full solder comic en

8/3/2019 Full Solder Comic En

1/8

Solderingiseasy

here'showtodoit

by:MitchAltman

(solderingwisdom)

AndieNordgren

(Comicsadaptation)

JeffKeyzer

(Layoutandediting)

Distribute widely!Download this comic book andshare it with your friends!

http://mightyohm.com/soldercomic


2/8

Solderingisareallyusefulskill.

Itisalsowayeasy!

REally, it is!Youllsee.

Solderingisalsolotsoffun!

If you know how to solder, you can make justabout anything with electronics,which isjust too cool!

There are many ways to make good solder connections.Im going to explain how I do it.

Let's get started!

Thisisasolderingiron.

Itstipgetshotenoughtomelt

solder,whichismetal.

That'sabout200degreesCelsius!

Safety tip #1(of 3):If you touch the tip, you willlet go very quickly!

This is solder.It is made of metal, Usually tin and lead.

theelementsSnandPb

Itisactua

llyhollo

w

andfilled

withrosi

n

(similartothe

stuffused

to

makebow

sforviolins

sticky).

When the solder heats

up, the rosin meltsalmost immediately

The Metalfollowsshortlythereafter

The ROSIN flows around whatyou want to solder, cleans themetal, and helps make a goodsolder connection.

We use the soldering iron to melt thesolder and make electrical connections.

The best solder for electronics hasrosin core and is 60% tin, 40% lead.

alsoknown

asflux

There are other types, for instance lead-free solder, butit has toxic chemicals in its core, and it is not quite aseasy to use as solder with lead. It also corrodessoldering iron tips quickly. If you can only get lead-freesolder where you live, its OK, but please dont breathe inthe nasty smoke.

Safety tip #2(of 3):

Lead is poisonous. It getson your skin when you hold thesolder, so wash your handsafter soldering!

Ifyoudontwashyourhands aftersoldering,theleadmaygetin yourbody, whereitgetsstoredin yourbrain

foryourentire life. if enough collects there thenyougo insane, and youloseall of yourfriends.So -washyour hands aftersoldering, andkeepyour friends!

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3/8

Electroniccircuitsaremadeup

ofelectronicpartsconnectedto

gether.

Foracircuittoworkcorrectly,weneedtoconnecttogethereverythingthatshouldconnecttogether,andnotconnectanythingthatshouldnotbeconnectedtogether.

There are many ways to connect electronic partstogether, but perhaps the easiest way is with a

Printed Circuit BoardPCB orjust

"THEBoard"

The PCB makesit easy because

it haspads foreach part.

If you look carefully at the PCB, you willsee lines connecting pads together withother pads these lines are called traces.

All of the parts have wires sticking out of them:

leads(p rono

unced

lee

dz)

All of these wires, regardless ofwhat they look like, are called

Most pads have a hole in the middle this is where thelead pokes through and makes a connection to thecircuit!

since they lead to the parts.

If you putall of the leads from the partsintothe correct padsfor the parts

and if you put all of the parts in thecorrectorientation

and if you make all good solder connections

thenthe circuit will just work!This is because the board connects everything that

should be connected, and nothing that should not beconnected.

somepartscangointhewrongway!

Letsmakeourf

irst

solderconnec

tion!

3


4/8

Well start with aresistor.

Resistors have two leads and (unlike some parts, such asdiodes, which have a plus side and a minus side) can beplaced in their pads in either direction.

PCBs usually have markings to show where each part

goes (and if the orientation matters, the PCB usuallyhas some way to show you this).

Since the word resistor starts with the letter R, the PCBusually marks places where resistors go with an R,followed by the resistors number, such as R3

So, to solder in the resistor, you start by finding thecorrect value of resistance from the projects

documentation.

Then bend the twoleads of the resistordown the width of thepart, like this:

Then place the twoleads through the twopads on the PCB forthis resistor.

For most PCBs, all of the parts are placed through the padson the printed side of the PCB (which well call the top ofthe board), and well solder all of the pads on the bottomof the board.

You push the resistorsleads through the padsuntil the part rests flaton the PCB

(sometimes you may need towiggle and tug gently on theleads from the bottom of thePCB to do this).

Then you turn the PCB over so we can solder the two pads.

As you turn the PCB over, youwill need to hold the resistor

with your finger so it doesntfall out of the board.

then you bend the leads of the resistoroutwards at about 45 degrees so the part

wont fall out while we solder it in place.

Got it? Great!

As I said earlier, soldering ironsget hot enough to melt metal.That means that the tips get hot

enough to oxidize quickly, which

basically means that theygetdirty just sitting in the air!

The oxides are an insulator for

heat, so we want to cleanthem off the tipbefore

each solder connection so the

heat flows nicelyand wecan makegood solderconnections.

This is why we have a wet sponge:

to clean the oxides off the tip. Justscrape thetip across the sponge gently,thenrotate the iron and scrape gently

across the sponge again.

This should make the tip silvery and somewhat shiny ready

to solder. Remember to clean the tip like thisbefore each connection you make the tips oxidizequickly!

If the tip is nice and silvery and shiny, youcan make good connections.

Time to actually solder!Hold the soldering iron in your dominanthand, like you would hold a pencil.

Hold the solder in your other hand.

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5/8

Touch the cleaned tip toboththe pad and the lead of thepart you want to solder.

Keep it there for about 1second,so everything heats up nicely.

Thenadd about 1mm to 3mmof solderunder the tip.

Dont add it above the tip, since that melts the solderonly onto the tip, where it doesnt do any good.

we want the solder to flow nicely all aroundboth the pad and the lead to make a goodconnection.

The solder wont melt until it actually touches the hotsoldering iron tip, but once it touches the tip, thatswhen it melts, and you can then add your 1mm to 3mmof solder.

Then, pull the solder away.

But and this is VERY important

keep the soldering iron tip on the padand leadfor about 1 more secondsince it takes time for the solder to flow around thepad and the lead, and it will only flow when it is hot.

Then pull the soldering iron away, and take a look atyour perfect solder connection!

See how easy it is!

Please note thatthe solder cools down andhardens quickly all on its own. It onlytakes about a second. And then you are ready foryour next solder connection.

That smoke that you sawwhen the tin/lead soldermelts is the rosinvaporizing.

it contains some chemicalsthat are not good for you,so try not to breathe it!

you canblow gentlyon the connection asyou solder to keepthe smoke away fromyour lungs.

If you use lead-Free solder,then the smoke

is really nasty,so definitelyuse it in a wellventilatedroom, andplease try notto breathe inthe smoke asyou solder.

Now put that soldering iron back in its standwhile were not using it.

The stand keeps the hot iron safely on thetable. Most people say that its not fun to have it landin your lap!

5


6/8

Lets take a look at whatmakes a good solderconnection.

You can tell a goodsolder connection

becausethe soldertotally covers thepad andsurroundsthe lead.

Also,t

he

solder

makes

a

small

bump.

If youcan seeany of thehole or pad

then youdidnt add enough solderand so theremay not be aconnectionwhere we need one.

If this is the case, no problem just repeat the procedure(clean the tip, touch the tip for 1 second on the pad and lead,

add 1mm to 3mm of solder, pull the solder away, keep the tipon the pad and lead for 1 more second, and pull the tip away),

and it should then be totally fine.

the solderis flat alongthe board

or if

If there is too much solder, thatmeans that you added so much solder thatthere is a solder blob on a pad that is big

enough toalso touch another pad,creatinga connection where there

should not be one. This can happen.

If it does,no problem!just clean the tip,hold the tip to the solderblob between the pads for 1 second

thenbang the board against your worktableto fling the excess molten solder to the table

youmaywanttowearsafetyglasses!

The connections should then be fine

(though you may need to lightly scrape anyexcess solder from the PCB, which you canusually do with your fingernail)

Inbetwee

ntoomuch

and

toolittle

solderisa

lotoflee

way.

Thisisone

reasonw

hy

soldering

iseasy.

Both

good!goodtoo!

Some people like to solder parts to their padsafter adding a bunch of parts to the board.

I prefer to add and solderonly one partto the board at a time. I find this easiersince there arent so many leads that can getin the way of my soldering iron.

Also, if I add more than one part to the board Isometimes miss soldering a pad, since it isnt soeasy (as you might think it would be) to see whichconnections are soldered.

6


7/8

After soldering all of the leads of the part

you are soldering, it is time to cut off theexcess leads.This must be done toensure that the excess

leads do not bend over and short toanother lead or pad.

if this happens, thenthere will be aconnection where we do not want one.

To cut the lead, well use a

small wire cutter.One side hasflat cutting

edges, and the other side has adeep groove.

Place the flat edge down, parallel to thePCB,just at the top of the little bump ofsolder.squeeze the handles,and thecutting edgessnap shut.

which turns theexcess lead into a

projectilethat hitsyou right inyour eye!

Safety tip #3(of 3): ALWAYS hold thelead you are cutting with one hand while

you cut with your other hand.

If you always do this, you will always be safe.

youmayalsowant

towearsafetyglasses!

If the excess lead is too short to hold onto (but longenough to potentially short out to something on your PCB),

thenposition the wire cutter,hold your fingers overthe lead,

thiswillkeeptheexcessleadfromhittinganyoneintheeye(orshortingoutsomewhereonyourproject)

and thensqueeze.

Leads that arealready very short, such as ICsockets,do not need to be cut they haveleads that are too short to bend over and makeshorts.

If you make a mistake,it is totally OK.All mistakes are fixable(though someare easier than others).

Andmaking mistakes is how welearnto become better at everything wedo.

While soldering is easy,unsolderingtakes lots of practice. And if you

make a mistake, you get to have somepractice!

7


8/8

As yousolder more,you will pick upmanytips and tricks that willmakesoldering even easier.

Butyou are nowtotally readyto solder justabout anything!

If you like soldering, and want to solderwell, youll want to buy some good tools.

Butyou do not need to spend a lotof moneyto get them.

You can buy a decentsolderingiron(in the shape of a long, fatpencil) for aboutUS$15

Youll need a

soldering ironstand that fits awet sponge,which will cost you

aboutUS$6

If you really want to getfancy, or if you think you willbesoldering lots, or soldering a bunch ofsmall

thingsyou can buy a decentsoldering station, complete

with a stand and sponge for aboutUS$60

Then youll need an

OKwire cutter,for anotherUS$6

Buy a pound roll (or a 500g

roll) of decentsolder

for aboutUS$35 and youllbe set for years ofsatisfying soldering

ifyouca

ngetit,

I

recomme

nd

60/40tin

/leadwi

th

rosinco

re

(asIme

ntioned

before,

lead-fre

esolder

willwor

k

fine,bu

titisn

otasea

syto

workwi

th).

You really dont need moreBut you might also want long nose pliers (about US$6) and wire strippers

(about US$10). (And safety glasses can be bought for as little as US$2.)

Thisc

omici

spart

of

aboo

kabo

ut

HowtoMake

CoolThings

withMicro-

controllers

(ForPeo

pleWh

o

KnowNo

thing

)

byMitchAltman

andJeffKeyzer,

tobe

publi

shed

by

NoStarchPress

in20

11.

Narration byMitch Altmanhttp://cornfieldelectronics.com

COmics adaptation byAndie Nordgrenhttp://log.andie.se

Edited byJeff Keyzerhttp://mightyohm.com

Translate it, use it, spread it, color it, teach with it!http://mightyohm.com/soldercomic

Distribute widely!

Enjoy!

8

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