I found this soldering guide on digg.

thanks for the link

@andrewmm



You're welcome.

Thanks scots! Now I can learn to solder... is it expensive to get the stuff though? I'm only 15 and in the U.S I can't legally get a job yet I wanna be able to buy my own phones and computers so bad!!!

nahh, its not expensive, Mine cost **around** $30 dollars and that does the job. but im not sure how much the solder wire costs

I would advise to get a mid to high range soldering iron, and for use with mobiles you want to get the some thin solder (if its for your own handset get leaded flows alot better) for use on others handsets you will need lead free now but it doesn't flow as well as leaded and it seems to form dry joints more easily)

and surface mount soldering is completely different to the advice given in that document but it will serve as a good start point if your new to soldering

My soldering iron cost like a fiver and does the job fine, ive made a radio and a led christmas tree so far

i personally like metcal irons and their fine tips, perfect for surface mount and very small components

Hako for heat stations or a cheaper wella heat gun

Just a note on Leaded Vs Lead-Free soldering, in general lead-free solder needs a higher temperature to flow well, around 400-420c as opposed to typical 64/40 leaded solder which flows best at 340-380c, which is why less expensive soldering irons don't work as well on lead-free, since they are usually designed to operate at about 330c. This is usually the reason for unwetted or 'dry' solder joints, however as most PCB's are easily damaged above 420c it's a pretty fine line you tread when reworking lead free soldered components, usually it's a one-shot deal, anything longer than 8-12 seconds and you may be dealing with pcb damage, lifted pads, and damaged tracking inside the pcb itself.

There are many types of solder wire available, the preferred types of solder in industry are either aqueous or no-clean flux cored solder, these types both contain flux which clean oxides off the surfaces to be soldered, making a much better solder joint than when flux is not used, for no-clean fluxes no cleaning is required, however for other tyoes of flux cleaning is important, since the residues left by resin or aqueous fluxes are corrosive and will eventually corrode the copper tracks and pads if not removed. For resin based fluxes IPA is the best cleaner, a little IPA, and a soft brush are good, for aqueous fluxes water is used instead of IPA.

For best results a good temperature controlled soldering iron with a set of different tips is a must, personally i'd try Pace or Metcal equipment, both are widely used in industry, and are very reliable in the long run, for Surface Mount work this sort of equipment is vital, especially in Mobiles, since these use some of the smallest component sizes generally, in fact where I work these components would normally be reworked using specialist equipment such as the Pace SP2000 SMT Station, which is pretty much out of the reach of most of us.

I'd also recommend getting hold of a decent microscope for SMT work, seriously, it's what I use at work when repairing mobiles, and being able to see what you are doing when working will prevent a small rework job turning into a major reconstruction job.

What can I practice on? I don't want to practice on anything expensive (not even my HPM-70's... I love them too much).

This is very useful for part replacements on SE phones and also for eyeyousee's telescopoc radio antenna

if you contact your local repair center, thay maybe willing to sell you damaged PCB's which you can practice on.

also some 'PDAs/smartphones' have the Radio circuit as a plug in board to the main one (think i have seen this in a blackberry unsure on the model) you can see if there is anything like that on the net.

cheap kids toy which makes noise etc will have a cheap PCB in can always rip on out of that!

Good idea

[EDIT] I read the guide but it still makes no sense to me... what's a joint? The glob of solder you put on?

Thanks for soldering guide.

I'll do it to Fast Port 3.5mm Mod.