Soldering: A Versatile and Essential Skill for Various Applications

Soldering is a widely used technique that forms a surface-to-surface bond between two metal pieces, creating an electronically conductive connection. This process requires minimal equipment, but it does necessitate some essential components such as solder or filler metal, the two pieces of metal to be connected, and a heat source like a soldering iron or gun. The purchased soldering iron or gun typically comes with different tips, which are useful in various situations within an industrial setting. However, there are other heat sources available, such as wave tanks and ovens, but they will not be discussed here.

When it comes to selecting a soldering iron, one can expect a wide range of options in the market, varying greatly from five or ten dollars to couple hundred dollars. The primary difference between low-end and high-end soldering irons lies in their maximum temperature and ability to adjust temperature while working. While not necessary to invest in an expensive soldering iron initially, as the more work one does, it might become worthwhile to upgrade. Even with a cheap soldering iron, having a good tip can make a significant difference.

Solder comes in various types and thicknesses, each serving different purposes depending on the task at hand. For fine work, small solder is often preferred to achieve precise connections. Some solders also contain flux core additives that aid in flow better, which will be discussed later. Most electronic work involves 10in bismuth or 10in silver solder, but other types of solder are available based on lead, cadmium, and zinc, each with its specific uses for different temperatures and materials.

One of the fundamental techniques required to master soldering is called tinning. Tinning involves covering the tip of your soldering iron and the work pieces with a small amount of solder, which serves to prevent oxidation from occurring on both pieces of metal that are joined. This extra solder can be cleaned off using a damp sponge or an abrasive pad made from brass. It's worth noting that many types of solders may contain flux within them; however, if you don't have any additional flux, you can always purchase it separately and apply it to the surfaces that will be soldered together.

The process of applying solder involves heating up both surfaces until they reach a certain temperature. Once these are at the right temperature, one applies the solder, allowing it to flow into the joint created by the joining of the two pieces. This heat flows through from each piece and melts the solder, which should fill in the space between them. When using very small tips and thin solder, precise joints can be achieved. In cases where larger components are being joined, simply twisting and then soldering two wires, you will want to protect these connections so they aren't exposed, thus utilizing electrical tape or heat shrink tubing along with a heat gun to close the gaps once completed.

It's an essential fact that many people often forget when working with solder - cleaning the tip of your soldering iron. Corrosion can occur over time, which could lead to failure in the connection between the pieces being joined. The simplest way to prevent this from happening is to take care to retain the tip before putting it away.

Finally, soldering is a skill that can be mastered with practice alone, and there's no better place to learn than watching and doing projects yourself. If you have some tips or tricks for soldering you'd like to share, please consider leaving them in the comments below. I also have a whole playlist of other bits videos that you can check out, and I'll be back later this week with a new project.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday I'm bits we're gonna talk about soldering it can be used in lots of different ways but most commonly connecting electronics components jewelry making or connecting roof flashing or gutters on a house soldering forms a surface-to-surface bond that is electronically conductive in gas and air type you don't need a lot of equipment but you do need some solder or filler metal you need the two pieces of metal that you want to connect together and a heat source like a soldering iron or a gun when you purchase your soldering iron or gun it will probably come with different tips to put on it and those are useful in a lot of different situations in an industrial setting there are some other heat sources like wave tanks and ovens but we're not going to talk about those here when you're selecting a soldering iron there's a huge range of options in a huge price range these go all the way from five or ten dollars all the way up to a couple of hundred the biggest difference from the low end to the high end ones is really about the maximum temperature and the ability to change that temperature while you're working you definitely don't need to get the most expensive iron to get started but the more work you do you may find it's worthwhile to upgrade even having a good tip on the end of a cheap iron can make a pretty big difference when you go to select your solder there are a lot of different types and a lot of different thicknesses and those are used for different things if you have really fine work you want very small solder some of them also have a flux core additive and that helps the solder flow better we'll talk about that in just a few minutes most electronics work uses 10 in bismuth or 10 and silver but there's also 10 in lead which is a general-purpose and 10 and zinc which is great for aluminum although 10 is the most common you may see reference to some other types based on lead cadmium silver or zinc those all have very specific uses for different temperatures and different material types the first technique that you need to learn is called tinning and this is the process of covering the tip of your soldering iron and the work pieces with a little bit of solder this helps prevent oxidation in any extra solder that you get on either of these pieces can be cleaned off with a damp sponge or a small abrasive pad usually made out of brass I mentioned flux earlier and that's something you should definitely be aware of when you buy solder it may have flux inside of it but if not you can always buy it separately and wipe it on the two surfaces that you're going to solder together this lowers the surface tension of the molten solder and helps it to flow easier now you're ready to apply the solder to your joint this is the same process that we talked about in the brazing video using the soldering iron you heat up the two surfaces that you want to join together once they're up to temperature then you apply the solder to that joint the heat from those two pieces will melt the solder and it should flow into the joint that you're making if you're using a very small tip and a thin piece of solder you can get a really precise joint and depending on how big your components are that may be absolutely necessary if you're not fixing an electrical component to a board you may just need to connect two wires and in that case you want to twist them together and then solder them but you don't wanna leave that exposed you need to insulate it with electrical tape or put some heat shrink tubing around it and use a heat gun to close it in but once you're done soldering one thing that's really important that a lot of people forget is to clean the tip of your soldering iron it's a common problem for the tip of a soldering iron to be eaten away with corrosion over time and a great way to avoid that is to retain the tip of your iron before you put it away soldering is a very forgiving skill because if you make a mistake you can always heat up the joint and desolder it there are some small plungers that you can use to suck up the solder off of a surface but there's also a braided copper wire that will actually draw it in when you put it on hot solder but like most things the best way to get better at solder is just to practice I hope this brief introduction to soldering was helpful to you guys and if you've got some extra tips or a round soldering that you would love to share with everybody please leave them down in the comments I've got a whole playlist of other bits videos right here for you to check out and I'll be back later in this week with a new project I'll see you thentoday I'm bits we're gonna talk about soldering it can be used in lots of different ways but most commonly connecting electronics components jewelry making or connecting roof flashing or gutters on a house soldering forms a surface-to-surface bond that is electronically conductive in gas and air type you don't need a lot of equipment but you do need some solder or filler metal you need the two pieces of metal that you want to connect together and a heat source like a soldering iron or a gun when you purchase your soldering iron or gun it will probably come with different tips to put on it and those are useful in a lot of different situations in an industrial setting there are some other heat sources like wave tanks and ovens but we're not going to talk about those here when you're selecting a soldering iron there's a huge range of options in a huge price range these go all the way from five or ten dollars all the way up to a couple of hundred the biggest difference from the low end to the high end ones is really about the maximum temperature and the ability to change that temperature while you're working you definitely don't need to get the most expensive iron to get started but the more work you do you may find it's worthwhile to upgrade even having a good tip on the end of a cheap iron can make a pretty big difference when you go to select your solder there are a lot of different types and a lot of different thicknesses and those are used for different things if you have really fine work you want very small solder some of them also have a flux core additive and that helps the solder flow better we'll talk about that in just a few minutes most electronics work uses 10 in bismuth or 10 and silver but there's also 10 in lead which is a general-purpose and 10 and zinc which is great for aluminum although 10 is the most common you may see reference to some other types based on lead cadmium silver or zinc those all have very specific uses for different temperatures and different material types the first technique that you need to learn is called tinning and this is the process of covering the tip of your soldering iron and the work pieces with a little bit of solder this helps prevent oxidation in any extra solder that you get on either of these pieces can be cleaned off with a damp sponge or a small abrasive pad usually made out of brass I mentioned flux earlier and that's something you should definitely be aware of when you buy solder it may have flux inside of it but if not you can always buy it separately and wipe it on the two surfaces that you're going to solder together this lowers the surface tension of the molten solder and helps it to flow easier now you're ready to apply the solder to your joint this is the same process that we talked about in the brazing video using the soldering iron you heat up the two surfaces that you want to join together once they're up to temperature then you apply the solder to that joint the heat from those two pieces will melt the solder and it should flow into the joint that you're making if you're using a very small tip and a thin piece of solder you can get a really precise joint and depending on how big your components are that may be absolutely necessary if you're not fixing an electrical component to a board you may just need to connect two wires and in that case you want to twist them together and then solder them but you don't wanna leave that exposed you need to insulate it with electrical tape or put some heat shrink tubing around it and use a heat gun to close it in but once you're done soldering one thing that's really important that a lot of people forget is to clean the tip of your soldering iron it's a common problem for the tip of a soldering iron to be eaten away with corrosion over time and a great way to avoid that is to retain the tip of your iron before you put it away soldering is a very forgiving skill because if you make a mistake you can always heat up the joint and desolder it there are some small plungers that you can use to suck up the solder off of a surface but there's also a braided copper wire that will actually draw it in when you put it on hot solder but like most things the best way to get better at solder is just to practice I hope this brief introduction to soldering was helpful to you guys and if you've got some extra tips or a round soldering that you would love to share with everybody please leave them down in the comments I've got a whole playlist of other bits videos right here for you to check out and I'll be back later in this week with a new project I'll see you then\n"