Quote:
Originally Posted by mycotopian
I can't get the solder to stick to the pins. Any tips?
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For a start, I built a page years ago while building my plane and some of it will apply. Go to
New Page 3 and read the part on soldering the sub-miniature pins.
Those pins you're trying to solder are tiny and great care is needed. A small pencil soldering iron from Radio Shack is necessary and a small diameter
fluxed solder for radio/electronics use. A small spring clamp sometimes will help in holding things steady.
When ready, make sure your pieces to be connected are shiny clean, then carefully tin both pieces you want to join. I've found that holding 2 odd pieces of different sizes together and trying to make solder stick to both of them simultaneously is very difficult, so if you tin (coat with solder) each piece first, ¾ of your problems are solved before you start.
To tin the pieces, hold the tip of the solder against the piece to be tinned, then touch the soldering iron to the spot where they meet. The hot solder melting will help heat the metal to the point where the solder can stick. Don't put too much on or you'll have problems - just a film of metal is all you need.
When ready, hold the 2 pieces to be joined in position and touch the soldering pencil to the junction. In just a second or two, you'll see the solder flow together. Hard to describe, but you'll see it happen. Take the heat off it instantly and hold it
very steady until you see the joint go from shiny to dull. The dull tells you that it's cooled and joined. If you move it at all during this, start over because you'll almost certainly have a "cold soldered" joint and it WILL fail - no matter how good it looks. If you're not sure - do it over. I have extensive experience in this and I've learned it all the hard way.
With the clock, I don't remember exactly how it was laid out - mine didn't need soldering - it just wasn't plugged in. Go figure. Good Luck and if that doesn't help, email me at: biglar (at) gogittum.com.
Lar.