Soldering Basics
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- Many people don't know where to start when modding an electronic blaster, and part of that is because they don't know the best practices and tips to make soldering easier.
This crystal clear tutorial video goes over the soldering basics any foam-flinger needs to get started modding their own blasters. We will update this description below with any frequently asked corrections or corrections to make this video as helpful as we can.
As always, if you are using a LiPo, please take the time to read our LiPo Safety page:
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Need tools and supplies? We carry a small variety of soldering gear on the shop to help you get started!
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0:00 Opening
0:35 Introduction to Soldering
1:23 What to Watch Out For
2:10 A Not-So-Brief Safety Brief
4:50 Recommended Tools & Supplies
8:30 Prepping Your Soldering Iron
10:17 Practicing Soldering Wires Together
11:16 Properly Splicing Wires Together
14:11 Other Soldering Tips & Examples
15:40 Time To Practice
15:58 Closing Remarks
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Edited by J Perry Heun, Out of Darts Video Editor - Розваги
Crimped terminals might be better for blade contact connections like those switches. Proper crimped connections can be better than soldered joints for a couple of reasons: they don't wick up inside the insulation forming a stress point, and the components can be more easily replaced. But a soldered connection will tend to be very reliable, especially if the wire never moves.
The main purpose of flux is to remove oxides that will inevitably form when metal is heated to hundreds of degrees. This lets the solder alloy flow onto the metal surfaces to be connected. This is why it can be a good idea to put a dab of flux on solder before tinning a soldering iron tip that's become a little oxidized, this helps break up the oxidation and allows the solder to better flow onto the tip. There are almost as many kinds of flux as there are solder alloys, ranging from stuff that is designed for very clean surfaces to stuff that will eat away copper traces in a matter of hours if it's not cleaned off. Most of the time "no clean" or "RMA" flux will do the job without destroying your board. Always, ALWAYS have some flux on hand, gel, paste, or liquid, whichever works best for you (I use gel syringes). If you're connecting a wire to a board and you don't have 3 hands, you can foolproof the connection by tinning both wire and pad, dab on a little flux on both wire and pad, tin your tip, then hold the wire to the pad and flow with the iron. Many beginner's guides will advise against using solder this way, because without flux this trick simply will not work. Plumbers solder pipes by pre-applying flux, and while you never want to use acid flux for plumbing for electronics, the principle is exactly the same.
Also too much flux can mess with you, so have some isopropyl alcohol on hand too to clean it off. You don't have to buy 99%, you can find 91% at a reasonable price.
If I see solder sliding off an iron tip, I will add flux to the solder before tinning, but honestly I haven't had to do that since learning about "leaving your iron tip covered in a solder ball" from SparkFun. Tip tinner is a lot more aggressive than flux/solder, and you really should only use it if you mess up and let a tip get black with oxidation.
I've never found "helping hands" very helpful. They're usually really light, so they'll move as I'm working, resulting in disturbed joints. I prefer a vise like a Panavise Jr. or Hakko's Omnivise.
It is a lot easier to make bad connections with lead free solder, and doubly so for solders that aren't from reputable manufacturers like Kester. In fact you will expose yourself to greater risk from the _flux fumes_ than any lead exposure from leaded solder, because all lead free solders have higher melting points (higher melting point, higher iron temperature, more vaporized flux). Lung issues from flux vapor is more prevalent than lead exposure in technicians and engineers who solder regularly.
That said, I've started with lead-free solders because I was working in a makerspace geared towards children, so I had a solid argument against using leaded solder: I didn't want to expose children to lead, even if it isn't lead ions which are way more dangerous than the metal. So I struggled until I learned what a good connection looked like, how to keep the tip clean despite the higher temperature (this is where I learned to clean with flux). These days I use leaded because it's more reliable, I use gloves or wash my hands afterward, and the joints are easier to inspect.
I use either a TS80P or a Pinecil. I highly recommend the Pinecil. It's inexpensive, you can find tips for a reasonable price on Amazon (TS100 tips), the tips themselves contain the temperature sensor and the heating element so they heat up quickly and accurately, the open-source firmware (IronOS) has a ton of nice features, and it can run off of a USB-PD battery. The TS100 is popular among the quadcopter community because you can hack together an adapter to run it off of a LiPo battery pack; the Pinecil is, in my opinion, is the successor even though Miniware didn't make it.
I've used the adjustable temperature base red Weller iron. It was... not great, and it almost convinced me that I just suck at soldering (I still do, but the Weller tips just oxidized at the drop of a hat). The butane-powered iron I got from Radio Shack a looong time ago performed way better than the Weller.
Solder braid/wick can be iffy, especially if the flux is degraded or got burned off by the iron. Always apply a little flux before wicking.
"Heating the joint, not the solder" is misleading, and it's the main reason why my dwell time was way too long. The main reason why people say this is to discourage people from making cold joints by using the soldering iron as a paintbrush. But you need some solder on the iron's surface because otherwise the thermal contact will be terrible. PACE has a great video demonstrating the technique step by step: Touch the iron to the joint, touch the solder to the iron right at the joint, sweep the solder around to ensure proper flow, remove solder, remove iron. Ideally this should only take a couple of seconds, so it's important to practice with some cheap perf boards and wires.
You are the MVP!
Thanks for all the great notes and feedback! I've never bothered with crimped connectors, as we ultimately have to solder the motors anyway, which would leave us with extra tools required to finish the job. All our switches are actually intended for crimped connectors too!
@@outofdarts I would love to use crimp connectors for motor terminals and MOSFET connections, but the space requirements in the vast majority of shells (including very spacious ones) preclude that especially for motors.
Spade terminals work nicely for switches as well actually
Grea
When getting ready to attach a wire that you intend to use heat shrink on, put the heat shrink on BEFORE doing any soldering. This way, if the wire becomes a closed circuit you will have the heat shrink in place to cover the connection.
The best practice for then when you are new is to talk, out loud, through the steps you are about to take. Talking out loud like this helps you to realize if you forgot a step and to get into a rhythm of things to check for before putting heat to wire.
i just learned how to solder just a month ago and those handy hands are the best purchase i have ever made. Don't get discouraged my first ones were terrible. I was so glad once i got my first blaster to run. Thank you!
I highly recommend getting a good iron like a KSGER T12 station or a similar style of station with a digital display, adjustable temperature and most importantly the heat element in the tip rather than the handle. I also use leaded solder when working on PCBs or temperature sensitive components because it melts at a lower temperature and so you're less likely to delaminate a PCB or damage heat sensitive components.
This video is very good because I recently just got into Nerf flywheel nodding so thank you
Any questions? We will compile all our frequently asked questions and update our video descriptions with the answers!
Any soldering tips you'd like to add? Leave us a comment below, and we will pin the best one!
I was searching for this because i want to make my own blasters and 3d print them just like you do and this is a start
This really would have helped me 10 years ago when i was a dumb teenager trying to turn my Nerf Vulcan into a beast, which worked lol. I used alligator clips to connect two 9.6V rechargeable rc car batteries together and stuffed them into the battery well of the blaster with some cardboard for insulation. It was a minor fire hazard so we used 50 round belts to prevent it from overheating since it would begin to smoke lightly after about 75 rounds and the exposed metal connections were very hot.
Thanks for this video, hope to see more tutorials like this in the future!
Hey, Just a little tip, You can also make your own nerf motor soldering spacers...
Because I live far away from America, And nobody sells those spacers at my place :(
So I decided to make those myself :)
The things you'll need for this project :
- Popsicle stick that's been cutted in half HORIZONTALLY.
- A cutter.
How to make :
- Cut the 1/2 popsicle stick in half VERTICALLY, about 5-8mm is enough for nerf applications (DO NOT CUT THE 1/2 POPSICLE STICK VERTICALLY ALL THE WAY TO THE END, ONLY 5-8MM) depending on your motor's soldering terminals/tabs.
- You're good to go, read the instructions on how to use it down below !
How to use :
Simply slide the motor soldering terminals/tabs into the 5mm cut on the popsicle stick that you just made. Arrange the popsicle stick as low as possible on to the motor soldering tabs. Solder the wires to the tabs normally. Now, the popsicle stick will prevent the solder/tin touching the motor and cause a short circuit. You can just pull out the popsicle stick out after soldering and use it again for other motor soldering jobs. You'll find it a little difficult to pull out the popsicle stick from the motor's soldering tabs, that's because the flux from the solder/tin dries, it makes a sticky residue, but if you pull the popsicle stick hard enough, you can eventually pull it out easily.
If you still don't understand what I'm saying till this point, you can just watch my video down here :
ua-cam.com/video/EtFGWE4szp4/v-deo.html
Thank goodness this video is out! I never bothered to research how to properly extend your tip lifespan. Now I know that I best run a tinned tip across a sponge and my brass sponge to avoid quick oxidation~
Yes thank you I have been needing a good soldering guide for a noob like me
The IT crowd insert totally did it for me. Not really needing any soldering advice at this point in my life, but the video pushed all the right buttons. (Push. the. button. Jen!) Thanks for this!
so glad you made this, ive always felt like id mess something up
Can't agree more with Luke's helping hands recommendation. I started soldering in college and was too cheap to buy anything other than a basic iron and solder. 90% of the difficulty was trying to hold things in place while not burning myself.
A solder joint (for most electronic purposes) should not be a structural connection. Use shrink-wrap or electrical tape to protect joints and prevent them from breaking apart. Also, add strain relief if a wire has the potential to be pulled on.
I'm new to nerf and this the type of video I've been looking for. I'm intimidated by soldering and this definitely helps.
Nice, it’s all about the practice.
There are plenty of soldering tutorials out there and a lot are really helpful. I'm new to soldering this year and am practising when i can. Im adding your tutorials to my list and will look at more of your tutorials. Thank you very much, very helpful
This was wonderful, thank you!
Wow thanks! This is really useful!
I pulled a few motors and other components out of some cheap thrift store items to practice. I can say from experience it's pretty easy right off the bat. Practice, less is more, be safe and have fun learning something new. Thanks for another great tutorial.
Have been wanting to get into this very informative
Love your videos keep it up!
Thank you very much!
One thing I do that helps make sure of good joints is I use the holes available on contact points any where that I can…switches, motor posts, etc….that of course is reliant on wire gauge that will fit. I use 18 gauge so it works most of the time.
Fire exclamation mark
You can also use light sandpaper scuffing on a oxidized tip while cold to clean it before retinning
I like to have my solder roll sat on the desk in front of me with a strand of solder pointing directly at me, I can then hold the part in my left hand and the iron in my right.
What wire stripper are you using? That thing looks like it works amazing.
It's an "automatic" or "self-adjusting" wire stripper. You can get them for as little as $10, and they work brilliantly.
Howdy! I have a blue Jupiter and it shoots when rev trigger is pressed. Will it affect proton pack?
Shoot us an email to orders@outofdarts.com! it will be easier to assist you through there.
if the solder is falling of like a ball is it bicause a wrong iron or bad solder
Beading solder like that is usually a sign your iron is too cold. Some more basic soldering irons take longer to get up to temp; make sure it gets hot enough before soldering the next joint.
Is it called soddering because it a sod to solder?
What if my local store only has irons up to 560°C
560℃ is 1040℉, which is well above what you will need when soldering.
If your soldering alot Weller is garbage look into hakko or if your bailing jbc
I use a hakko fm-203 and everything else Just doesn't compare
Keep in mind soldering irons the good ones are known for their ability to get up to temp fast,and keep said heat when in use. They should also have auto sleep. Meaning when you put it back on the holder it will turn itself off
We've had good experiences with our Weller irons, but we also have a Hakko model in one of our build cells in the warehouse. They're all good machines.
What happens if you use a cheap soldering iron? The one I have was about 3-4$
A cheap iron will work in the most basic sense. However, you might find that it takes longer to melt solder into your joint, which could lead to other problems (a cold solder, melting switches, etc.).
@@outofdarts oh thanks for the info!
2nd comment! Thx a lot
Can I use my hair dryer
number 101
Trigger warning for those from the UK: the 'L' in 'solder' will never be pronounced in this video. ;)
Not "sauder", *solder*
I didn't know Brits pronounced the "L" until I looked it up just now, lol. "Two countries separated by a common language" indeed.
Yup it's not a silent L never has been never will be, pronunciation is super important, you can have aloominum but please soldering isn't pronounced soddering
Brits don't pronounce the letter T in most words, but go on about how our silent L is wrong.
Dear America, it's pronounced Soldering notice the L in the middle, it's not soddering?
Tell me: Do you still pronounce the first R in February?
It's our language just asking that you use it properly