First time soldering

[flyingpotato666]

So I need to solder my motors and speed controllers, so first I tried soldering for the first time on some spare wire. What i did was i twisted both the wires together (without the insulator) and clumped them into a ball and soldered, or should i say tried to solder... I attached a picture of what it looks like in the end, its pretty strong but just from looking at the picture do you think the soldering is good? Ive read in some places that the more solder the better so I used a lot, and in other places they say use the least possible amount you can... Please if you see anything wrong with what I did please tell me, im planning to practice one more time on another wire and then solder the motors and escs
Thanks!

 

[GJH105775]

Sounds like you have gotten some bad advice, or advice on plumbing soldering hahahaha. It is hard to use too little, but easy to use too much. Too much solder can cause bridging of joints, burning of components, peeling PCB, and shorts. Usually a joint with way too much never got soldered properly to start with.


One thing (asside from the big glob of solder) that I see wrong in your picture is that neither conductor got hot enough for the solder to wick up the wire a little, that means that you were likely heating the solder and just sticking it to it'self and not actually to the wire. When soldering you HAVE to heat the objects you are soldering and they have to be hot enough to melt the solder or the solder will never flow properly. So a good practice would be to heat the board and component and then apply solder to it right beside the iron and not to the tip of your iron. Remember to keep the tip always clean (no black stuff), and tinned. Watch about how much solder you apply because it is hard to get off without a pump or wich. When (not if) you apply too much you can try heating it and bumping the board to make it detach for now. Just be very careful about too much. Too little is possible, but easily remidied and a lot harder to do.

'

take a look at this: http://www.soldering.jp/lecture/007.html

 

[Jackson]

im planning to practice one more time

You need much more than that.

What i did was i twisted both the wires together (without the insulator) and clumped them into a ball and soldered,

Well I often have seen examples like that, but most of us don't do any twisting of the 2 wires together.

Note how the wires are first tinned, they are twisted a bit to hold the strands together. You also want to first tin your iron's tip. If soldering to an ESC or PBD all the pads should also be tinned. Basically any mating surfaces. And make sure to use lead solder. Flux is also quite helpful.

 

[tylorwashere]

The only time I ever twist the wires together first is when making a three way joint, the I lather that baby up with Flux and try to get the wire to absorb as much solder as possible. You have to tin first, like Jackson said. Tinning the wires actually creates a new metal alloy, which then melts together with the other tinned wire to create a single piece of wire, instead of two pieces held together with solder

 

[GJH105775]

The only time I ever twist the wires together first is when making a three way joint, the I lather that baby up with Flux and try to get the wire to absorb as much solder as possible. You have to tin first, like Jackson said. Tinning the wires actually creates a new metal alloy, which then melts together with the other tinned wire to create a single piece of wire, instead of two pieces held together with solder

If I am doing a three or more wire joint or working with bigger wire I usually take something like 25AWG or pieces off of a stranded wire and wrap the tinned wires or jsut use a tap splice. If I am working on something that is possible going to be pulled I like to use a western union splice (AKA lineman's splice). If the wire is not going to get hot you can just lap joint, maybe add a little strand if you are having trouble keeping them together. If the joint might get hot for some unknown reason then a physical connection before soldering is important.

I personally don't like to rely on the solder for strength in case of some weird problem, except perhaps data wires.

Some people like to intertwine stranded and then wrap it for a nice neat joint, but if you don't get the soldering good or flux it and reheat they you may have some serious problems.

If you have multiple joints try to stagger them like in Z.

Western Union splices take some practice to keep nice, small and tight when working with smaller solid wire. With practice you could use them.

Western Union Splice

You can have a rat tail splice and use it about anywhere, most new guys start with these. Just tin, twist, snip, and fold it back so that you can slide your heat shrink over it. They are handy and simple.

 

[tylorwashere]

If I am doing a three or more wire joint or working with bigger wire I usually take something like 25AWG or pieces off of a stranded wire and wrap the tinned wires or jsut use a tap splice. If I am working on something that is possible going to be pulled I like to use a western union splice (AKA lineman's splice). If the wire is not going to get hot you can just lap joint, maybe add a little strand if you are having trouble keeping them together. If the joint might get hot for some unknown reason then a physical connection before soldering is important.

I personally don't like to rely on the solder for strength in case of some weird problem, except perhaps data wires.

Some people like to intertwine stranded and then wrap it for a nice neat joint, but if you don't get the soldering good or flux it and reheat they you may have some serious problems.

If you have multiple joints try to stagger them like in Z.

Western Union splices take some practice to keep nice, small and tight when working with smaller solid wire. With practice you could use them.

Western Union Splice

You can have a rat tail splice and use it about anywhere, most new guys start with these. Just tin, twist, snip, and fold it back so that you can slide your heat shrink over it. They are handy and simple.

Those info graphics are great

 

[GJH105775]

http://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2 books/links/sections/407 Splices.html


Lots of useful info here.

 

[tylorwashere]

http://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2 books/links/sections/407 Splices.html


Lots of useful info here.

The inline splice seems pretty useful, I might be using that to tap my fpv gear into my main power lead

 

[GJH105775]

The inline splice seems pretty useful, I might be using that to tap my fpv gear into my main power lead

They are all pretty useful in the right situations hahaha, I usually use a form of a western union splice on my fpv gear just because you can keep it nice and neat. You need to have good heat shrink though, if not just build up a tiny ammount of hot glue and slide the heat shrink over it while it is still hw, heat it up nice and you have a strong splice. Were you referring to the lash-inline or which one hahaha

 

[tylorwashere]

They are all pretty useful in the right situations hahaha, I usually use a form of a western union splice on my fpv gear just because you can keep it nice and neat. You need to have good heat shrink though, if not just build up a tiny ammount of hot glue and slide the heat shrink over it while it is still hw, heat it up nice and you have a strong splice. Were you referring to the lash-inline or which one hahaha

Yeah the lash splice lol.