Not shown in this video, but another very useful product for more aggressive cleaning and repair of a badly neglected soldering iron is sold as "tip tinner". You shouldn't need to use it regularly, only if your tip is so badly oxidized that the regular cleaning method shown in this video is insufficient.
Not all solders are flux core. Solders that don't have a flux core need to be used alongside flux. Using the wrong kind of flux will cause the wires to degrade quickly. Finally, always make sure your conductors have bright copper. If it's oxidized you're going to have trouble making the solder stick.
Nah, in the video he stuffs up and puts the shrink wrap on after joining the two wires. A mistake we all make, but poor form to do it in an edited video.
One tip that ive used for about 20 years is this: when youre done soldering for the day, shut off the iron snd use the residual heat to melt lots of solder covering the tip. Let it cool off and solidify. The next yime you turn on the iron, brush off the blob and your tip will be nicely tinned and virtially no oxidation will occur. I get literally *years* out of my tips by doing this.
I only solder from time to time, and every time, I feel like I am learning all over again. I found your video to be the most helpful that I have ever watched. thank you
I am almost 80 years old. I’ve been doing exactly as you explained for years. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone explain the proper way to do soldering the correct way. Good job! Keep up the goofy work.
You managed to hit on EXACTLY what I missed in the many other tutorials I’ve watched. Very few people go into specifics, UP CLOSE, of how to hold and manage the wire, solder, and soldering iron. I have been melting solder over and around my wires….painting it on. I didn’t even realize flux was in my solder (it is Rosin Core 60/40 lead & tin). You are an excellent instructor and I’m so happy I found your video today. Thank you!
I started soldering when I was about 10 years old. I'm 85 and still soldering. I've soldered with every type of device including a torch. While working as a Quality Assurance Rep. I was a certified soldering inspector. Having said all that, take my advice and never, ever attempt to solder anything without using flux.
You are right, half the time there is not enough flux inside the core & unless the wire is new it certainly wont be easy without flux. He did not mention anything about getting whatever you are going to solder properly clean either.
@@frommatorav1 flux does help with the flow of solder between wire strands. Even though most of the soldering I have done is with fresh cut and stripped wires, extra flux made soldering so much quicker and easier.
Nice! 0:14 ...I use my DeWalt bag for my soldering stuff too. Great minds. Great tutorial. One thing that has helped me is adding a bit of electrical flux to my twists. A lot burns off, but the solder seeps and flows sooo much better. Just have to clean up the joint with some rubbing alcohol afterwards. Last thought, no matter how many times I've told myself to add the shrink tubing prior to twisting and soldering, I still forget. Keep up the good work.
THIS IS THE EXACT VIDEO I'VE BEEN NEEDING IN MY LIFE FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS!!!! I swear soldering two wires together seems like it should be as simple as tying your shoes, but I still needed someone to teach me that as well. BUY THIS MAN SOME TIM HORTON'S AND ANOTHER ROUND OF MAPLE'S FINEST!!!
I would add one more pro tip for making wires mesh together easier: straighten up the wire ends into two narrow "brooms", then push those brooms into each other before twisting them together. Also another solution for pointy tips is to use the edge cutters before putting insulation over, always remove the needles pointing out, your future fingers will thank you.
Decent video. I learned a lot of the proper soldering techniques from my father who was a Comms/Radio Op in the Korean War and a "HAM"/Amateur Radio operator with a Tech license. I was building/assembling many of my own electronics projects starting at 8 years old, LOL. The DIY HEATHKIT projects were a staple back then. I then learned even more from a husband & wife team who both work for NASA as soldering techs. Some of the protocols they have to follow and techniques they use are mindboggling. Also, learn to know WHEN you should SOLDER, and WHEN you should use CRIMP connections. Cheers
I used to make big globby solders that break. Learning "heat the joint, apply the solder" changed my whole perspective. Also, using the right size solder/tip for the job is so important.
I just wanted to give you props for a fantastic video! Not just twist them but HOW to twist them. And showing what to do when soldered joints aren't picture perfect (like in most videos). The dose of realism, what to do/not do, and demonstrations of poor soldering technique vs correct - what a well made video. Excellent work!
when I first learned to solder, it was from a lab worksheet in school. this explanation is miles better. the presentation with the cold weather makes an incredible difference in illustrating the key point
When i was young and dumb i sanded down a near new tip to clean it... Solder never stuck to it again so i threw it in the bin box, Decided to dig it out to try repair it Didn't have much hope but with repeatedly drowning the tip in flux at high temperature and rubbing it on a block of solder it had a nice silver coating again, works great now!
AMAZING PRESENTATION! Complete and concise in a really short time! I work in industrial electronics for almost 30 years now and I'm most likely going to have my trainees from the mechanical field watch this video.
Excellent video. The two bits of advice that I got when I was struggling to learn soldering: "Heat the work, not the solder", which was shown nicely here. The other one is that the solder will tend to flow towards the heat source, which is why having the iron on the other side of the wire works so well, the solder will wick its way through the strands towards the iron.
Have been soldering since I was about 8 years old, and professionally for 40 years. The methods you have shown here are absolutely correct. The only thing that is not is the use of a flame to shrink the heat shrink. This is frowned upon professionally for good reason. The flame has a tendency to char and burn the heat shrink because flames are too higher temperature. This can result in embrittlement of the heat shrink causing it to crack or split. The best temperature range to use is 200 to 250 degrees C dependent on the type of heat shrink used. The use of flames in some working environments is also prohibited due to the presence of flammable or combustible substances, especially when working on or making repairs on cars.
While I prefer a heat gun when shrinking heat shrink tubes I think he showed the problem of charring the heat shrink when using the edge of the flame. He did recommend using the blue part of the flame instead of the yellow tip and showed the difference it makes. While not the optimal way of heat shrinking it gives you an option when you haven't got a heat gun at hand.
Thanks so much for this! I've never been really shown how to solder properly and my tip kept getting stuck, I couldn't make the solder flow, it would bead up etc. I like that you spent the extra time actually showing what can go wrong and what not to do. I'm going to use this as my training for the next solder job!
Good to see someone who uses a proper wire stripper! This whole video is a good start to learning proper technique for soldering a running splice between two stranded wires. Well done!
I was taught to solder a very long time ago in high school. I'm glad that my teacher taught me a lot of good stuff. I do about 2/3 of the steps in this video without really thinking about it. I could afford to use heat shrink instead of electrical tape. The one thing my teacher taught me that isn't in the video is solder follows heat. This is certainly true of lead-based solder. I haven't worked with silver-based solder much.
Solid tutorial, It helped me greatly. I don't believe I've found a tutorial on this platform (on any topic) that is as clear, concise, and succinct as this one, well done indeed. Thank you
Great tutorial. I've been soldering for a little over a decade now, but I like to revisit tutorials like these as a quick "re-certification" every now and then. One tip (no pun intended) I'd like to add doesn't apply to soldering technique, but more to preserving the wire's insulating cover. If you are using helping hands/spring claws like what you have in the video, cover the jaws with cut to size heat shrink tubing. This lessens the marring of the insulation and prevents it from being pierced from the jaws.
Thanks for the video!! I’ve been soldering since I was 8 and now into my 40’s and I learned something new today, your video is very informative and will help out many more people in the future!!
I have a hard time heating thick wires with a Milwaukee soldering iron. That was a super nice technique you showed us of using solder to increase the area of contact for heating the wires faster ! Thank you for your video !
This is one of the best tutorials I have seen. Great explanations with good pacing. The excellent closeup photography is very helpful and I appreciate that you include potential mistakes and how to solve them. As of today, you have taught over half a million people how to safely solder wires-that's a huge accomplishment! Can't wait to explore your channel and see what else you teach.
In older automotive applications, I very rarely have wire as clean and shiny copper as you show. For me, the flux within the solder is woefully inadequate. Using separate solder flux is a game changer, and I am surprised you didn't mention it at all.
Thanks for going into all of this details about soldering, fellow canuck! I find there's a lot of other videos that gloss over small details that are quite important, like how to twist them together. Thank you!
This is now my go-to vid i will be using to teach my preferred soldering method, you manage to explain EXACTLY the way i try to tell people when they want to have a go soldering, i hate pulling apart anything electrical to find a blacksmith did the prior repair.... A mentionable tip for soldering several wires running alongside in a harness situation is to offset the cuts and solder connections by the length of the connection so that if the heatshrink is breached it will be on the parallel wires insulation and not directly next to another join.... Precision and process is whats needed and this video is exactly that, Thankyou....
You should make a video on how to properly solder PCBs. The wire tutorial was the best I've seen on YT tbh...but soldering/ de-soldering on a PCB would be extremely helpful
Dude can solder better than I ever could. One point about electrical tape though: it works and can stick firmly, but you have to pre-stretch it to make it pliable enough and for the adhesive to stick properly. Cut the length of tape, grab it from both ends and slowly stretch it, it'll get finer and much more pliable that way. I don't know why this isn't taught more frequently, but I learned it years ago and it's the correct way to use electrical tape.
Just stumbled on this one! I've been soldering wires for 60+ years and I've always used the "wet sponge" method. I saw you use the copper mesh to clean the tip and had a flash of insight. There, by my kitchen sink, is a copper scrubber I've never used! Guess I found a use for it! 🤔
Great video. I had to learn proper soldering technique out of a book, and that just doesn't convey the nuances quite like seeing it in action. But the most helpful thing that book did say was something like "Do not use the iron to melt solder except to tin the tip. The iron is only for heating the joint, apply solder directly to the joint instead." Completely fixed my perspective on what exactly I was trying to do.
If I use tape, I opt for the self fusing tape which is stretched when wrapping. It becomes one piece and the layers fuse together. It also replaces heat shrink tubing. I have a ball point pen I wrapped back in 1991 and it is still fused. It comes in 11 ft. rolls on a cardboard tube.There is a plastic separator on one side to keep the tape from becoming one lump.
Excellent video. You remind me of my soldering instructor (long time ago). I like the way you progressed through the presentation covering just about everything.
Nice video. Bonus tips: 1) a sturdy setup is absolutely key. If your wires/contacts/pcbs are escaping you while you try to solder them you will have a bad time. 2) look up the NASA approved solder joint. It twists wire 1 around wire two close to wire 2's insulation and vice-versa. You should ideally have a mechanically sound connection before you apply solder.
🔥 *Excellent soldering guide!* Thanks for talking about why a clean tip is best and how-to, giving the X and V wire connection techniques, apply solder by wicking through the wires, and then verification (QA.) Also your parts list and recommendations are gold. You did all this efficiently and in an easy to understand format, in a fair amount of time 11 min.) _Bravo! Please keep up the great work._ 🎮
Fantastic, Concise, and clear! I love it. That was a great use of 12 minutes of my time! I'm going to dive into your history, and see if i can find a similar primer about how to work with PCBs, which is a current project I'm learning on.
Been soldering for over 70 years. My current prefered method is to hold the solder against the joint, press the iron through the solder onto the joint, and then feed more solder from the other side. This ensures that almost all the flux flows into the joint. It also helps prevent overheating sensitive devices if the wires are dirty. This method is usually faster, too.
Great tutorial bro. One thing i did want to comment on though was clipping the zip tie at the end. Cutting the tail like you did can leave a sharp corner that you can cut yourself on. If you grip the tail straight on with a pair of pliers and twist it off instead, it'll leave a nice smooth bump instead of that sharp edge.
thats one good quality tutorial. easy to digest no unnecesary information streight to the point with different variations that can be better suited for different users. great.
I never thought about the zip ties with electrical tape, thats genius! Great video and was worth watching all the way to the end just for the zip tie tip!
excellent explanations. I always have trouble soldering but your explanation of the heat transfer and why you tin the iron first and how it increases the surface area contact makes so much sense. I'll be trying these techniques very soon on my next guitar build. Thanks for the video Will!
Proper physical splice (the X twist is my preferred, and I've done it enough that I can do it pretty quickly, even in place in my truck's engine compartment when I've had to), clean tip, liquid flux so that it wicks into the strands before applying solder and helps to more quickly pull the solder in, and my technique is HOT (405º C) and fast so that there's less time for heat to migrate into the insulation of the wire before you're done (almost a non issue regardless, when I use marine grade wire that has silicone insulation; which is my go-to every chance I get). I also prefer lead based solder but can use ROHS compliant solder if I have to (my job requires it). I often brag that my wire splices and tinning is among the best out there. Great video, and your methods are very similar to my own.
If your job requires RoHS, I hope that you have a dedicated iron, tip, cleaning pad, and other tools for that to prevent cross-contamination. You can fail inspection otherwise if they use an XRF gun or lead check swabs.
Totally agree on having a hot iron, I carry a simple 60w iron as it has the level of heat I need. Lower wattage irons are just not worth it for me, but good enough for people that are learning to solder as they can learn the techniques, then speed will come later with experience.
Thank you so much for this video. I followed you step by step and the results are terrific. To think I almost tossed the minion in the recycle bin since his light was out. Bob the minion is so bright now, you could probably see him from the space station 😊
About the best sub-$500 iron I've used is the TS-100/101 with a 24V supply and the K-tip, you can get it for well under $150 and it has a ton of surface area for making good wire joints.
my very FIRST soldering iron was one I made myself in shop class. I took a rectangular cube of copper, using a saw I cut the rectangle into a triangle on one side and drilled a hole in the other, then had a rod piece of metal put into that and the other end I rammed into a wooden handle. TO use, you put the copper tip into a flame such as a stove top till it got hot, then soldered away, you literally had 20-30 secs of heat, I was doing this in my mums kitchen with my dad, and was running between the stove and the table soldering away.... of course this was not an ideal way to solder, nor would it work on delicate electronic components... but I learned a lot from that !
Never thought my "how to soulder" search would end up being so satisfying haha. There are so many good tutorials - there's a bald Australian guy with a really good vid too 👍
the type of tip is also important, i got one from eBay once and was terrible. I thought i was terrible. Went to get one in a Walmart. It turned out to be really good and my technique was night and day.
good video. i do use electrical tape for 90% of my soldering though, and no issues so far. the quality of the tape, the environment it will be in, and how you apply it, each matter.
My electrical 1 class in college for auto repair told us almost none of this. Didn’t even make sure people knew they were working with lead, pretty sure i got a few good whiffs of the smoke before realizing the danger. I’ll be passing this video on, thank you for such a great video.
Hi, Will. Very good video! Your technique is flawless and beautifully excecuted.. IMHO, one should never put away one's iron with a totally clean and dry tip. I have been soldering for over 50 years and I have found that I like the results (i.e. life of the soldering tip) much better if I thoroughly clean off the tip and then add just a bit of fresh solder just after turning off the iron. There will still be just enough heat to melt the solder, but it will cool off and solidify the solder leaving a protective coating on the tip. When I use it next, I just wipe away the melted solder from the tip and get on with the work at hand. I also do not twist the individual wires before soldering. I use the same technique that you do by holding the wires together at one end and twist them together. I feel like I get a better mechanical and electrical connection without tightly twisting the individual wires first.
2 tips to add from my experience. 1: I normally put the iron under the wire rather than on top, heat rises, as well as better visual without the iron in the way 2: When your done soldering, while the wire is still hot, the wire's insulation will be soft around the joint. If you're quick, you can push the soft insulation closer to the solder joint and it'll cool and harden. This adds a little bit of strain relief, "smooths" the transition between insulation and solder, as well as makes it so your heat shrink doesn't have to be as long. on small wires, I've even gotten both sides to touch in the middle, completely covering the soldering joint (obviously still used heat shrink for a proper seal)
The radiant "rising" heat is not nearly hot enough to effect your solder in any way, that's why you touch the wire for conduction heat. It still is good practice to catch falling solder I think. I don't know, I solder like 0:11
Great tips! It may be wrong, but when heating thick wires or connections I'll hold the iron underneath so that more of the heat is transferred to the joint.
Great video, I learnt a few new things and being self-taught it reinforced things I've apparently been doing correctly. I didn't know about the trick with heat shrink and a lighter (in the blue part of the flame), what a game changer!
I'm just learning to do this , thanks for the vid. A little tip about the shrink wrap, if you use marine grade wrap it has a waterproof glue built into it giving a clean waterproof seal on top of the soldering. Although it doesn't come in any color except black!
Thank you, all of your advice is very good. You mentioned automatic wire strippers at 4:29. They are wonderful and well worth the money. At 5:10, remember that you will usually have to slide on the heat shrink tubing before you twist the wires and apply solder. 1:00 The Hakko FX888 works well, but its controls are completely counterintuitive. Even though it only has two buttons, I can not change its temperature without rereading its instructions. You would not think that a company could make it all that difficult, but somehow they did. I prefer to set the iron at a very high temperature. If the iron is not quite hot enough, you will end up holding the soldering iron onto a heat sensitive component for a excessively long time waiting for the solder to melt. I have come to believe that a hotter iron is actually better for heat sensitive parts.
Great video! One thing to improve your experience is to carry a mini torch lighter for the heat shrink tubing. It burns hotter so make sure you don't hold it in one spot for very long. But it works fast and no soot. Mine is one that has angle adjustment, so you can set it at a 45,90 or any angle you need to get harder to reach areas.
While there is nothing wrong with twisting the wires first and then twisting them together I find the best joint is to actually splice the strands of the wires in to each other and then twist them, heat up the joint and solder. The problem with twisting already twisted wires together is even with tinned solder you are creating a much larger thermal mass that is harder to solder - particularly with larger gauge wire. It's also not as mechanically strong because wires that are twisted together like that have less surface area in contact with each other - so you need a longer joint to create enough twists.
Yep! IIRC fanning the cores, pressing them together, and then twisting them is the NASA approved way of splicing. Minimizes chances of sharp edges and ensures mechanical strength.
@@wydra9-1 can you provide a source for your NASA approved way of splicing? I am looking at nasa-std-87394a right now and not seeing your method mentioned. The standard i mention recommends a simple lap joint first for stranded wires.
Been a while but finely got the Nixi tube clock kit out of my garage and I have to solder the tubes bare to the board. Very tedious task. Watched this to make sure I still was doing things right after all these years.
I started getting much better at soldering by getting a proper weller station and brass sponge, and changing the tips. I like to use a chisel tip for most things, or a fine pencil tip for small motherboard stuff. Most of the wiring I do is guitar work.
Excellent discussion . . . Bravo . . . I might suggest also discussing the conductivity of different solder metals. Silver is superior as it is closest to copper in conductivity. Lead is not bad but its not as conductive as copper or silver. (note that silver solder is usually a combination of tin and silver).
Definitely a great video, my only input to the video is when you said something about laying the wires on top of each other (which is called a Lap Solder) how they are weak. I disagree, because in MIL spec soldering Class III (IPC-A-610 and J-STD) This is an approved method on splicing wires and is a very strong connection. I personally use this method (only when needed, they don't really like splicing at all) when building wire harnesses for military purpose. Although the method that you are using is very superior. That's all.
For automotive use, I always use lead solder. I also use a lash joint, which is the same twisting you use but I wrap the joint in a thin bare copper wire. If done properly, you can hang from a lash joint before it's soldered. I also use adhesive lined heat shrink, Napa sells a fantastic heat shrink I use daily
Why not put a drop of flux on the wires? I don't like heating the wires and applying soldier directly because I often melt the sheath on larger wires before the other side gets hot enough to melt solder. I put a drop of flux on the wires and gently use the iron to melt it in. Then I put solder on the tip of the iron and touch it to the wires and it instantly gets sucked up and flows everywhere the flux went. I actually get solder a mm or two up inside the sheathing doing it this way. And you can very accurately control how much solder you're using. But the main thing is it doesn't require holding the iron on the wires to heat them up, so there's a lot less heat transfer up the wires and into connectors. Idk, works for me.
Your method is absolutely correct. You want as little heat transfer as possible so as to not melt the insulators. Keep in mind also that this video only has brand new wires also, whereas in many applications, a wire repair will be performed on wires that may have been exposed to oxygen and are slightly dirty. Using a small brush to clean the copper and dabbing some flux on the twisted joint is quite literally the only way that I've been able to achieve good results in the field. Not sure why he didn't mention that method. Also I tend to place the tip underneath the joint if possible, so that heat rises, I can control the puddle of solder better, and the end result is typically as you described, solder flowing into the insulation slightly, without the added heat.
Practically speaking do both. And buy more/less aggressive rosin core fluxes in solder to cover more situations without the need for a separate bottle. With clean pretinned wire I’m not pulling out a bottle of flux. I’ve even found myself soldering 100’ in the air. If I don’t have enough flux in the solder I over feed solder so the flux pours out onto the wire then flick the excess solder off the tip. It’s just not practical to carry excess flux there. For a small spaces with poor access at the bench or dirty wires flux makes life easier and I’ll use it.
I never solder anything without adding flux & I do a lot of soldering. The missing flux & teaching people to use a lighter on heat shrink sleeve are what is terrible about this video. Oh yeah, & the lead free solder, hate the stuff.
I passed the iso9000 quality certification. The only way is to heat the wire from underneath and apply solder on top so the solder will flow over and into the strands.
Not shown in this video, but another very useful product for more aggressive cleaning and repair of a badly neglected soldering iron is sold as "tip tinner". You shouldn't need to use it regularly, only if your tip is so badly oxidized that the regular cleaning method shown in this video is insufficient.
I tried heating up the wires and it just burned the plastic housing 😂
I use 220 sandpaper to clean the soldering iron tip and then coat it with fresh solder to prevent corrosion 👌
You can also dip the tip of your iron into some flux to clean the tip very effectively.
Not all solders are flux core. Solders that don't have a flux core need to be used alongside flux. Using the wrong kind of flux will cause the wires to degrade quickly. Finally, always make sure your conductors have bright copper. If it's oxidized you're going to have trouble making the solder stick.
I use a block of sal ammoniac for oxidized tips.
Really great tutorial! Thanks for showing common pitfalls.
Step One...Put heatshrink on BEFORE you solder the wires.
Covered @11:09
I've been an electrical engineer for over 10 years. . . Still forget to put the damn heat shrink on until it's joined nicely of course!
Was wondering if someone would get round to this. Yes, but back it away from the joint as was explained in the video.
@@bostephens13 yeah at the END of the video. It should be step 1.
Nah, in the video he stuffs up and puts the shrink wrap on after joining the two wires. A mistake we all make, but poor form to do it in an edited video.
One tip that ive used for about 20 years is this: when youre done soldering for the day, shut off the iron snd use the residual heat to melt lots of solder covering the tip. Let it cool off and solidify.
The next yime you turn on the iron, brush off the blob and your tip will be nicely tinned and virtially no oxidation will occur.
I get literally *years* out of my tips by doing this.
Neato
So basically I should be seeing a big blob on the tip of the soldering iron any time I’m not actively using it?
@@HyperionBadger yepp more or less, you always want a tinned tip when you turn it off.
Great to know I'm not the only one doing this!
Originally thought you'd used one soldering tip for 20 years and was flabbergasted.
I only solder from time to time, and every time, I feel like I am learning all over again. I found your video to be the most helpful that I have ever watched. thank you
Same here.
I was going to write exactly this. 👍
I was going to say what the other two guys said.
By the way, the photography of the process is flawless. Very easy to understand.
Some say you shouldn’t clean the tip before switching off 11:39
@@Hickalum Clean, clean, clean and when you're done cleaning, clean again.
I am almost 80 years old. I’ve been doing exactly as you explained for years. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone explain the proper way to do soldering the correct way. Good job! Keep up the goofy work.
also the zip ties? :))
because nobody should explain such simple and common sense thing!
ok boomer
I'm 85 and if you've been doing it like this then you've been doing it wrong all that time. See my comment above.
You managed to hit on EXACTLY what I missed in the many other tutorials I’ve watched. Very few people go into specifics, UP CLOSE, of how to hold and manage the wire, solder, and soldering iron. I have been melting solder over and around my wires….painting it on. I didn’t even realize flux was in my solder (it is Rosin Core 60/40 lead & tin). You are an excellent instructor and I’m so happy I found your video today. Thank you!
Happy it helped! Thanks for the support!
I started soldering when I was about 10 years old. I'm 85 and still soldering. I've soldered with every type of device including a torch. While working as a Quality Assurance Rep. I was a certified soldering inspector. Having said all that, take my advice and never, ever attempt to solder anything without using flux.
You are right, half the time there is not enough flux inside the core & unless the wire is new it certainly wont be easy without flux. He did not mention anything about getting whatever you are going to solder properly clean either.
His example is two newly stripped wires, which wouldn't need cleaned in nearly every case.
@@frommatorav1
But did he clean his hands to remove excess natural oils etc!?
For long term reliable joints cleanliness is a good thing.
@@frommatorav1 flux does help with the flow of solder between wire strands. Even though most of the soldering I have done is with fresh cut and stripped wires, extra flux made soldering so much quicker and easier.
@sixter4157 No doubt flux is better. I was just saying brand new stripped wire didn't need cleaned.
Nice! 0:14 ...I use my DeWalt bag for my soldering stuff too. Great minds. Great tutorial.
One thing that has helped me is adding a bit of electrical flux to my twists. A lot burns off, but the solder seeps and flows sooo much better. Just have to clean up the joint with some rubbing alcohol afterwards.
Last thought, no matter how many times I've told myself to add the shrink tubing prior to twisting and soldering, I still forget.
Keep up the good work.
Excellent! Thank you!
One of the most helpful soldering instructions I ever received was:
"The solder flows towards the heat."
Yep. When you're uneducated, the intuitive thing is to try to use it as if it were glue.
This is, by far, the best soldering guide on UA-cam-it's not even close. Thank you. You earned a new subscriber.
Excellent video. i have struggled with soldering for years this solved all of my problems. The last thing we want is "premature shrinkage".
keeping your "tip" clean is also very important
You're gonna wanna stay out of lake washington in the coming months. For uh.. solder joint integrity or w/e.
We all experience shrinkage after a good solder job!
THIS IS THE EXACT VIDEO I'VE BEEN NEEDING IN MY LIFE FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS!!!! I swear soldering two wires together seems like it should be as simple as tying your shoes, but I still needed someone to teach me that as well. BUY THIS MAN SOME TIM HORTON'S AND ANOTHER ROUND OF MAPLE'S FINEST!!!
I would add one more pro tip for making wires mesh together easier: straighten up the wire ends into two narrow "brooms", then push those brooms into each other before twisting them together. Also another solution for pointy tips is to use the edge cutters before putting insulation over, always remove the needles pointing out, your future fingers will thank you.
Thumbs up on the Timmy's
Decent video. I learned a lot of the proper soldering techniques from my father who was a Comms/Radio Op in the Korean War and a "HAM"/Amateur Radio operator with a Tech license. I was building/assembling many of my own electronics projects starting at 8 years old, LOL. The DIY HEATHKIT projects were a staple back then.
I then learned even more from a husband & wife team who both work for NASA as soldering techs. Some of the protocols they have to follow and techniques they use are mindboggling.
Also, learn to know WHEN you should SOLDER, and WHEN you should use CRIMP connections.
Cheers
I used to make big globby solders that break. Learning "heat the joint, apply the solder" changed my whole perspective. Also, using the right size solder/tip for the job is so important.
I just wanted to give you props for a fantastic video! Not just twist them but HOW to twist them. And showing what to do when soldered joints aren't picture perfect (like in most videos). The dose of realism, what to do/not do, and demonstrations of poor soldering technique vs correct - what a well made video. Excellent work!
This is by far and away the best soldering tutorial i have ever seen. well done
when I first learned to solder, it was from a lab worksheet in school. this explanation is miles better. the presentation with the cold weather makes an incredible difference in illustrating the key point
When i was young and dumb i sanded down a near new tip to clean it... Solder never stuck to it again so i threw it in the bin box,
Decided to dig it out to try repair it
Didn't have much hope but with repeatedly drowning the tip in flux at high temperature and rubbing it on a block of solder it had a nice silver coating again, works great now!
AMAZING PRESENTATION! Complete and concise in a really short time!
I work in industrial electronics for almost 30 years now and I'm most likely going to have my trainees from the mechanical field watch this video.
Excellent video. The two bits of advice that I got when I was struggling to learn soldering: "Heat the work, not the solder", which was shown nicely here. The other one is that the solder will tend to flow towards the heat source, which is why having the iron on the other side of the wire works so well, the solder will wick its way through the strands towards the iron.
Have been soldering since I was about 8 years old, and professionally for 40 years. The methods you have shown here are absolutely correct.
The only thing that is not is the use of a flame to shrink the heat shrink. This is frowned upon professionally for good reason. The flame has a tendency to char and burn the heat shrink because flames are too higher temperature. This can result in embrittlement of the heat shrink causing it to crack or split. The best temperature range to use is 200 to 250 degrees C dependent on the type of heat shrink used. The use of flames in some working environments is also prohibited due to the presence of flammable or combustible substances, especially when working on or making repairs on cars.
While I prefer a heat gun when shrinking heat shrink tubes I think he showed the problem of charring the heat shrink when using the edge of the flame. He did recommend using the blue part of the flame instead of the yellow tip and showed the difference it makes. While not the optimal way of heat shrinking it gives you an option when you haven't got a heat gun at hand.
Thanks so much for this! I've never been really shown how to solder properly and my tip kept getting stuck, I couldn't make the solder flow, it would bead up etc. I like that you spent the extra time actually showing what can go wrong and what not to do. I'm going to use this as my training for the next solder job!
Good to see someone who uses a proper wire stripper! This whole video is a good start to learning proper technique for soldering a running splice between two stranded wires. Well done!
I was taught to solder a very long time ago in high school. I'm glad that my teacher taught me a lot of good stuff. I do about 2/3 of the steps in this video without really thinking about it. I could afford to use heat shrink instead of electrical tape. The one thing my teacher taught me that isn't in the video is solder follows heat. This is certainly true of lead-based solder. I haven't worked with silver-based solder much.
flux paste was a game changer for me, the solder flows through the wire so much better
Solid tutorial, It helped me greatly. I don't believe I've found a tutorial on this platform (on any topic) that is as clear, concise, and succinct as this one, well done indeed. Thank you
Great tutorial. I've been soldering for a little over a decade now, but I like to revisit tutorials like these as a quick "re-certification" every now and then.
One tip (no pun intended) I'd like to add doesn't apply to soldering technique, but more to preserving the wire's insulating cover. If you are using helping hands/spring claws like what you have in the video, cover the jaws with cut to size heat shrink tubing. This lessens the marring of the insulation and prevents it from being pierced from the jaws.
Thanks for the video!! I’ve been soldering since I was 8 and now into my 40’s and I learned something new today, your video is very informative and will help out many more people in the future!!
I have a hard time heating thick wires with a Milwaukee soldering iron. That was a super nice technique you showed us of using solder to increase the area of contact for heating the wires faster ! Thank you for your video !
Very clear and detailed tutorial. One of the best. Well Done!
Thanks for the good summary. One tip i used. Add heatshrink to all clamps of your helping hand to avoid damaging the insulation while holding.
This was great! I love tutorials which explain what can go wrong! Perfect
Thanks
Great instructional video, especially showing and telling aspects of your technique that I would not have noticed as important factors.
This is one of the best tutorials I have seen. Great explanations with good pacing. The excellent closeup photography is very helpful and I appreciate that you include potential mistakes and how to solve them. As of today, you have taught over half a million people how to safely solder wires-that's a huge accomplishment! Can't wait to explore your channel and see what else you teach.
Excellent tutorial with perfect explanation of the steps.
In older automotive applications, I very rarely have wire as clean and shiny copper as you show. For me, the flux within the solder is woefully inadequate. Using separate solder flux is a game changer, and I am surprised you didn't mention it at all.
Thanks for going into all of this details about soldering, fellow canuck! I find there's a lot of other videos that gloss over small details that are quite important, like how to twist them together. Thank you!
This is now my go-to vid i will be using to teach my preferred soldering method, you manage to explain EXACTLY the way i try to tell people when they want to have a go soldering, i hate pulling apart anything electrical to find a blacksmith did the prior repair....
A mentionable tip for soldering several wires running alongside in a harness situation is to offset the cuts and solder connections by the length of the connection so that if the heatshrink is breached it will be on the parallel wires insulation and not directly next to another join....
Precision and process is whats needed and this video is exactly that, Thankyou....
This was by far the best soldering tutorial I’ve ever seen. Thank you for this!
You should make a video on how to properly solder PCBs. The wire tutorial was the best I've seen on YT tbh...but soldering/ de-soldering on a PCB would be extremely helpful
There are MANY awful! soldering videos on the internet. This is not one of them! Good job, pretty good video.
Dude can solder better than I ever could. One point about electrical tape though: it works and can stick firmly, but you have to pre-stretch it to make it pliable enough and for the adhesive to stick properly. Cut the length of tape, grab it from both ends and slowly stretch it, it'll get finer and much more pliable that way. I don't know why this isn't taught more frequently, but I learned it years ago and it's the correct way to use electrical tape.
A good quality electrical tape is key. The cheap stuff feels like plastic and is hardly pliable.
Just stumbled on this one! I've been soldering wires for 60+ years and I've always used the "wet sponge" method. I saw you use the copper mesh to clean the tip and had a flash of insight. There, by my kitchen sink, is a copper scrubber I've never used! Guess I found a use for it! 🤔
I find the sponge to be a lot more thorough for cleaning compared to copper mesh. Only downside is that I have to run to the sink first to get it wet.
Great video. I had to learn proper soldering technique out of a book, and that just doesn't convey the nuances quite like seeing it in action. But the most helpful thing that book did say was something like "Do not use the iron to melt solder except to tin the tip. The iron is only for heating the joint, apply solder directly to the joint instead."
Completely fixed my perspective on what exactly I was trying to do.
I've seen quite a few tutorials on soldering and this is the best one i have ever seen! Thanks for the in-depth info!
That was by far the best tutorial I've seen for this. Thank you!
I was trained to solder in the Navy. I'm glad to see that I was trained correctly ;)
If I use tape, I opt for the self fusing tape which is stretched when wrapping. It becomes one piece and the layers fuse together. It also replaces heat shrink tubing. I have a ball point pen I wrapped back in 1991 and it is still fused. It comes in 11 ft. rolls on a cardboard tube.There is a plastic separator on one side to keep the tape from becoming one lump.
Excellent video. You remind me of my soldering instructor (long time ago). I like the way you progressed through the presentation covering just about everything.
This is really amazingly detailed and helpful. Thank you for such a concise and informmation-dense video.
Nice video.
Bonus tips:
1) a sturdy setup is absolutely key. If your wires/contacts/pcbs are escaping you while you try to solder them you will have a bad time.
2) look up the NASA approved solder joint. It twists wire 1 around wire two close to wire 2's insulation and vice-versa. You should ideally have a mechanically sound connection before you apply solder.
🔥 *Excellent soldering guide!* Thanks for talking about why a clean tip is best and how-to, giving the X and V wire connection techniques, apply solder by wicking through the wires, and then verification (QA.) Also your parts list and recommendations are gold. You did all this efficiently and in an easy to understand format, in a fair amount of time 11 min.) _Bravo! Please keep up the great work._ 🎮
Your mom cleans my tip.
Fantastic, Concise, and clear! I love it. That was a great use of 12 minutes of my time! I'm going to dive into your history, and see if i can find a similar primer about how to work with PCBs, which is a current project I'm learning on.
Been soldering for over 70 years. My current prefered method is to hold the solder against the joint, press the iron through the solder onto the joint, and then feed more solder from the other side. This ensures that almost all the flux flows into the joint. It also helps prevent overheating sensitive devices if the wires are dirty. This method is usually faster, too.
Great tutorial bro. One thing i did want to comment on though was clipping the zip tie at the end. Cutting the tail like you did can leave a sharp corner that you can cut yourself on. If you grip the tail straight on with a pair of pliers and twist it off instead, it'll leave a nice smooth bump instead of that sharp edge.
Wow that’s one of the best soldering videos I have ever watched. Thank you so much.
Thanks!
Great video. Especially showing the mistakes, and what to look out for
thats one good quality tutorial. easy to digest no unnecesary information streight to the point with different variations that can be better suited for different users. great.
I never thought about the zip ties with electrical tape, thats genius! Great video and was worth watching all the way to the end just for the zip tie tip!
I had hoped for something more advanced, but this is a very well done introductory video.
excellent explanations. I always have trouble soldering but your explanation of the heat transfer and why you tin the iron first and how it increases the surface area contact makes so much sense. I'll be trying these techniques very soon on my next guitar build. Thanks for the video Will!
Proper physical splice (the X twist is my preferred, and I've done it enough that I can do it pretty quickly, even in place in my truck's engine compartment when I've had to), clean tip, liquid flux so that it wicks into the strands before applying solder and helps to more quickly pull the solder in, and my technique is HOT (405º C) and fast so that there's less time for heat to migrate into the insulation of the wire before you're done (almost a non issue regardless, when I use marine grade wire that has silicone insulation; which is my go-to every chance I get). I also prefer lead based solder but can use ROHS compliant solder if I have to (my job requires it).
I often brag that my wire splices and tinning is among the best out there.
Great video, and your methods are very similar to my own.
If your job requires RoHS, I hope that you have a dedicated iron, tip, cleaning pad, and other tools for that to prevent cross-contamination. You can fail inspection otherwise if they use an XRF gun or lead check swabs.
@@KevinT3141 we always do
Only one soldering station is non ROHS at my work and it's kept separate from the others
Totally agree on having a hot iron, I carry a simple 60w iron as it has the level of heat I need. Lower wattage irons are just not worth it for me, but good enough for people that are learning to solder as they can learn the techniques, then speed will come later with experience.
Very professional video with great instruction.
Thank you so much for this video. I followed you step by step and the results are terrific. To think I almost tossed the minion in the recycle bin since his light was out. Bob the minion is so bright now, you could probably see him from the space station 😊
About the best sub-$500 iron I've used is the TS-100/101 with a 24V supply and the K-tip, you can get it for well under $150 and it has a ton of surface area for making good wire joints.
my very FIRST soldering iron was one I made myself in shop class. I took a rectangular cube of copper, using a saw I cut the rectangle into a triangle on one side and drilled a hole in the other, then had a rod piece of metal put into that and the other end I rammed into a wooden handle. TO use, you put the copper tip into a flame such as a stove top till it got hot, then soldered away, you literally had 20-30 secs of heat, I was doing this in my mums kitchen with my dad, and was running between the stove and the table soldering away.... of course this was not an ideal way to solder, nor would it work on delicate electronic components... but I learned a lot from that !
Thank you for recording and posting this valuable educational video.
Never thought my "how to soulder" search would end up being so satisfying haha. There are so many good tutorials - there's a bald Australian guy with a really good vid too 👍
That was the best demonstration of effective soldering I have seen.
the type of tip is also important, i got one from eBay once and was terrible. I thought i was terrible. Went to get one in a Walmart. It turned out to be really good and my technique was night and day.
good video. i do use electrical tape for 90% of my soldering though, and no issues so far. the quality of the tape, the environment it will be in, and how you apply it, each matter.
Exelent begginer staff. All the basic rules collected and demonstrated well. Thanks
Great soldering video! Thanks for the pro tips. Great stuff! ⚡️
My electrical 1 class in college for auto repair told us almost none of this. Didn’t even make sure people knew they were working with lead, pretty sure i got a few good whiffs of the smoke before realizing the danger. I’ll be passing this video on, thank you for such a great video.
The smoke is flux. He says it in the video. Molten lead doesn't release fumes (not smoke) below 900F.
Hi, Will. Very good video! Your technique is flawless and beautifully excecuted..
IMHO, one should never put away one's iron with a totally clean and dry tip. I have been soldering for over 50 years and I have found that I like the results (i.e. life of the soldering tip) much better if I thoroughly clean off the tip and then add just a bit of fresh solder just after turning off the iron. There will still be just enough heat to melt the solder, but it will cool off and solidify the solder leaving a protective coating on the tip. When I use it next, I just wipe away the melted solder from the tip and get on with the work at hand.
I also do not twist the individual wires before soldering. I use the same technique that you do by holding the wires together at one end and twist them together. I feel like I get a better mechanical and electrical connection without tightly twisting the individual wires first.
Great video! A thought out, easy to understand presentation.
2 tips to add from my experience.
1: I normally put the iron under the wire rather than on top, heat rises, as well as better visual without the iron in the way
2: When your done soldering, while the wire is still hot, the wire's insulation will be soft around the joint. If you're quick, you can push the soft insulation closer to the solder joint and it'll cool and harden. This adds a little bit of strain relief, "smooths" the transition between insulation and solder, as well as makes it so your heat shrink doesn't have to be as long. on small wires, I've even gotten both sides to touch in the middle, completely covering the soldering joint (obviously still used heat shrink for a proper seal)
The radiant "rising" heat is not nearly hot enough to effect your solder in any way, that's why you touch the wire for conduction heat. It still is good practice to catch falling solder I think. I don't know, I solder like 0:11
Probably the best video for teaching me how to solder ,, thankyou !
Great tips! It may be wrong, but when heating thick wires or connections I'll hold the iron underneath so that more of the heat is transferred to the joint.
Great video, I learnt a few new things and being self-taught it reinforced things I've apparently been doing correctly. I didn't know about the trick with heat shrink and a lighter (in the blue part of the flame), what a game changer!
I'm just learning to do this , thanks for the vid. A little tip about the shrink wrap, if you use marine grade wrap it has a waterproof glue built into it giving a clean waterproof seal on top of the soldering. Although it doesn't come in any color except black!
Thank you, all of your advice is very good. You mentioned automatic wire strippers at 4:29. They are wonderful and well worth the money. At 5:10, remember that you will usually have to slide on the heat shrink tubing before you twist the wires and apply solder.
1:00 The Hakko FX888 works well, but its controls are completely counterintuitive. Even though it only has two buttons, I can not change its temperature without rereading its instructions. You would not think that a company could make it all that difficult, but somehow they did. I prefer to set the iron at a very high temperature. If the iron is not quite hot enough, you will end up holding the soldering iron onto a heat sensitive component for a excessively long time waiting for the solder to melt. I have come to believe that a hotter iron is actually better for heat sensitive parts.
Great video! One thing to improve your experience is to carry a mini torch lighter for the heat shrink tubing. It burns hotter so make sure you don't hold it in one spot for very long. But it works fast and no soot. Mine is one that has angle adjustment, so you can set it at a 45,90 or any angle you need to get harder to reach areas.
While there is nothing wrong with twisting the wires first and then twisting them together I find the best joint is to actually splice the strands of the wires in to each other and then twist them, heat up the joint and solder. The problem with twisting already twisted wires together is even with tinned solder you are creating a much larger thermal mass that is harder to solder - particularly with larger gauge wire. It's also not as mechanically strong because wires that are twisted together like that have less surface area in contact with each other - so you need a longer joint to create enough twists.
Yep! IIRC fanning the cores, pressing them together, and then twisting them is the NASA approved way of splicing. Minimizes chances of sharp edges and ensures mechanical strength.
@@wydra9-1 can you provide a source for your NASA approved way of splicing? I am looking at nasa-std-87394a right now and not seeing your method mentioned. The standard i mention recommends a simple lap joint first for stranded wires.
@@wydra9-1 NASA splices wires? I think not. Do you have proof? I'd love to see it.
Merci!
Been a while but finely got the Nixi tube clock kit out of my garage and I have to solder the tubes bare to the board. Very tedious task.
Watched this to make sure I still was doing things right after all these years.
I started getting much better at soldering by getting a proper weller station and brass sponge, and changing the tips. I like to use a chisel tip for most things, or a fine pencil tip for small motherboard stuff. Most of the wiring I do is guitar work.
Excellent discussion . . . Bravo . . . I might suggest also discussing the conductivity of different solder metals. Silver is superior as it is closest to copper in conductivity. Lead is not bad but its not as conductive as copper or silver. (note that silver solder is usually a combination of tin and silver).
Thanks for getting into all the details. Great information!
Great video! The new FX-888DX is nice too! They brought back the dial which makes changing temp so much easier :)
Always an outstanding video and presentation.
Definitely a great video, my only input to the video is when you said something about laying the wires on top of each other (which is called a Lap Solder) how they are weak. I disagree, because in MIL spec soldering Class III (IPC-A-610 and J-STD) This is an approved method on splicing wires and is a very strong connection. I personally use this method (only when needed, they don't really like splicing at all) when building wire harnesses for military purpose. Although the method that you are using is very superior. That's all.
Lap splice is also alowed in ipc-a-620, many methods are approved the main thing being to know which one to use depending on the situation!
For automotive use, I always use lead solder. I also use a lash joint, which is the same twisting you use but I wrap the joint in a thin bare copper wire. If done properly, you can hang from a lash joint before it's soldered. I also use adhesive lined heat shrink, Napa sells a fantastic heat shrink I use daily
Thank you for a very clear and well orated film.
First time here, instant subscription. Love the style. Informative and to the point, yet personable enough to be engaging.
I tend to dip the wires in a bit of flux as well to help give a flawless joint by burning away any contaminants
Why not put a drop of flux on the wires? I don't like heating the wires and applying soldier directly because I often melt the sheath on larger wires before the other side gets hot enough to melt solder. I put a drop of flux on the wires and gently use the iron to melt it in. Then I put solder on the tip of the iron and touch it to the wires and it instantly gets sucked up and flows everywhere the flux went. I actually get solder a mm or two up inside the sheathing doing it this way. And you can very accurately control how much solder you're using. But the main thing is it doesn't require holding the iron on the wires to heat them up, so there's a lot less heat transfer up the wires and into connectors. Idk, works for me.
Your method is absolutely correct. You want as little heat transfer as possible so as to not melt the insulators. Keep in mind also that this video only has brand new wires also, whereas in many applications, a wire repair will be performed on wires that may have been exposed to oxygen and are slightly dirty. Using a small brush to clean the copper and dabbing some flux on the twisted joint is quite literally the only way that I've been able to achieve good results in the field. Not sure why he didn't mention that method. Also I tend to place the tip underneath the joint if possible, so that heat rises, I can control the puddle of solder better, and the end result is typically as you described, solder flowing into the insulation slightly, without the added heat.
A drop of flux? I cover that sucker with all the flux it can hold. Never had a problem.
Practically speaking do both. And buy more/less aggressive rosin core fluxes in solder to cover more situations without the need for a separate bottle.
With clean pretinned wire I’m not pulling out a bottle of flux. I’ve even found myself soldering 100’ in the air. If I don’t have enough flux in the solder I over feed solder so the flux pours out onto the wire then flick the excess solder off the tip. It’s just not practical to carry excess flux there.
For a small spaces with poor access at the bench or dirty wires flux makes life easier and I’ll use it.
I never solder anything without adding flux & I do a lot of soldering.
The missing flux & teaching people to use a lighter on heat shrink sleeve are what is terrible about this video.
Oh yeah, & the lead free solder, hate the stuff.
I passed the iso9000 quality certification. The only way is to heat the wire from underneath and apply solder on top so the solder will flow over and into the strands.