When I started soldering everything was big and had leads that went through holes in the board. You inserted the leads, bent them over to hold the component, flipped the board over, soldered everything, and trimmed off the excess leads.
Now I’m soldering things down to 0402 SMDs (1/4 the size of the smallest component in the picture) using a needle point soldering tip and a microscope.
A pair of 2N2222 transistors, one SOT23 and one TO-92.
Starting from scratch. Ok.
Soldering iron
Solder (MG 4884-227G or 4860-18G-2)
Liquid flux (Kester 186)
Solder wick (MG 426-NS)
Those are, I think, the four most important things to get started.
You can spend as little as $10 on a soldering iron. I would spend more than that. You can get a Weller WLIR3012A for under $50 from Digikey. That’s a 30W iron that runs at 750F (which is the temperature I like to solder at.) If you want to spend a bit more you can get a Weller WLSKD7012A digital soldering station for around $150 from Mouser.
I prefer a thin solder. The 4884-227G is my favorite but it comes in 1/2 lb rolls. The 4860-18G-2 is a little thicker but comes in pocket packs. Both are available from Digikey as is the 426-NS solder wick.
The liquid flux I buy on Amazon in little squeeze bottles. Digikey sells it in 5 gal buckets. You won’t use that in a lifetime.
There’s nothing wrong with starting with a $10 iron, a pocket pack of solder, a small roll of wick, and a 1 oz bottle of flux if that’s what’s in your budget. You can do amazing things with good technique with basic tools.
I cannot express how grateful I am for this. I’ll be making some purchases tomorrow for sure. I also have a buddy getting rid of an NES so I know exactly where to get one!
I’m happy to help. I hope that everyone here will be. I wish that I had been able to talk to other people who were soldering when I was a kid but that was back in the days before the Commodore 64.
If you have questions, please ask here. I’m sure that people will be willing to help.
Well I’m now officially subscriber 18 from Kbin :)
Did you subscribe to the right channel? I’m at 10 now.
https://www.youtube.com/@MapleEngineering
Some other person is going to be confused when you start asking about soldering videos.
I meant on Kbin/fediverse but I will sub to the YT channel too!
OH. Heh. Well…if you sub to the YouTube channel you WILL be number 12.
Already done! Got a nice shopping list and some videos to start with. Much obliged man
When you get some equipment post some pictures and let us know what you bought. I am going to Walmart tomorrow to buy the cheapest soldering iron they sell. I plan to remake the SMD soldering videos to show that it can be done. I love soldering and I want to help make it accessible and to remove some of the fear for anyone who has been hesitating.