Figured I would pick up soldiering electronics as a new skill. This is the first thing I created, it works. Any tips or ideas are appreciated!
this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2026
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Flux. Flux. Flux. Flux. Flux.
Your joints look like mine when I don't have any flux.
Get yourself a couple liquid flux pens, some paste flux, solder braid, and a squirt bottle of rubbing alcohol to clean up.
Flux is about 75% of a clean, perfect solder joint. Get the flux right and everything else gets easy.
Learn what "wetting" means. Compare a drop of water falling on waxed paper vs on a paper towel. The water drop does not "wet" the waxed paper; it just beads up on the surface. Solder does exactly the same thing.
If the substrate is not hot, or if it is dirty, or has an oxide layer on it, the solder will not "wet" the substrate. Flux cleans the surface and removes the oxide layer, so that solder will wet the hot substrate.
You want to look at the shape the solder pool takes at the very edges. If the solder beads up, forming a convex, ball shape, it didn't wet the surface; it's a "cold" joint that may fail. If it forms a concave, "dished" shape, it wetted the surfaces, and has formed a strong joint.
The trick is to get all parts of the joint hot at the same time, without overheating anything. Flux and a well tinned ("wetted") iron make that easier.