Step 9: Ready to Solder
At this point, you should still be reading all the way through before you begin anything, right?
A hot-melt glue gun will come in handy for semi-permanent mounting of the slide potentiometer, wiring, etc. Just tack tiny dots until you decide on permanent design. If you change your mind, cut the glue with a knife, peel with a fingernail. or run the glue gun tip over it to re-melt it.
This page is a quick & dirty instructable teaching you how to solder wire. If you're convinced you're a soldering guru, you might skip it, or read it and maybe learn something valuable.
There are about 12 solder joints formed on 8 components. Take your time, do it right.
You can mount the voltage regulator and resistor components on a piece of perfboard 276-159 from Radio Shack. You might hot melt glue the potentiometer to the board for convenience.
Solder by following the steps (listed once briefly, then again with detail). If your tip doesn't seem to be hot enough, use a pair of pliers (do not use your fingers -- it's about 700 degrees Fahrenheit) to gently tighten the tip (i.e., screw it down). Sometimes they come loose. Twist too hard, and you'll crack or break the plastic handle.
The smoky fumes given off during soldering are not good for you to breathe, so avoid inhaling them. They won't make you dizzy or anything like that, but they're not good for you.
0. You may wish to use a Wire Wrap tool 276-1570 and Wire Wrap wire (red, white, or blue) from Radio Shack to make all the low-current connections (those not marked in Green) and solder them afterward. This includes all resistors and the cheap LED's.
The center and right legs on the regulator need heavier wire, along with both wires to the LED laser. Use 24 or gauge or similar to the wire found in the Power Supply Brick wiring, perhaps from yet another abandoned power supply.
1. Put the alligator clip on the leg of the voltage regulator, close to the joint you'll make, between the joint and the black body of the regulator.
2. Add a tiny amount of solder to the hot tip to tin it.
3. Clean and roll the tip on the wet towel to wipe off the excess solder and burnt rosin and gunk.
4. Wait 15 seconds for the tip to come back up to temperature.
5. Hold hot tip against both the wires and leg simultaneously for 4 to 10 seconds. No longer. Have the solder pressed against the wires, not the tip.
6. When the wires are hot enough, the heated wire melts the solder. You should not use the pencil tip to melt the solder. This causes an infamous 'cold solder joint' that will fail later.
Details:
1. Put the alligator clip on the leg of the voltage regulator, close to the joint you'll make, between the joint and the black body of the regulator.
The tiny Radio Shack alligator clips listed are best. If you've opted for the cheapo-cheapo route, bend a paper clip so it clamps on the leg of the regulator somehow. When you get tired of that, go to Radio Shack and get proper clips. If they're out of the ones I've listed, get any small ones they have (take off any colorful rubber boots). Technically speaking, if your soldering skills are really up to snuff, you probably won't need the clip at all, because you'll finish the joint quickly, before the body of the regulator gets very hot. If you're a newbie, clips are cheaper than parts.
Place the body of the part physically lower than the upcoming solder joint -- heat rises.
2. Add a tiny amount of solder to the hot tip to tin it. You don't need a lot of solder. Just enough to liquify anything on the tip so you can wipe it spotlessly shiny in step 3.
3. Clean and roll the tip on the wet towel to wipe off the excess solder and burnt rosin and gunk.
Use a paper towel or napkin, folded down to about a 2 inch square, then get it wet and squeeze the water out. Any time you like, wipe and twist the tip of the pencil on it to clean off any old solder or burned rosin (liquid rosin inside the hollow solder helps it clean the wires). Don't get cheap about a half-cent's worth of solder; clean the tip off. Throw the dead blobs away when they cool; do NOT try to reuse them. Solder has lead in it, so behave accordingly. Wiping or using the pencil cools it briefly; give it a moment to heat up again. Never touch the non-handle part of the pencil (you can feel the heat rising off of it). It will burn you. Bad. Be careful where you set it when you're not holding it. Make sure pets and people don't drag the cord as they walk by. Don't do it on mom's nice dining room table. Put newspaper down on the floor. And don't talk with your mouth full. And stop tracking dirt across my nice clean floor! . . . Sorry, flashed back to too many projects made on mom's dining room table.
4. Wait 15 seconds for the tip to come back up to temperature. Don't rush it. Holding the tip above the handle will move the heat to the tip better.
5. Hold hot tip on the wires for about 4 to 10 seconds. No longer. You should have the solder pressed gently against both wires the whole time with your other hand. This is where those extra clamps come in handy, or anything to hold your work down (tape, a friend, alligator clips mounted to anything, etc.). As soon as the solder starts melting on the wires, feed in just enough to form a thin layer on the wires (not too much, not a bubble of solder, but a layer is good) and pull away the solder and the pencil. Don't touch it or blow on it, just leave it alone and still for 10 seconds. If the solder joint looks the same color as the solder in your hand, you're all set. If it looks gray, grainy or dull, you've got a bad connection, called a cold solder joint. If you fail to get a good solder joint, move on to something else completely different and come back in a few minutes when this spot has cooled completely and start over. Basically, you're protecting the component from any heat damage by moving around rather than concentrating on a small area.
6. Touch the solder to the wires so the heated wire melts the solder. You should not use the pencil tip to melt the solder.
That's it. Don't solder multiple leads on a single item (like the 3-legged voltage regulator) all in one pass. Do one, give it two minutes to cool, then do another. Since you put on the wrap-around heat sink you got for the voltage regulator, that will help, too. Use the alligator clip, too.
Your tip is ready when it's recently tinned, free of excess solder and gunk, and fully heated (5 minutes is fine). Don't forget to unplug it when you're done; it will remain hot for 5 minutes afterward.
If you find you simply MUST cut some plastic with the hot solder pencil for a project, don't use the very tip; save that for soldering only. Melt plastic just above the tinned part of the tip. If it doesn't seem to be heating up, tighten the tip gently into the pencil with a pair of pliers.
Heat rises. So, position the black body of the voltage regulator (or anything else valuable) below your solder joint when you apply heat. Solder one lead, wait two minutes; move the clip and do the next lead. Repeat. Ideally, you'll have a tiny alligator clip clamped on the wire lead, between your prospective solder joint and the black body of the voltage regulator. The clip will get hot instead of the regulator. Since you'll be excited, you'll forget that the clip is hot and grab it. Go get the aloe plant.
Soldering uses the heat of the pencil to raise the temperature of the wires so they are hot enough to melt solder, but ideally not so hot that the component gets fried. Then, you touch the end of the solder against the wires and it melts and flows all around everything like an animation you once saw in a bad sci-fi movie. You do NOT use the pencil to melt the solder. If you just heat the solder with the pencil tip and sort of mash it on to the wires, (reminiscent of trying to stuff clay in your brother's ear), it won't work.
If you get a wire too hot, anything that's attached to it (insulation, printed circuit board traces, voltage regulators, friend's fingers) will get crisped. You can apply too little heat (1 to 3 seconds), just enough heat (around 4 to 8 seconds), and too much heat (over 10 seconds). So you've got about 5 seconds to do your work (between the 4- and 8-second marks). If you screw something up, just move away from that spot for a minute to let everything cool, then try again. No harm, no foul. Take it easy. If two things get stuck together that shouldn't be or you've got too much solder on something, hold the work up above the pencil tip (again, just for a few seconds) and gravity will draw the solder down out of the wires and back into the pencil, then clean off the tip on the wet paper towel. Tin the tip with fresh solder and clean it again. Watch for dripping solder that is trying to land on you. It's still hot.
Practice on lots of spare wire and leftovers from that old radio you've been dying to take apart until you feel confident. Clips of any kind hold things down while you hold the pencil in one hand and the solder in the other. Wrap wire around the regulator leads to start out with a good physical connection. If you're having trouble, 'tin' anything you're working with first by putting a little solder on it before connecting it to something else (but this makes wire too stiff to bend - just use a tiny amount of solder to tin wire, or just tin the very end tip of the wire). Any time you find something that just won't accept solder or 'tin' easily, it's probably dirty or oily. Wipe, clean, file, sand, or steel wool to a fresh surface, then wipe with a damp paper towel.
So, the drill is this:
Put a clip on the lead right next to the regulator and put the black body of it physically lower than the upcoming solder joint.
Ideally, find something to hold everything in place so you don't have to (see instructables). Wipe the hot pencil on a folded, dampened paper towel to clean it off.
Touch a tiny bit of solder to the tip to tin it and wipe it back off again. It's OK to have just the tiniest amount of solder on the tip to help conduct heat to the wires (like butter in a frying pan) but add just a little more if you like.
Tin the wire if you like.
Wrap the resistor wire (or the wire connected to the tied-together ends of the potentiometer) around the regulator lead (needle-nose pliers were just made for this).
Apply heat about 4-8 seconds to both the wire and the lead.
Touch solder to the wire and to the leg of the regulator at the same time, but not to the pencil.
Solder flows all around both wires.
Remove solder and pencil.
Let solder joint cool by itself for one minute.
Move the clip to the next wire. Get aloe plant because you grabbed the clip too soon.
Repeat with next connection.
If you look closely at the back of your laser, you'll see one or two tiny rectangular components. One of them is a protection device that shorts out (eliminates) static electricity jolts that you might accidentally give off while handling the laser PC board. The laser needs around 3 or 4 volts of electricity, not the 10,000 to 20,000 volts that a static shock contains.
A hot-melt glue gun will come in handy for semi-permanent mounting of the slide potentiometer, wiring, etc. Just tack tiny dots until you decide on permanent design. If you change your mind, cut the glue with a knife, peel with a fingernail. or run the glue gun tip over it to re-melt it.
This page is a quick & dirty instructable teaching you how to solder wire. If you're convinced you're a soldering guru, you might skip it, or read it and maybe learn something valuable.
There are about 12 solder joints formed on 8 components. Take your time, do it right.
You can mount the voltage regulator and resistor components on a piece of perfboard 276-159 from Radio Shack. You might hot melt glue the potentiometer to the board for convenience.
Solder by following the steps (listed once briefly, then again with detail). If your tip doesn't seem to be hot enough, use a pair of pliers (do not use your fingers -- it's about 700 degrees Fahrenheit) to gently tighten the tip (i.e., screw it down). Sometimes they come loose. Twist too hard, and you'll crack or break the plastic handle.
The smoky fumes given off during soldering are not good for you to breathe, so avoid inhaling them. They won't make you dizzy or anything like that, but they're not good for you.
0. You may wish to use a Wire Wrap tool 276-1570 and Wire Wrap wire (red, white, or blue) from Radio Shack to make all the low-current connections (those not marked in Green) and solder them afterward. This includes all resistors and the cheap LED's.
The center and right legs on the regulator need heavier wire, along with both wires to the LED laser. Use 24 or gauge or similar to the wire found in the Power Supply Brick wiring, perhaps from yet another abandoned power supply.
1. Put the alligator clip on the leg of the voltage regulator, close to the joint you'll make, between the joint and the black body of the regulator.
2. Add a tiny amount of solder to the hot tip to tin it.
3. Clean and roll the tip on the wet towel to wipe off the excess solder and burnt rosin and gunk.
4. Wait 15 seconds for the tip to come back up to temperature.
5. Hold hot tip against both the wires and leg simultaneously for 4 to 10 seconds. No longer. Have the solder pressed against the wires, not the tip.
6. When the wires are hot enough, the heated wire melts the solder. You should not use the pencil tip to melt the solder. This causes an infamous 'cold solder joint' that will fail later.
Details:
1. Put the alligator clip on the leg of the voltage regulator, close to the joint you'll make, between the joint and the black body of the regulator.
The tiny Radio Shack alligator clips listed are best. If you've opted for the cheapo-cheapo route, bend a paper clip so it clamps on the leg of the regulator somehow. When you get tired of that, go to Radio Shack and get proper clips. If they're out of the ones I've listed, get any small ones they have (take off any colorful rubber boots). Technically speaking, if your soldering skills are really up to snuff, you probably won't need the clip at all, because you'll finish the joint quickly, before the body of the regulator gets very hot. If you're a newbie, clips are cheaper than parts.
Place the body of the part physically lower than the upcoming solder joint -- heat rises.
2. Add a tiny amount of solder to the hot tip to tin it. You don't need a lot of solder. Just enough to liquify anything on the tip so you can wipe it spotlessly shiny in step 3.
3. Clean and roll the tip on the wet towel to wipe off the excess solder and burnt rosin and gunk.
Use a paper towel or napkin, folded down to about a 2 inch square, then get it wet and squeeze the water out. Any time you like, wipe and twist the tip of the pencil on it to clean off any old solder or burned rosin (liquid rosin inside the hollow solder helps it clean the wires). Don't get cheap about a half-cent's worth of solder; clean the tip off. Throw the dead blobs away when they cool; do NOT try to reuse them. Solder has lead in it, so behave accordingly. Wiping or using the pencil cools it briefly; give it a moment to heat up again. Never touch the non-handle part of the pencil (you can feel the heat rising off of it). It will burn you. Bad. Be careful where you set it when you're not holding it. Make sure pets and people don't drag the cord as they walk by. Don't do it on mom's nice dining room table. Put newspaper down on the floor. And don't talk with your mouth full. And stop tracking dirt across my nice clean floor! . . . Sorry, flashed back to too many projects made on mom's dining room table.
4. Wait 15 seconds for the tip to come back up to temperature. Don't rush it. Holding the tip above the handle will move the heat to the tip better.
5. Hold hot tip on the wires for about 4 to 10 seconds. No longer. You should have the solder pressed gently against both wires the whole time with your other hand. This is where those extra clamps come in handy, or anything to hold your work down (tape, a friend, alligator clips mounted to anything, etc.). As soon as the solder starts melting on the wires, feed in just enough to form a thin layer on the wires (not too much, not a bubble of solder, but a layer is good) and pull away the solder and the pencil. Don't touch it or blow on it, just leave it alone and still for 10 seconds. If the solder joint looks the same color as the solder in your hand, you're all set. If it looks gray, grainy or dull, you've got a bad connection, called a cold solder joint. If you fail to get a good solder joint, move on to something else completely different and come back in a few minutes when this spot has cooled completely and start over. Basically, you're protecting the component from any heat damage by moving around rather than concentrating on a small area.
6. Touch the solder to the wires so the heated wire melts the solder. You should not use the pencil tip to melt the solder.
That's it. Don't solder multiple leads on a single item (like the 3-legged voltage regulator) all in one pass. Do one, give it two minutes to cool, then do another. Since you put on the wrap-around heat sink you got for the voltage regulator, that will help, too. Use the alligator clip, too.
Your tip is ready when it's recently tinned, free of excess solder and gunk, and fully heated (5 minutes is fine). Don't forget to unplug it when you're done; it will remain hot for 5 minutes afterward.
If you find you simply MUST cut some plastic with the hot solder pencil for a project, don't use the very tip; save that for soldering only. Melt plastic just above the tinned part of the tip. If it doesn't seem to be heating up, tighten the tip gently into the pencil with a pair of pliers.
Heat rises. So, position the black body of the voltage regulator (or anything else valuable) below your solder joint when you apply heat. Solder one lead, wait two minutes; move the clip and do the next lead. Repeat. Ideally, you'll have a tiny alligator clip clamped on the wire lead, between your prospective solder joint and the black body of the voltage regulator. The clip will get hot instead of the regulator. Since you'll be excited, you'll forget that the clip is hot and grab it. Go get the aloe plant.
Soldering uses the heat of the pencil to raise the temperature of the wires so they are hot enough to melt solder, but ideally not so hot that the component gets fried. Then, you touch the end of the solder against the wires and it melts and flows all around everything like an animation you once saw in a bad sci-fi movie. You do NOT use the pencil to melt the solder. If you just heat the solder with the pencil tip and sort of mash it on to the wires, (reminiscent of trying to stuff clay in your brother's ear), it won't work.
If you get a wire too hot, anything that's attached to it (insulation, printed circuit board traces, voltage regulators, friend's fingers) will get crisped. You can apply too little heat (1 to 3 seconds), just enough heat (around 4 to 8 seconds), and too much heat (over 10 seconds). So you've got about 5 seconds to do your work (between the 4- and 8-second marks). If you screw something up, just move away from that spot for a minute to let everything cool, then try again. No harm, no foul. Take it easy. If two things get stuck together that shouldn't be or you've got too much solder on something, hold the work up above the pencil tip (again, just for a few seconds) and gravity will draw the solder down out of the wires and back into the pencil, then clean off the tip on the wet paper towel. Tin the tip with fresh solder and clean it again. Watch for dripping solder that is trying to land on you. It's still hot.
Practice on lots of spare wire and leftovers from that old radio you've been dying to take apart until you feel confident. Clips of any kind hold things down while you hold the pencil in one hand and the solder in the other. Wrap wire around the regulator leads to start out with a good physical connection. If you're having trouble, 'tin' anything you're working with first by putting a little solder on it before connecting it to something else (but this makes wire too stiff to bend - just use a tiny amount of solder to tin wire, or just tin the very end tip of the wire). Any time you find something that just won't accept solder or 'tin' easily, it's probably dirty or oily. Wipe, clean, file, sand, or steel wool to a fresh surface, then wipe with a damp paper towel.
So, the drill is this:
Put a clip on the lead right next to the regulator and put the black body of it physically lower than the upcoming solder joint.
Ideally, find something to hold everything in place so you don't have to (see instructables). Wipe the hot pencil on a folded, dampened paper towel to clean it off.
Touch a tiny bit of solder to the tip to tin it and wipe it back off again. It's OK to have just the tiniest amount of solder on the tip to help conduct heat to the wires (like butter in a frying pan) but add just a little more if you like.
Tin the wire if you like.
Wrap the resistor wire (or the wire connected to the tied-together ends of the potentiometer) around the regulator lead (needle-nose pliers were just made for this).
Apply heat about 4-8 seconds to both the wire and the lead.
Touch solder to the wire and to the leg of the regulator at the same time, but not to the pencil.
Solder flows all around both wires.
Remove solder and pencil.
Let solder joint cool by itself for one minute.
Move the clip to the next wire. Get aloe plant because you grabbed the clip too soon.
Repeat with next connection.
If you look closely at the back of your laser, you'll see one or two tiny rectangular components. One of them is a protection device that shorts out (eliminates) static electricity jolts that you might accidentally give off while handling the laser PC board. The laser needs around 3 or 4 volts of electricity, not the 10,000 to 20,000 volts that a static shock contains.
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