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How To Solder

Everyone can learn how to solder, and it is a crucial skill to know if you are building electronic circuits. And basic soldering is easy. All you need is a soldering iron and some solder. When my dad taught me as a teenager, I remember picking it up quite fast.

This tutorial teaches you how to solder.

Preparation


Prepare your workspace. Find your soldering iron and your solder wire and start heating the iron. You can read about soldering tools and how to choose a soldering iron here.

Clean the tip

When the iron hot, start with cleaning the tip to remove old solder from it. You can use a wet sponge, a copper scouring pad or something similar.

Tinning the tip

Before you start soldering, you should tin the tip of the soldering iron. This makes the tip transfer heat faster and thereby making the soldering easier and faster. If you get any droplets of tin on your tip, use a sponge, a copper scouring pad or just shake it off.

Sodler smoke
TIPS: If you tin the tip before you put down the soldering iron for the day, it is said that the tip should last longer.

How to solder two wires

Start with tinning the two wires. It is useful to have something to hold one wire for you. Place the tip of the iron on the wire and let it heat for a second or three. Then add some solder until the wire is soaked with solder. If it is a thick wire, you should turn up the heat on your iron (if possible) to make the wire heat up faster. Repeat the tinning process on the other wire.

How to tin a wire A tinned wire

Now place the two tinned wires together and hold still while heating them with the soldering iron so that the tin on both of the wires melt together.

Two tinned wires How to solder to wires

Soldering on a PCB

How to solder through-hole components on a PCB starts by placing the part in its hole. Bend the leads of the part so that it stays in its place.

Put the tip of the iron on the pad so that it heats both the lead of the part and the pad of the circuit board. Heat them for a second or so before you apply solder. Remove the iron and the solder wire and inspect your solder joint to see if it looks okay.

Note: If you are soldering IC’s, it is smart to use an IC socket. Some ICs will break if the heat from the soldering iron is too hot.

How to solder on a circuit board

A good solder joint has kind of a cone shape.


Soldering-PCB-good

If you are happy with your soldering, cut off the component lead from above the solder joint.

Edit: One of my readers commented on this and explained that you should always cut the leads before you solder for best result. I have to admit that I don’t usually do that, but it’s worth mentioning :)

Watch out for “cold solder joints”

Always make sure that you apply enough heat, otherwise you might end up with a “cold solder joint”. Such a solder joint might look okay without actually providing the connection you want. This can lead to some serious frustration when your circuit doesn’t work and you are trying to figure out why ;) When you look at a cold solder joint up close, you’ll see that it has a small gap between the solder and the pin.


Cold solder joint2

More On Soldering

If you feel you are ready to take the next step in soldering, check out these articles:

  • What is the RIGHT soldering temperature?
  • SMD Soldering Using a Soldering Iron
  • Reflow Soldering
  • How to desolder
  • 3 Soldering Techniques Everybody Ought To Know

Get Started Soldering

The quickest way to get started soldering is to get some soldering tools and a kit. Get yourself a soldering iron for less than ten bucks. Then find yourself an interesting kit to practice on.

Return from How To Solder to Electronic Circuits

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. aazib ashfaq says

    November 3, 2015 at 11:03 pm

    thanks really helpful

    Reply
  2. Cesar says

    June 26, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    That is a great class, thanks so much

    Cesar Blue

    Reply
  3. STANLY F says

    July 20, 2016 at 8:36 pm

    Thanks bro ,it is a good one,

    Reply
  4. Sunny O says

    October 11, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    Great experience, a very rich content

    Reply
  5. ribab says

    October 31, 2016 at 5:49 pm

    Nice thank you

    Reply
  6. Regent says

    January 15, 2017 at 10:39 pm

    great one here!

    Reply
  7. Deba Pratim Borah says

    March 30, 2017 at 7:51 pm

    Thnks

    Reply
  8. Ali abed says

    April 10, 2017 at 6:52 pm

    Hi everyone, specially Mr OYVIND, I have questions about soldier, who is better crimp connection or soldering for the wire, thanks

    Reply
  9. Johnny Dept says

    May 20, 2017 at 10:06 am

    Very helpful thanks

    Reply
  10. Ruchira madushan says

    October 29, 2017 at 2:16 am

    wow really,,thanks for this steps,,

    Reply
  11. JOE TEERMAN says

    January 31, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    my hands shake a lot ! is there a easier way to solder?

    Reply
  12. Colton Tucholsky says

    February 24, 2018 at 2:01 am

    cool

    Reply
  13. Colton Tucholsky says

    February 24, 2018 at 2:02 am

    this is so helpful!!!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Retro Radio Re-Purposed as an iPhone Doc | Solder In The Veins says:
    May 23, 2013 at 6:54 pm

    […] Well worth checking out the other parts of his site as well as there is a wealth of information for beginners, including PCB design and SolderingĀ tutorials. […]

    Reply

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