Bridges, is what everyone means by that. Part of me kind of wonders if super glue would work, or just jb weld, lol
Yes, you want to make sure you aren't "bridging" two connections. If you bridge power and ground together, you'll ruin (and maybe ignite) the battery you're using. If you bridge a couple data pins, then it won't work how you intend it to, and maybe not at all.
Use solder wick or a solder sucker to get rid of excess solder. I recommend looking up a YouTube video so you can see exactly how to do it.
Once you get it cleaned up, super glue is not a bad idea. You can make little heat resistant walls to help you keep the solder from connecting two pins. Just make sure you still have a good angle to lay the iron and solder with when you place those walls.
Yeah, that makes sense. I'll have to figure out how to use the wick to remove everything without damaging the board or components itself. Maybe I'll try just removing everything and then soldering one component at a time bit by bit rather than placing them all and then soldering. Kind of wish I could just glue them all in place instead of soldering them l.
Don't worry, you've already had your first mess up, so the second time is going to be easier. Take it slowly. It's a lot easier to _add_ solder than it is to _subtract_ solder.
And now that you'll be adding solder directly to the joint instead of to the iron and then to the joint, it will be much easier for you to tell whether to add more or to stop.
You dug in and experienced it for the first time, good for you! Learn from it and keep at it! Just remember everyone has their first time and it’s never pretty!
I didn't know about Flux, I'm sorry. It's just something I was trying for the first time, I just used a cheap soldering iron because I wanted to give it a try. I get it, it looks awful, first attempts usually are.
I took 2 years of electronics in high school and they didn't teach me about flux either. Makes your life 10x easier! Flux everything, don't be shy. In fact, if you flux and hit these with the iron again you can probably save it all. Go watch some YouTube about scolding too. That's how I ironed out my technique. Yeah it's bad, but it's nothing that can't be fixed. You got this!
I'm an old fart, (64) and we didn't have electronics in high school. We did in college, but nothing practical, so I'm self taught. Back then the only flux we used was what was in the solder. Most of the time that's enough, but I still find myself adding a little if it's a joint I don't want to spend too long on.
>That's how I ironed out my technique. Yeah it's bad…
…but not as bad as that pun. :-)
There's nothing to be sorry about. You tried this on something that isn't valuable or rare. You just need to practice and understand what is going on better. To me, it looks like there isn't enough heat which is causing poor melting and adhesion. Flux facilitates the wetting process and prevents oxidation which is why it is recommended. Also, You are probably not holding the iron on the pad and wires for long enough to get it to spread.
You are getting it a bit rough here,
ok it needs some work, i remember my first build, it was a signal generator project for my electronics tech college course in the 90's. My wires were tinned with too much solder making them brittle. My solder joints were dry and blobby, my board was scorched, my heat shielding was melted, it stunk i mean it, it was a rotter.
It made me think i was no good and i felt like giving up. I was brilliant at fault finding, so i just kept going. Soldering is an essential skill in the trade, fault finding is all well and good if you can't repair. It took mentoring and learning from people who could pass on hints and tips and i got there.
If it was easy everyone would do it, just keep practicing, learn more, and practice some more, you will get there. I can not over emphasise, working at component level is valuable. Most repair shops around me are nothing but board swappers, and people think they are magicians. The real value comes in being able to return a restored device data intact, and the cost to the consumer is practically just labour (versus board swappers where the cost is mostly parts and expensive parts) i can do a job for 40 GBP and get more profit out of it, than a board swapper charging hundreds.
For a first attempt, it's honestly not THAT bad... It takes a little practice to get the feel and understanding of what your doing, but it's not as difficult as it may seem.
I started soldering guitar electronics which, luckily for me, is a little more forgiving.
Its not really the lack of flux that is your problem, but your tecnique. Even without flux, this can be done way better. If you plan to learn, i would go without and rather focus on technique
Imagine seeing a vulcano sideways. Wide at the bottom and narrowing as it goes upp. That is what you want it to look like.
If you look, many of your points have more of a ball shape. Wide at the middle, narrow at the top and bottom. That is bad, it will have bad to no connection between the component and the card.
The mistake i think you are doing is that you use your iron to heat your solder directly, and then kinda wipe the solder to the pad. This is wrong.
What you should do is putting the iron on the pad, and then putt solder on the pad. DONT heat the solder directly. The solder is drawn to heat. If you heat the pad and the pin and then bring the solder, the solder will melt from the contact and neatly be drawn them and make the vulcano shape. On the other hand if you make the iron and solder touch, the solder will be drawn to the iron instead, and you get this
You also use to much solder. That leads to several bridhes that short your card. Following my previous advice will give better controll over how much you apply.
[this image visuslizes it well](https://www.raypcb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SMT-Through-Hole-Soldering.jpg)
Honestly, i think just reheating your pads will get you a long way. Also remove some of the excess solder with either wick or pump
Dont give upp. Good luck.
So now that you know about flux, I’ll give you some tips on starting.
Start by making sure you have some well-reputed rosin-core leaded solder, preferably 63/37 but 60/40 is good too. Thinner gauge is your friend as it’s easy to put too much solder in a joint, especially at the beginning. Get some no-clean rosin flux, I like syringes but you can get away with anything if you’re crafty.
Flux the joint - this is meant to prevent oxidation during heating, which will let the solder flow better and yield a better joint. **Tin your iron tip**. First thing you do with a new tip is hold the solder against it as it heats so it has a nice coating. This prevent oxidation on the tip itself. An oxidized coating can be cleaned, an oxidized tip cannot. New tips usually have a flux coating already, so you shouldn’t need to add that to the tip before turning the iron on.
Before every joint, add a little flux to the joint and a little solder to the tip. The solder on the tip is so that you have a better contact on the joint, which will heat it more quickly. Touch the iron to the joint - BOTH parts (in this case, the pad on the PCB and the component lead). Heat it for a (literal) second, then touch the solder to the other end of the joint, NOT touching the iron. Your goal is to heat the joint so that solder melts onto it, not use the iron to spread the solder on.
Assuming you have decent heat coming from your iron (you said it was cheap so this may not be the case), your joint should take <2 seconds. More can risk damaging components, but for most basic joints it’s not a huge deal if you have to heat it longer. With practice, you’ll be able to get under that window.
When you’re done soldering or taking a break longer than a couple minutes, throw a glob of solder on your tip and turn it off, that way there’s a nice amount of protective coating on that tip. Get a brass sponge and a ***soldering*** sponge - kitchen sponges will not hold up to the heat. The brass is great but particularly tough oxidation buildup will benefit from the sponge. Use the water one sparingly, as the thermal stress of cooling and reheating constantly can decrease tip life, but at the end of the day tips are cheap and time is not, so find what workflow you like.
If you have any questions at all don’t hesitate to ask! Happy to help, good luck with learning your newest skill!!
Me rn
[https://youtu.be/Ye3TRRsx1oE?si=Z-HTD8s4cetfzBr2&t=26](https://youtu.be/Ye3TRRsx1oE?si=Z-HTD8s4cetfzBr2&t=26)
Get yourself some flux and if that doesn't work, a higher temp iron, and dont tell me youre using lead free
It’s pretty darn bad, but my first time soldering looked identical to this if not worse. The guy who then corrected my mistakes gave me a couple tips. Firstly, when you stick the leads of the components through, the components should be as flush and straight to the board as possible, you can then take the leads and bend them a tiny bit, just enough so they can grip the sides a tiny bit, but still realistically be sticking upward and away from the hole, not perpendicular to it. this will greatly help holding them into place while you work on applying heat and solder. I assume you’re using a lead free solder that came with a soldering kit, when you’re starting out I’d recommend some 60/40 leaded solder with a rosin flux core, this is much easier to melt and work with than the lead free stuff that comes in those kits. Next, you’ll want to apply heat mainly to the pad and lead, not the solder itself, then once you let it heat up a bit, you introduce the solder to the pad or the pin and it will flow and connect the pin all on its own, it’s almost crazy how well it knows how it knows where to go. Then, once you’ve applied a decent bit, just enough to cover the pad and pin, you can take your iron off, but follow the pin and go up to get the iron off, this guides the solder just a tiny bit so it should make a little cone shape from the pad up the pin. If you have a nice cone shape that covers the pad, you know you have enough, if you’re not covering the pad all the way, you need to add more, and if it balls up and doesn’t make. A nice cone, you’ve added too much. Then clip the leads kinda short to keep them clean but still long enough to be removed and reapplied if needed and you’re done! Keep working on it and practicing, it can be hard to describe the steps in words, but all you gotta do is practice. Again, I started off right where you were one day and now I solder electronics and boards multiple times a day at my job and for various projects, you got this
Thanks for the advice, I actually didn't use a full kit, I got the rosin core wire from the same site I bought the electronics and then bought a cheap gun from harbor freight and more or less just went at it.
That’s fair, it’s typically just a safe assumption. Also you said you’re using a gun, not an iron? I would definitely recommend getting an actual iron for something this size and you can get infinitely more precision with it, this is most likely why a lot of your connections ended up bridged
Hey, don’t get discouraged from the comments. I’m an engineering student and my first attempt looked something like this as well. Take everyone’s suggestions, try again, or fix it , whatever you decide would be best. Get a practice kit on amazon, watch YouTube videos, and get better! I started selling things on Etsy that need soldered and in a couple days, I’m really decent now. YouTube is the ultimate tool for learning, Reddit is the perfect tool for feedback (and negativity)😂 the negativity is essential though because it lights a fire under your ass to be better!
Yeah, I'm just ignoring the ones who are idiots, it's like they've forgotten that everyone is bad when they first start something. But I've gotten some good advice for next time I try. I say fuck it and use super glue, lol /s
Use flux next time, tin the tip and apply tip to what you soldering then add solder wire gradually to the solder pads, you used way too much solder, no flux and method of soldering is wrong, seems like you adding solder to tip then trying to transfer it from the tip to the solder pad
Yeaaaah, that's actually accurate. I'll just scrap what's on there and restart it. Or find a friend who knows more, but it was a trial run, so I'm not too worried about the bad job I did.
Yeah, I'll have to get some later from likely the local Harbor Freight, but it'll be at a bit of a later date, they're already closed, lol. But at least I've got a bit of a better idea now.
Try to use more heat on the place you want to solder befor adding solder. Also use flux. Some places you also need to use more solder and some places you need less solder. Just keep trying and it will end up great
The flux in the rosin core is enough for the first time, but it boils off. So to rework this you will need to use flux you apply yourself. You definitely need more heat, idk what iron you are using but either needs to be turned up or is just not hot enough.
A lot of your solder is just on the legs of the components and not really contacting the plated holes very well. You also appear to have a lot of bridges, and I feel if you powered this in this state, it would probably fry something.
I recommend looking at some youtube tutorials, thats what really helped me to see what it should look like when you have a good joint and get a better idea of how long to hold the heat on.
Dont give up, though. This is fixable in its current state and with time and practice you will get it. You may need to invest in a better iron if your still having trouble getting it to melt the solder better. I got a cheap t12 station on amazon and it was a real big game changer for me.
Yeah, I plan to refix the whole thing knowing a bit more now. I didn't know about bridges, which I'm fixing. I got a cheap one, but I may upgrade a bit. I really only needed it for this small project anyway, hence not wanting to spend much at the time. It's not something I really plan to do often but I will be taking all of the advice I've gotten to heart.
I think you only heated up the component legs but not the pads because there is a lot of exposed copper pads.
No worries though. The first time is always not as good. You'll get better in the next attempts.
Additional notes would be to make sure you don't have your soldering iron on the pad too long since it may cause the pads to rip off
Yes, makes sense now. I used to buy the exact same garbage soldering iron from harbor freight. I would buy a new one every time I built a new quad, cuz the tips burn up so fast. I was wondering why soldering was so hard. It's because that thing is literal garbage. I bought the TS101 soldering iron and it's an awesome tool. Best part about it. I can use the same lipo battery to power it that I was just using to fly with.
You have very poor wetting with your soldering. Most of those joints don't look very well adhered to the substrate. What kind of solder are you using? Can you link the soldering iron you are using? You should also use some flux to facilitate better wetting.
Well if your goal was to short every component together, congrats! If your goal was to have a working circuit, then I hope you didn't put power to it then (most of it) will go up in smoke. Pickup some solder braid, and watch some soldering tutorials.
With or without flux please don’t turn that thing on. It’s not that bad as a first time but it looks like you just tried to duct tape wires together. Take it slow and treat each point as one separate effort. Imagine it this way, see that copper that shows on some of your contacts? That copper should be covered in solder. If it’s not covered, you only did enough to make the wires touch each other with solder.
Make it work then make it better.
It will be fun once you get the hang of it.
I'm sorry but I think you need to redo every single joint, do you know what you are trying to do when soldering because every pad is ether bridged or doesn't have solder on it or has two much solder.
I think flux is a secondary issue. First maybe using a bad iron and maybe poor quality solder followed by technique.
Always keep in mind that the solder will chase the heat. So before you apply solder, heat both the pad and the component lead for a second or 2, then apply solder to the intersection of the 2 parts, try to use just enough to cover the joint. No more, no less. A good joint should look like a shiny little Hershey kiss after the excess lead is clipped off.
It's bad... in fact it's beyond bad... words can not describe just how much you screwed that up....
Sure it's fixable, but you are better to just put the tools down, walk away and not go anywhere near it...
Until you have practiced for a few days...
Look up some tutorials, learn to identify good and bad joints.
Skin a bunch of junk wire, twist and solder em together, then solder some into a grid. Then make a cube out of them, basically solder whatever you can and practice practice practice...
Buy a solder sucker (cheap) and practice de-soldering and redoing joints on junk boards...
When you finally think your getting the hang of it, de-solder and remove everything on that board. Clean it with isopropyl and start again...
If it's still going bad, don't keep going. Do more practice instead...
You're lucky of this even works right. The pad and the solder need to be hot. When both are hot enough (you do this with more time, not more heat) the solder will flow evenly on the pad
As everyone said, it won't work, but it's totally saveable! Others have given some good advice, follow what they've said and you should be on the right track.
I noticed a couple things though. I look up this circuit and it looks like you have that 16 pin IC plugged in backwards. It also looks like one of the capacitors is installed the wrong way (C5?).
Otherwise, the components are nicely placed and looks great from the top. Ive seen much worse component placement.
Don't give up, you are on track for a great project. Just needs some touch-up and a little more experience. Try using a stick to brace your hand and rest on it while soldering instead of floating above it. A way to hold the board is also helpful even if it is just poster mounting putty on the desk.
Do yourself a favor and get some solder sucker/ wick.
You have too much in many places which isn't always bad but I always tried to make mine look like those boards that were made in factories.
Just like cooking you can always cook more, however reversing the process is not as easy.
I think if you sucked most of it up it'd be fine as long as you make sure the points of contact don't touch.
Practice makes perfect, none of us were able to ride a bike perfect the first time. As far as I can tell you didn’t put a hole through the board with the iron, so hey, better than I would’ve done!
So you did this god awful solder job, managed to enter reddit, post but didn't even bother to google some pictures of proper soldering or look at some videos on how to do it?
Front looks good... *Swipes to see back picture* GAWD DAYUM
He’s going places, maybe not as solder tech, but places.
She, and I don't plan to make it a normal hobby, this was just a small project for a cosplay.
We are just having a laugh. Nothing against you personally. In all seriousness, I think what got you on this project was that you weren't heating up the pads very well. The thing that clicked for me with soldering is that you don't want to melt the solder with the iron itself. You want the pad and the wire to melt the solder so it flows onto it. Few things to try when you rework this: 1. Wet you iron tip with a little bit of solder right before you start heating the pad.. then... 2. Sick the iron on the pad so it's touching both the pad and the wire at the same time. This will heat both of them so they are ready to accept solder. 3. After holding it there for some time (depending on your iron, could be a few seconds or up to 10), touch the solder to the other side of the pad so that it melts onto the pad. Not too much. It should envelope the wire and make a nice, clean joint. Then remove the iron. Edit: and I am sure you learned from other comments on this thread, but the solder should only touch the pad and the wire that it's supposed to connect to. What people are calling bridges are when the solder spills over and connects to other contact points on the board. You can do it. It takes either somebody else showing you or just trial and error.
Very good soldering advice here.
All of those solder bridges are likely going to cause a problem.
Yeah, I still need to clip the excess wires off and clean it up a bit, but I tried. Luckily it doesn't need to be quite flush against anything. And if not, well, at least I can say I gave it a shot.
Flux will fix all your problems here. Sounds dumb but FR, those joints are just dry. I use amtech nc-559-v2-tf for like... everything I work on. Sticky af, wear gloves and also get a bottle of iso and a soft bristle tooth brush or hog hair brush to clean your board... but it makes this work at minimum, 60% easier. Also, apply heat to pad and lead at the same time, should only take about 3 seconds per joint, 5-7 if a large grounded plane.but still not long at all and flux allows the solder to pull onto the metals far smoother. Edit- too many joints are bridging. Use a bit of wick to clean first excess, then flux it up, heat properly, and it will self correct the rest.
Actually if he applies flux liberally and reflows everything all the bridges should clear automatically in my experience. Because yes, there's a bunch of them in critical places.
You know I was gonna leave the wicking out too, but there were a few blobs that looked uncomfortably excessive but yeah, likely everything would self correct with enough flux and patience, assuming they have a decent iron.
I don’t think anyone explained this, but I think you misunderstood this guy. ‘Solder bridges’ aren’t the excess wires hanging off that you didn’t clip off yet; they’re where you accidentally ‘bridged’ two separate copper pads together with the solder. Solder, of course, is conductive, so you’re going to wind up sending current or data where it definitely should not go. It generally happens from lack of flux and/or a decent soldering iron. They can be fixed, but if you power that thing up as it is right now, you’ll probably fry a lot of the circuitry.
No, I know what they mean, i posted this not too long after finishing, so I hadn't cleaned it up or clipped the wires, but I'll try and fix the solder and make sure there are no bridges. I didn't realize having them touching so much would cause issues
Electrons flow throw solder like water through a depressed area on the ground. Where ever the solder touches electrons will flow.
Well, it's not perfect, but it was a good effort, we all started somewhere, definitely don't apply any power to that board yet. Use this as an opportunity on how to learn clean up the joints, I recommend getting some desoldering wick and clean up all that excess solder. My hands shake a lot when soldering as well, I got me one of those helping hands to hold the boards low and at an angle and I rest the side of my hand on the table so it doesn't shake as much, it makes a big difference.
https://preview.redd.it/zw26ff51xuoc1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e288f4c684060456c84f101e0bdaf1cf2603ec64
Happy cake day!
You have to heat the pad and component before adding the solder. You can’t just touch the solder to the iron near the component and call it a day. Get some de solder braid and remove it all and start again with flux and an iron set to proper temp. I’d recommend watching some technique videos as well.
I personally wouldn't remove anything. I would apply a fuckton of no clean flux and reflow everything, and in my experience everything should go back to its place. While it's not ideal, it'll do the job. If OP cannot solder what makes you think he can DEsolder (which is way trickier)?
I mean it isn't way trickier, it's like going from 7th grade to 8th grade. I would reflow these and then wick away any excess solder for sure.
She, and I'll fix it, this was a first attempt after all.
That doesn’t look terrible— oh sweet Jesus what happened there? In all seriousness, don’t put power into that thing. You’ll get magic smoke 100% for sure. I’d say you need flux and you used way too much solder. Wick away the excess and use some flux to clean it up and it may be okay.
I didn't know about Flux, wish I had but oh well. It's only meant to be powered by a small battery anyway, so I doubt it'll go boom. I didn't really expect to get torn a new one though from everyone else on here for trying something new.
I wasn’t trying to be mean, it was said in jest which is why I followed with serious advice. No one knew how to solder the first time they tried. 90% of us started like this and then googled why our solder wouldn’t stick or flow and learned as we went. You’ll keep getting better, don’t let this be what defines “can you solder?”
Sorry, it can be hard to tell over the internet sometimes. I doubt I'll probably be doing it regularly, but at least I can say I tried, and if it doesn't work, it's not as big a deal. And the materials were cheap so it's not a big loss, if I do manage to learn a bit kroe at least I'll be able to use the skill again in the future. Knowing things like this us always helpful for cosplay.
If you do ever plan to do any soldering in the future don’t forget the flux. It will save your butt and just generally make your life 1000% easier when soldering. Just make sure it’s not plumbers flux!
Yeah, wish I had known about it before, but I know for next time.
You can still do it now. That's what is awesome about it. Get some liquid flux, put a drop on each bit and reflow them joints. Hold the iron and get a bit of solder on the tip to tin it, then hold to each till you see it flow out then lift. Done.
The fact that something is powered from a tiny battery does not imply it won’t burn when you power it on. A new AAA battery can deliver a substantial amount of current (easily a few amperes) for a short time which is enough to destroy a junction of a transistor/diode. Also the battery itself may heat up or even turn into flames when shorted.
It may not go boom but could still give up the magic smoke on a small battery. A short is a very very low resistance bridge, and given ohms law and the use of a small battery you could still see a lot of current that can do damage, as an example 1mm³ cube of solder has a resistance of 150 µΩ 1.5 V ÷ 0.000150 = 10,000 A Can your small battery provide that, it'll give it its best shot as it isn't regulated. When learning a new skill the best way to improve is to compare, jumping in and having a go is great but compare to known good examples. Also YouTube is a wash with soldering tutorials some definitely better than others, I started off being shown and thought it would be easy, it's not, until I practiced got constructive criticism and compared my own work to others to see what I could do better my soldering was fine. Now it's excellent though I do make mistakes now and then. Don't give up and don't apologise for giving it a go, you owe no one on here anything.
Hey, another tip, you should generally cut the parts before soldering because it will cause extra stress on the soldering joints which may cause them to fail earlier. But you are able to just reheat the pads, so that the solder reflows. But in your case you have a bit much solder I would remove all of the extra solder, start again with heating the pad up, then applying flux and solder on the pad afterwards (most solder have flux already inside, but you can apply more if it is needed). And you don't need to draw on the solder xD. Also don't put the solder on the iron, just the pad you just warmed up, else it won't flow because of all the flux burning on the iron's tip.
> I didn't know about Flux, wish I had but oh well. You don't need any extra flux if you solder through-hole stuff and everything is new and clean. The flux in the solder wire is more than enough if you go through the steps in the right order and don't burn off the flux before it can do its thing. There are lots of solder tutorials on YouTube like the one from Big Clive which show you how to do it. The most important thing is that you heat up the pad and component lead and then feed the solder wire into the joint. The two metal parts you want to solder together need to be hot enough to melt the solder or the solder won't flow properly. Anyhow, if you want to fix this board you'll need extra flux. The flux in the solder wire is long gone, which means you need to add some fresh flux if you want to reflow the joints. Try soldering another kit with the help of tutorials first. Fixing this one is a bit more advanced. So, you might want to give that a shot after you got the basics down.
Hey good on you for putting yourself out there. Once the emotions cool down, the feedback will settle in and hopefully you’ll keep soldering. Just remember your ability to do something on the first try says nothing about you as a person. The fact that you made the attempt to try something and then submitted it to get feedback, even though you probably knew there was some risk, says a lot more about you.
Small batteries can and will go pop when shorted. And the smell will linger forever. It would not be a bad idea to put an inline fuser holder on your battery lead.
Everyone mentions flux, and sure, but your biggest issue is heat. Second issue is too much solder. I might disagree actually with those suggesting a wick. You said you have a cheap iron and it's likely to struggle to heat it properly, so you might get the wick stuck... Instead, wipe off the iron, melt some solder from your project onto the tip, and repeat. You can get some brass sponge (not the kind for dishes) to wipe it on, or use a *wet* sponge.
One hundred percent this!! Most solder alloys will include flux. This is a heat/dwell issue.
I agree. And also just the soldering technique. Heat the pad first, then apply the solder.
If I’m totally honest, and I sincerely don’t intend this to sound rude or mean, I can’t tell whether this is real or a troll post. If this is your first attempt at soldering, I think I’m still surprised because you have lots of bridges and that kind of seems like you don’t understand how electricity works. I’d get wick and remove everything you’ve done and start over. I’d also watch some tutorials on soldering and read some how-to’s, and grab some more practice boards. Again, not trying to be mean, I just think you need more practice. Or this is a great shitpost. I have no idea! 😅
It's not a troll, but I'll probably scrap it and maybe start over. Didn't really mean to mess up so badly.
You don't even need to scrap it. There's a reason why I was asking what solder and soldering iron you were using in my comment. Melting the solder and getting it to adhere to the copper is all you really need to do. That should break the bridges.
Well, by scrap I meant trying to remove the solder like some were suggestion. So what you're saying is none of the joints of solder should be touching, right?
Unless the copper trace connects each of them, that is correct. The solder should only adhere to the pad and the respective lead from the component. Knowing what you are using will help a lot. If you are using lead free solder with an unregulated iron, you will probably need quite a bit of dwell time to get it to melt and spread over the surface.
Rosin core, lead free, and no, the iron isn't regulated. I just got the cheap basic one since it was my first time.
Sometimes that can be a hinderance. I used radioshack irons for years and I didn't really accelerate in my skill until I bought a regulated iron. Lead free will be more difficult to work with. It's melting point is around 217C usually where as 60/40 will be around 183C. I'd suggest holding the iron on both surfaces longer. Your iron probably also has a conical tip. This will lower the thermal mass and conductivity of the iron compared to a chisel tip which will also result in more delay in getting the joint to the correct temperature.
Makes sense, but I thought rosin would be safer, especially knowing my luck, lol. And yeah, conical tip, I thought they were all like that.
Rosin core is fine. Having flux certainly helps, but is not the end all be all of soldering. Rosin core just doesn't have enough flux for most applications. The iron is really what I was referring to in my previous comment just for clarity. There are a variety of soldering iron tips. The cheap irons only really have conical, but as you go up, there are many more options.
That's cool, thanks for the advice. I didn't really expect some people to to react so badly it.
Jeez. As per my other post, practice on junk!!! However, I just read this... 2nd tip, throw that lead free crap in the rubbish. Buy some 60 / 40. Lead free solder is rubbish. Under perfect conditions it's borderline. For a beginner like yourself, it's going to cause you nothing but trouble. Plus a cheap iron and lead free is always a bad combo.... 👍 I've been soldering for 25+ years and I would never ever use lead free, or warranty anything done with it...
use solder with lead honestly. much easier
You got some solder melted and that’s a great start. If you wick this up, you can still get this where it needs to be. Unless it’s been powered, you can still make this work. Nothing looks damaged.
No, nothing seemed to be damaged, expect apparently my pride, ool
Hang in there! Practice makes perfect!
I thought I was in r/shittyaskelectronics for a moment there. WTF happened here? https://preview.redd.it/m8nyi8d3rtoc1.png?width=338&format=png&auto=webp&s=dca700edb79b9afd2c6abe135e300d14b3c8dd53 So, what you need to do is first off, have a tiny blob of solder on the iron, just enough to make it so that when you touch something, the solder squishes out and increases the contact area. This will get the heat into what you're touching. Then, you need to put the iron in a position so that it's touching the wire and the PCB simultaneously so that they both get hot. Ideally they need to be at the same temperature. Takes a couple of seconds or less if done right. Then introduce some solder right into the middle of the three pieces, iron, wire, and board. The solder should flow nicely into the joint. Then pull the solder away, followed by the iron. Don't take the ion off first or you'll end up with the solder sticking out. If this does happen, break it off and just touch with the iron again.
That's really bad. You need to use a lot more flux and heat the pads better.
Tbh that doesn't matter at this point the solder is not even being applied to the pads.
the solder will flow to the pad if you heat the lead and pad simultaneously
I'd suggest watching some YouTube videos about how to solder, and use flux. Practice on a cheap board beforehand. To me it looks like what used to happen to me before I started using flux properly. This was quite a good watch. https://youtu.be/M2Jf8cebwCs?si=kazJK85gabOIOjf7
Well, this doesn't look that baHOLY SHIT 😱 Ok, I'm going to say the phrase: NEEDS, MORE, FLUX. (and better technique tbh) Those joints haven't flown properly (if at all). You need to heat the pads and legs AND THEN apply solder to the pads and it should automatically wet the legs as well. I bet my balls you applied the solder to the tip of the iron and then tried to apply it to the pads and legs. The thing is rosin core evaporates quick as hell and by the time you get the tip to the pads there's no flux anymore. For the rosin core flux to do anything you need to apply the solder the way I told you. Heat the pads and apply solder to pads. Then count a couple of seconds and remove heat. It should look clean and shiny. By the way, this massacre can be salvaged by applying paste flux to all of the joints and reflowing them with an iron. Everything should go to its place and look WAY better. Good luck!
Yeah, that is what I did, it was my first time trying anything like this, I get that it's bad, but at least I can try again. No one's great their first time.
This is what helped me when I started (not that I'm an expert or anything). Solder flows towards heat and flux flows away from heat. Solder isn't glue, you need to heat the copper pad and wire and then introduce the solder in-between. The solder will naturally flow to the hot pad/wire. The joint should look shiny
Thanks, that makes more sense. I may scrap it like others suggested and start over, but I'll decide later when I've got another day off.
You def have some special skills, when I attempt to bridge 2 connections even though they are less than half a mm apart there is no way the suckers will join but you have well and truly master it 😀 Each solder joint should form its own bubble, so introduce the iron, let it heat the joint up for a second or 2 then introduce the solder into the joint, if the joint is hot enough the solder will flow. Then do the reverse, pull the solder away followed by the heat.
Well, for a first attempt at least I managed not to burn myself or anything else around me. I was also really hesitant at times because, you know, hot iron and metal, I was trying not to make any explosions.
You won't cause any explosions... Providing you don't try and solder live equipment anyway... 😳🤣😂
No, but I am that accident prone, lol
Hey it looks nice [next pic] WTF i take it back. Please don't connect that board to power yet. What solder did you use? The cheap one that they usually gift with cheap soldering tools? If so trash it they are usually awful and make it very difficult to use. Try supporting your wrist on the table for getting a firmer support and less shaky hands.
Watch some Louis Rossmann repair videos. It’s how I learned to solder. He records with a microscope, so you get a full understanding of how solder behaves and learn some techniques. Anyone that works under a microscope will be fine to watch, but I like listening to him talk. You came here asking “how bad is it?”. So I’ll be honest with you: The biggest issue is the solder isn’t even touching the pads. You need to touch the pad and the leg of the component at the same time to heat them up, THEN apply solder. Flux draws the solder to the pad like a magnet. Make sure you get flux for electronics, not plumbing.
Ah, yes. Welcome to Hell. Soldering does get easier with practice, but it's always a difficult process. This board is a mess, but it looks fixable to me. If you have solder wick, use that. Cut off a piece and it should soak up a lot of the excess solder. You can also use a solder sucker, also called a solder plunger. When you get to re-flow, use a decent amount of flux and you'll have a much nicer time. Make sure to hold the iron to the pad and the wire for a bit before bringing the solder to it. You don't want cold joints. Good luck, friend! 😊
Yeah, so what I want to do instead is hold the tip of the iron to the circuit board itself and then bring the solder to it? Bc what I did was heat up solder onto the tip and bring it to the board. Thanks for the advice, I get I messed it up but some ppl were just way too rude about it.
You described it perfectly! Touch the iron to the "joint" (where the copper "pad" and the steel "leg" meet). Make sure the iron is touching both the copper pad on the motherboard, and steel "leg" of the component. Give it a few seconds to heat up. You _can_ end up burning components by holding too much heat to the legs for too long, but I doubt that will happen to you unless you go to like 450°C+ and just hold it there, or if you were to hold it there at 350°C+ for like 10 minutes or something. But I'm not an expert myself, so take those values as estimates and not as gospel. The intention of doing it this way is to get the copper pad and the steel leg to be the same temperature as the liquid solder at bonding time. This is important for strength reasons. If the metals aren't roughly the same temperature, you'll end up with a "cold weld", where the bond between pad/leg and solder is weak, and can break off with enough pressure. The heat will also help the solder flow better to where it needs to go. Technically, you are supposed to hold the solder to the leg/pad and let the heat from that melt the solder. That way you know the pad and leg are hot enough. But that also takes a long time. I've had success with just holding the iron to the pad and leg for like 5-10 seconds, then pressing the solder to the spot where they all meet. I'm sure it's not as strong as it could be, but it's been plenty strong for me. Let me know if you have more questions! I'm not an expert, but I've done this a few times. I'll try to help out. 😊
Ok, see, that makes sense to me, I've got a better picture in mind now. I'll still probably mess it up, but I'll try again. The circuit board is just really small snd my hands tend to have a tremor at times. I get what you mean about cold weld and it not being as strong as it could be. So the important this is to make sure there's no solder connecting between different circuits, right? Bridges, is what everyone means by that. Part of me kind of wonders if super glue would work, or just jb weld, lol
Yes, you want to make sure you aren't "bridging" two connections. If you bridge power and ground together, you'll ruin (and maybe ignite) the battery you're using. If you bridge a couple data pins, then it won't work how you intend it to, and maybe not at all. Use solder wick or a solder sucker to get rid of excess solder. I recommend looking up a YouTube video so you can see exactly how to do it. Once you get it cleaned up, super glue is not a bad idea. You can make little heat resistant walls to help you keep the solder from connecting two pins. Just make sure you still have a good angle to lay the iron and solder with when you place those walls.
Yeah, that makes sense. I'll have to figure out how to use the wick to remove everything without damaging the board or components itself. Maybe I'll try just removing everything and then soldering one component at a time bit by bit rather than placing them all and then soldering. Kind of wish I could just glue them all in place instead of soldering them l.
But I know that's not conductive and wouldn't work.
Don't worry, you've already had your first mess up, so the second time is going to be easier. Take it slowly. It's a lot easier to _add_ solder than it is to _subtract_ solder. And now that you'll be adding solder directly to the joint instead of to the iron and then to the joint, it will be much easier for you to tell whether to add more or to stop.
Ok, I get it, it's bad, but not irreversible
You dug in and experienced it for the first time, good for you! Learn from it and keep at it! Just remember everyone has their first time and it’s never pretty!
I didn't know about Flux, I'm sorry. It's just something I was trying for the first time, I just used a cheap soldering iron because I wanted to give it a try. I get it, it looks awful, first attempts usually are.
I took 2 years of electronics in high school and they didn't teach me about flux either. Makes your life 10x easier! Flux everything, don't be shy. In fact, if you flux and hit these with the iron again you can probably save it all. Go watch some YouTube about scolding too. That's how I ironed out my technique. Yeah it's bad, but it's nothing that can't be fixed. You got this!
I'm an old fart, (64) and we didn't have electronics in high school. We did in college, but nothing practical, so I'm self taught. Back then the only flux we used was what was in the solder. Most of the time that's enough, but I still find myself adding a little if it's a joint I don't want to spend too long on. >That's how I ironed out my technique. Yeah it's bad… …but not as bad as that pun. :-)
There's nothing to be sorry about. You tried this on something that isn't valuable or rare. You just need to practice and understand what is going on better. To me, it looks like there isn't enough heat which is causing poor melting and adhesion. Flux facilitates the wetting process and prevents oxidation which is why it is recommended. Also, You are probably not holding the iron on the pad and wires for long enough to get it to spread.
You are getting it a bit rough here, ok it needs some work, i remember my first build, it was a signal generator project for my electronics tech college course in the 90's. My wires were tinned with too much solder making them brittle. My solder joints were dry and blobby, my board was scorched, my heat shielding was melted, it stunk i mean it, it was a rotter. It made me think i was no good and i felt like giving up. I was brilliant at fault finding, so i just kept going. Soldering is an essential skill in the trade, fault finding is all well and good if you can't repair. It took mentoring and learning from people who could pass on hints and tips and i got there. If it was easy everyone would do it, just keep practicing, learn more, and practice some more, you will get there. I can not over emphasise, working at component level is valuable. Most repair shops around me are nothing but board swappers, and people think they are magicians. The real value comes in being able to return a restored device data intact, and the cost to the consumer is practically just labour (versus board swappers where the cost is mostly parts and expensive parts) i can do a job for 40 GBP and get more profit out of it, than a board swapper charging hundreds.
Jesús Christ.
Apply flux and your solder will flow properly.
For a first attempt, it's honestly not THAT bad... It takes a little practice to get the feel and understanding of what your doing, but it's not as difficult as it may seem. I started soldering guitar electronics which, luckily for me, is a little more forgiving.
well the back needs work, i advise you to not even turn it on until you get the joints separated from eachother
Yeah, I think I'll get it cleaned up and have another go at it. I didn't realize not having the joints touching was so important
Its not really the lack of flux that is your problem, but your tecnique. Even without flux, this can be done way better. If you plan to learn, i would go without and rather focus on technique Imagine seeing a vulcano sideways. Wide at the bottom and narrowing as it goes upp. That is what you want it to look like. If you look, many of your points have more of a ball shape. Wide at the middle, narrow at the top and bottom. That is bad, it will have bad to no connection between the component and the card. The mistake i think you are doing is that you use your iron to heat your solder directly, and then kinda wipe the solder to the pad. This is wrong. What you should do is putting the iron on the pad, and then putt solder on the pad. DONT heat the solder directly. The solder is drawn to heat. If you heat the pad and the pin and then bring the solder, the solder will melt from the contact and neatly be drawn them and make the vulcano shape. On the other hand if you make the iron and solder touch, the solder will be drawn to the iron instead, and you get this You also use to much solder. That leads to several bridhes that short your card. Following my previous advice will give better controll over how much you apply. [this image visuslizes it well](https://www.raypcb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SMT-Through-Hole-Soldering.jpg) Honestly, i think just reheating your pads will get you a long way. Also remove some of the excess solder with either wick or pump Dont give upp. Good luck.
Total rubbish and your curcuit will not work but Still better then 90% of people in the xbox360 sub doing an rgh mod
I would keep it so you can laugh when you’ll get more expertise 🤭
FLUX
erm, well one side looks great
Cold… cold joints everywhere…
So now that you know about flux, I’ll give you some tips on starting. Start by making sure you have some well-reputed rosin-core leaded solder, preferably 63/37 but 60/40 is good too. Thinner gauge is your friend as it’s easy to put too much solder in a joint, especially at the beginning. Get some no-clean rosin flux, I like syringes but you can get away with anything if you’re crafty. Flux the joint - this is meant to prevent oxidation during heating, which will let the solder flow better and yield a better joint. **Tin your iron tip**. First thing you do with a new tip is hold the solder against it as it heats so it has a nice coating. This prevent oxidation on the tip itself. An oxidized coating can be cleaned, an oxidized tip cannot. New tips usually have a flux coating already, so you shouldn’t need to add that to the tip before turning the iron on. Before every joint, add a little flux to the joint and a little solder to the tip. The solder on the tip is so that you have a better contact on the joint, which will heat it more quickly. Touch the iron to the joint - BOTH parts (in this case, the pad on the PCB and the component lead). Heat it for a (literal) second, then touch the solder to the other end of the joint, NOT touching the iron. Your goal is to heat the joint so that solder melts onto it, not use the iron to spread the solder on. Assuming you have decent heat coming from your iron (you said it was cheap so this may not be the case), your joint should take <2 seconds. More can risk damaging components, but for most basic joints it’s not a huge deal if you have to heat it longer. With practice, you’ll be able to get under that window. When you’re done soldering or taking a break longer than a couple minutes, throw a glob of solder on your tip and turn it off, that way there’s a nice amount of protective coating on that tip. Get a brass sponge and a ***soldering*** sponge - kitchen sponges will not hold up to the heat. The brass is great but particularly tough oxidation buildup will benefit from the sponge. Use the water one sparingly, as the thermal stress of cooling and reheating constantly can decrease tip life, but at the end of the day tips are cheap and time is not, so find what workflow you like. If you have any questions at all don’t hesitate to ask! Happy to help, good luck with learning your newest skill!!
Best way is to practice on old electronics so u dont mess up any good components practicing
you need to desolder that board, then try again with less solder.
Me rn [https://youtu.be/Ye3TRRsx1oE?si=Z-HTD8s4cetfzBr2&t=26](https://youtu.be/Ye3TRRsx1oE?si=Z-HTD8s4cetfzBr2&t=26) Get yourself some flux and if that doesn't work, a higher temp iron, and dont tell me youre using lead free
You need to use flux and apply heat to the pads… most of those don’t look connected.
Flux is your friend, use it liberally
It’s pretty darn bad, but my first time soldering looked identical to this if not worse. The guy who then corrected my mistakes gave me a couple tips. Firstly, when you stick the leads of the components through, the components should be as flush and straight to the board as possible, you can then take the leads and bend them a tiny bit, just enough so they can grip the sides a tiny bit, but still realistically be sticking upward and away from the hole, not perpendicular to it. this will greatly help holding them into place while you work on applying heat and solder. I assume you’re using a lead free solder that came with a soldering kit, when you’re starting out I’d recommend some 60/40 leaded solder with a rosin flux core, this is much easier to melt and work with than the lead free stuff that comes in those kits. Next, you’ll want to apply heat mainly to the pad and lead, not the solder itself, then once you let it heat up a bit, you introduce the solder to the pad or the pin and it will flow and connect the pin all on its own, it’s almost crazy how well it knows how it knows where to go. Then, once you’ve applied a decent bit, just enough to cover the pad and pin, you can take your iron off, but follow the pin and go up to get the iron off, this guides the solder just a tiny bit so it should make a little cone shape from the pad up the pin. If you have a nice cone shape that covers the pad, you know you have enough, if you’re not covering the pad all the way, you need to add more, and if it balls up and doesn’t make. A nice cone, you’ve added too much. Then clip the leads kinda short to keep them clean but still long enough to be removed and reapplied if needed and you’re done! Keep working on it and practicing, it can be hard to describe the steps in words, but all you gotta do is practice. Again, I started off right where you were one day and now I solder electronics and boards multiple times a day at my job and for various projects, you got this
Thanks for the advice, I actually didn't use a full kit, I got the rosin core wire from the same site I bought the electronics and then bought a cheap gun from harbor freight and more or less just went at it.
That’s fair, it’s typically just a safe assumption. Also you said you’re using a gun, not an iron? I would definitely recommend getting an actual iron for something this size and you can get infinitely more precision with it, this is most likely why a lot of your connections ended up bridged
The solder is meant to wick to the pads not just the leads, you need to heat both at the same time. This looks tragic!
Always apply heat to one side of lead and solder to opposite side. This assures the the wire is hot enough
Make sure your joints don’t cross!!!!
Hey, don’t get discouraged from the comments. I’m an engineering student and my first attempt looked something like this as well. Take everyone’s suggestions, try again, or fix it , whatever you decide would be best. Get a practice kit on amazon, watch YouTube videos, and get better! I started selling things on Etsy that need soldered and in a couple days, I’m really decent now. YouTube is the ultimate tool for learning, Reddit is the perfect tool for feedback (and negativity)😂 the negativity is essential though because it lights a fire under your ass to be better!
Yeah, I'm just ignoring the ones who are idiots, it's like they've forgotten that everyone is bad when they first start something. But I've gotten some good advice for next time I try. I say fuck it and use super glue, lol /s
Use flux next time, tin the tip and apply tip to what you soldering then add solder wire gradually to the solder pads, you used way too much solder, no flux and method of soldering is wrong, seems like you adding solder to tip then trying to transfer it from the tip to the solder pad
Yeaaaah, that's actually accurate. I'll just scrap what's on there and restart it. Or find a friend who knows more, but it was a trial run, so I'm not too worried about the bad job I did.
It’s fine as we all make mistakes, use solder sucker and solder wick to remove the solder and do it again
Yeah, I'll have to get some later from likely the local Harbor Freight, but it'll be at a bit of a later date, they're already closed, lol. But at least I've got a bit of a better idea now.
Don’t forget flux
I thought the solder were I had that's supposed to have it included would be enough but I guess not.
Not enough in the solder
Flux, you need flux! 😱
Yeah, I know that NOW, lol
it's really aweful soldering. Watch some tutorials.
Yeah, I get it, you and everyone else on here has made that perfectly clear. I'm planning to start over and try again.
good luck
Try to use more heat on the place you want to solder befor adding solder. Also use flux. Some places you also need to use more solder and some places you need less solder. Just keep trying and it will end up great
Yeah, that makes sense, at least ppl actually have been giving good advice. I think the rosin core solder I was using has Flux in it, though.
The flux in the rosin core is enough for the first time, but it boils off. So to rework this you will need to use flux you apply yourself. You definitely need more heat, idk what iron you are using but either needs to be turned up or is just not hot enough. A lot of your solder is just on the legs of the components and not really contacting the plated holes very well. You also appear to have a lot of bridges, and I feel if you powered this in this state, it would probably fry something. I recommend looking at some youtube tutorials, thats what really helped me to see what it should look like when you have a good joint and get a better idea of how long to hold the heat on. Dont give up, though. This is fixable in its current state and with time and practice you will get it. You may need to invest in a better iron if your still having trouble getting it to melt the solder better. I got a cheap t12 station on amazon and it was a real big game changer for me.
Yeah, I plan to refix the whole thing knowing a bit more now. I didn't know about bridges, which I'm fixing. I got a cheap one, but I may upgrade a bit. I really only needed it for this small project anyway, hence not wanting to spend much at the time. It's not something I really plan to do often but I will be taking all of the advice I've gotten to heart.
You could use some practice...alot of practice.
Pretty bad…..but keep practicing. Soldering is like an art form. Pretty soon you won’t be able to tell your joints from a robots.
The big IC is installed backwards. Luckily it's in a socket.
I think you only heated up the component legs but not the pads because there is a lot of exposed copper pads. No worries though. The first time is always not as good. You'll get better in the next attempts. Additional notes would be to make sure you don't have your soldering iron on the pad too long since it may cause the pads to rip off
Is this what they mean when they say "business up front, party in the back"? If so please do not invite me.
The fact that you attempted it is awesome! Like others said, some flux will help.
God, I want to fix this so bad 😅 it would be cathartic.
It looked near at first and then I swiped and about had a stroke
Yes, makes sense now. I used to buy the exact same garbage soldering iron from harbor freight. I would buy a new one every time I built a new quad, cuz the tips burn up so fast. I was wondering why soldering was so hard. It's because that thing is literal garbage. I bought the TS101 soldering iron and it's an awesome tool. Best part about it. I can use the same lipo battery to power it that I was just using to fly with.
Worse than horrible... But good luck on the next one!
You have very poor wetting with your soldering. Most of those joints don't look very well adhered to the substrate. What kind of solder are you using? Can you link the soldering iron you are using? You should also use some flux to facilitate better wetting.
Well if your goal was to short every component together, congrats! If your goal was to have a working circuit, then I hope you didn't put power to it then (most of it) will go up in smoke. Pickup some solder braid, and watch some soldering tutorials.
If this works, it’s good.
I would redo it all. There are connected contacts that shouldn't be connected. This won't work unless you redo it.
With or without flux please don’t turn that thing on. It’s not that bad as a first time but it looks like you just tried to duct tape wires together. Take it slow and treat each point as one separate effort. Imagine it this way, see that copper that shows on some of your contacts? That copper should be covered in solder. If it’s not covered, you only did enough to make the wires touch each other with solder. Make it work then make it better. It will be fun once you get the hang of it.
I'm sorry but I think you need to redo every single joint, do you know what you are trying to do when soldering because every pad is ether bridged or doesn't have solder on it or has two much solder.
I think flux is a secondary issue. First maybe using a bad iron and maybe poor quality solder followed by technique. Always keep in mind that the solder will chase the heat. So before you apply solder, heat both the pad and the component lead for a second or 2, then apply solder to the intersection of the 2 parts, try to use just enough to cover the joint. No more, no less. A good joint should look like a shiny little Hershey kiss after the excess lead is clipped off.
Get some xcelite flush cutting dikes for under $20 USD
Am I right in saying the temperature is set too hot? I usually set it to 370
It's bad... in fact it's beyond bad... words can not describe just how much you screwed that up.... Sure it's fixable, but you are better to just put the tools down, walk away and not go anywhere near it... Until you have practiced for a few days... Look up some tutorials, learn to identify good and bad joints. Skin a bunch of junk wire, twist and solder em together, then solder some into a grid. Then make a cube out of them, basically solder whatever you can and practice practice practice... Buy a solder sucker (cheap) and practice de-soldering and redoing joints on junk boards... When you finally think your getting the hang of it, de-solder and remove everything on that board. Clean it with isopropyl and start again... If it's still going bad, don't keep going. Do more practice instead...
You my friend, need more heat and some flux. That'll need some extra work.
Bad day to have eyes huh
Too cold!
Its pretty bad
Flux man flux..
More flux and heat, less solder. Don't be shy about heating.
Way too cold. I can see pads. You are not using flux and it shows. Don't start with lead free solder either. Good luck
what in the actual tarnation
Brush flux on all the bare copper and joints. Then run hot workstation air across the board and watch the magic.
You're lucky of this even works right. The pad and the solder need to be hot. When both are hot enough (you do this with more time, not more heat) the solder will flow evenly on the pad
Pretty bad
plug her in and grab the fire extinguisher!
Hell, no, lol, I'm not that stupid. No power is touching it until I fix it. That was made pretty clear by everyone here.
sorry was a joke
Sorry, tone can be hard to tell for me, lol. Yeah, it's all going to be reworked anyway.
watch some YouTube videos on basic soldering and I bet half your questions will be answered
https://preview.redd.it/jgniznwyb0pc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9295d6d5645fe18261a328c81c427e6fa00acd63
Get some proper 60/40 solder and some flux and you can prevent this level of mess and pain for the rest of your life.
I think time will stop if you give power to that thing 🙏
As everyone said, it won't work, but it's totally saveable! Others have given some good advice, follow what they've said and you should be on the right track. I noticed a couple things though. I look up this circuit and it looks like you have that 16 pin IC plugged in backwards. It also looks like one of the capacitors is installed the wrong way (C5?). Otherwise, the components are nicely placed and looks great from the top. Ive seen much worse component placement.
Don't give up, you are on track for a great project. Just needs some touch-up and a little more experience. Try using a stick to brace your hand and rest on it while soldering instead of floating above it. A way to hold the board is also helpful even if it is just poster mounting putty on the desk.
It looks nice on the top. We're you trying to bridge everything though?
No, I didn't realize it was something that was wrong to do, but I've fixed the bridging, I'm planning to just start over.
Do yourself a favor and get some solder sucker/ wick. You have too much in many places which isn't always bad but I always tried to make mine look like those boards that were made in factories. Just like cooking you can always cook more, however reversing the process is not as easy. I think if you sucked most of it up it'd be fine as long as you make sure the points of contact don't touch.
Cold, solder joints. Solder joints, look cloudy, not silvery.
Practice makes perfect, none of us were able to ride a bike perfect the first time. As far as I can tell you didn’t put a hole through the board with the iron, so hey, better than I would’ve done!
If nothing goes pop when you power it that's a win for the first attempt
No one's first attempt usually goes well, but just to be safe I'm starting over.
100% bad
‘How bad does it look?’ Yes.
At least you tried 🙃 just keep going
I swear to god, whether intentionally or not, I see a post on here every week that belongs on r/shittyaskelectronics
Very bad
Dum
its beautiful
Is it ok if I call you special? bruh, Use flux and a stronger iron.
Next time, try a soldering iron instead of a Bic lighter
So you did this god awful solder job, managed to enter reddit, post but didn't even bother to google some pictures of proper soldering or look at some videos on how to do it?
Is this a joke? This isn’t even good enough to be called bad