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Step 2Additional tools
Apart from a soldering iron there are a couple of other things which I consider essential to good soldering. The obvious one being the solder you use, I prefer 60/40 resin cored, there are other recipes but this is probably the most common, it's 60% tin, 40% lead with flux built into the centre. You can get it in different diameters and use what you prefer. Personally I like the thin stuff 0.56mm for most work. I keep a roll of thicker solder for large jobs, but you can use thinner for everything if you just want to buy the one size. Oh yeah, don't ever use 'plumber's' solder or anything like that, get the proper elecrical solder.
I know lead is bad for you and it's going to be banned in some countries, my advice: stock up on 60/40 solder while you still can. If you want to use 'lead free' solder you might want to get advice from someone who uses it, most of the information here will still apply, you will need more heat though. Of course be safe with it, wash your hands after woking, and don't breath in the fumes, this goes for all types of solder.
A couple of other things you should be aware of if you are thinking about going lead-free. There has been some suggestion that lead-free soldering might be more toxic than leaded soldering, especially at home where you don't always have industrial extraction proceedures. The problem is the higher temp. required results in more fumes from the flux and this is the biggest concern with soldering, not ingesting the lead (unless you are particularly hungry I suppose). Did you think they were phasing out leaded solder to protect hobbyists? it's mostly environmental concerns due to contamination from the lead by industry and when the products end up in land fill. Also if you have to rework lead-free joints you might have problems with tracks lifting on the PCB due to the extra heat required. Lead-free solder gives you dull looking joints, with leaded solder this is normally a sign of a weak joint, so just be aware of this. Do your research and make an informed choice, then do whatever you are comfortable with.
The other things you will need is one of those steel scouring pads or the same thing in brass (sold as solder tip cleaners in the shops), forget the wet sponge, it cools the tip too much and doesn't clean it as nicely. The type of scouring pad you need is those ones that look like they are made out of metal shavings (swarf), not steel wool. I will go into tip cleaning in more detail later as it is very important, never file or use rough sand paper to clean your tip.
You should have a decent holder for your iron, and a tin of tip refresher is well worth the money, not essential, but very very handy. It contains flux and solder type material and cleans and 'tins' your tip in one quick dip of a hot tip. I will go into 'tinning' the tip in more detail later also, it kind of goes together with tip cleaning.
Another tool I can't do without is a solder sucker. I find it's the best way to desolder, I have never like the braid wick method, but I know some people like to use both. I really think a begginer should get at least some kind of solder sucker straight away, It will leave you a nice clean hole and component when you need to re-work something.
Of course other things will help with soldering, such as a well lit work area and things to hold your work in place. Locking tweezers are helpful here and a piece of scrap timber is very handy. I have some holes drilled in a piece that I can press the shaft of potentiometers into to hold them while soldering on wires. Some larger holes hold switches etc. and a thin deep groove made with a saw blade is good for slotting PCBs into when I want to solder hookup wires into the board and such like.
To sum up: Use thin electrical solder, a holder for your iron and a tip cleaning pad (scour)
I know lead is bad for you and it's going to be banned in some countries, my advice: stock up on 60/40 solder while you still can. If you want to use 'lead free' solder you might want to get advice from someone who uses it, most of the information here will still apply, you will need more heat though. Of course be safe with it, wash your hands after woking, and don't breath in the fumes, this goes for all types of solder.
A couple of other things you should be aware of if you are thinking about going lead-free. There has been some suggestion that lead-free soldering might be more toxic than leaded soldering, especially at home where you don't always have industrial extraction proceedures. The problem is the higher temp. required results in more fumes from the flux and this is the biggest concern with soldering, not ingesting the lead (unless you are particularly hungry I suppose). Did you think they were phasing out leaded solder to protect hobbyists? it's mostly environmental concerns due to contamination from the lead by industry and when the products end up in land fill. Also if you have to rework lead-free joints you might have problems with tracks lifting on the PCB due to the extra heat required. Lead-free solder gives you dull looking joints, with leaded solder this is normally a sign of a weak joint, so just be aware of this. Do your research and make an informed choice, then do whatever you are comfortable with.
The other things you will need is one of those steel scouring pads or the same thing in brass (sold as solder tip cleaners in the shops), forget the wet sponge, it cools the tip too much and doesn't clean it as nicely. The type of scouring pad you need is those ones that look like they are made out of metal shavings (swarf), not steel wool. I will go into tip cleaning in more detail later as it is very important, never file or use rough sand paper to clean your tip.
You should have a decent holder for your iron, and a tin of tip refresher is well worth the money, not essential, but very very handy. It contains flux and solder type material and cleans and 'tins' your tip in one quick dip of a hot tip. I will go into 'tinning' the tip in more detail later also, it kind of goes together with tip cleaning.
Another tool I can't do without is a solder sucker. I find it's the best way to desolder, I have never like the braid wick method, but I know some people like to use both. I really think a begginer should get at least some kind of solder sucker straight away, It will leave you a nice clean hole and component when you need to re-work something.
Of course other things will help with soldering, such as a well lit work area and things to hold your work in place. Locking tweezers are helpful here and a piece of scrap timber is very handy. I have some holes drilled in a piece that I can press the shaft of potentiometers into to hold them while soldering on wires. Some larger holes hold switches etc. and a thin deep groove made with a saw blade is good for slotting PCBs into when I want to solder hookup wires into the board and such like.
To sum up: Use thin electrical solder, a holder for your iron and a tip cleaning pad (scour)
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The copper is held to the bpard by a glue. The glue loses ~80% of its strength while it's at soldering temperature. To avoid lifting pads, never push on the board with your iron. Giving the board mechanical stress _while it's how_ is almost guaranted to lift a pad.
When the board cools down, the glue should retun to its usual strength.