The far red thread

BOBBY_G

BOBBY_G

Well-Known Member
you need to tin the soldering iron. get a damp sponge and melt solder right to the iron and wipe it on the sponge once or twice until the iron has a thin coat of shiny solder on it

 
BOBBY_G

BOBBY_G

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
That's what I'm trying to do. Can't get it to stay there. How do you properly do it?
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oops sorry i thought you meant on your tip

as he mentioned its hard wit the huge heatsink. try putting the tip to the copper pad on the star and then heat the pad up, until it melts solder. so you are putting solder to the pad, not the iron. it wont melt until the pad is hot enough for a proper bond. if the pad gets hot enough, it should pool the solder and stick to the copper
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
BOBBY_G said:
oops sorry i thought you meant on your tip

as he mentioned its hard wit the huge heatsink. try putting the tip to the copper pad on the star and then heat the pad up, until it melts solder. so you are putting solder to the pad, not the iron. it wont melt until the pad is hot enough for a proper bond. if the pad gets hot enough, it should pool the solder and stick to the copper
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That won't ruin the led? I just wish I could do it as smooth as @Growmau5 does it on his Flower Initiator vid on YouTube. I'm using the exact same semileds from the exact same website as he did.
 
BOBBY_G

BOBBY_G

Well-Known Member
he tinned them first. yes you gotta use a lot more heat once its on a heatsink. but what i described is the proper way to solder. you need to get BOTH the pad and wire up to full temp or you will have a cold joint.same with soldering pipes really. when you solder pipes you heat the fitting up away from the end, and then when its uniformly hot the solder just flows in.

thats why you tin pad and wire independently then its real easy, you just literally touch them together with the iron and they go. you already have the bond to your component and youre basically melting solder to solder

a perfect joint would have both components tinned and then up to temperature in a molten pool of solder

its not hard but it is time consuming, which is why i went solderless on this project.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
BOBBY_G said:
he tinned them first. yes you gotta use a lot more heat once its on a heatsink. but what i described is the proper way to solder. you need to get BOTH the pad and wire up to full temp or you will have a cold joint.same with soldering pipes really. when you solder pipes you heat the fitting up away from the end, and then when its uniformly hot the solder just flows in.

thats why you tin pad and wire independently then its real easy, you just literally touch them together with the iron and they go. The one I'm using now is a dinosaur. Well over 20 yrs old I'd guess.

its not hard but it is time consuming, which is why i went solderless on this project.
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Well I'm gonna buy a new soldering iron from harbor freight tomorrow and I bet that helps me out a lot.
 
BOBBY_G

BOBBY_G

Well-Known Member
if you have any amount of soldering to do a weller is a great investment that will last you a lifetime

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=weller+soldering+station&_sop=15

i have the $120 digi temp model but the $50 analog ones are just as good. keeping it at minimum temp necessary can make it easier on your components

but i used the $5 cheapos for 2 decades before buying that. they work fine and its nice if you can get one with replaceable tips.

practice makes perfect. like i said i prob learned more about soldering wire by soldering pipes. cold joints = leaks = instant problem so you learn not to do that.....
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
BOBBY_G said:
if you have any amount of soldering to do a weller is a great investment that will last you a lifetime

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=weller+soldering+station&_sop=15

i have the $120 digi temp model but the $50 analog ones are just as good. keeping it at minimum temp necessary can make it easier on your components

but i used the $5 cheapos for 2 decades before buying that. they work fine and its nice if you can get one with replaceable tips.

practice makes perfect. like i said i prob learned more about soldering wire by soldering pipes. cold joints = leaks = instant problem so you learn not to do that.....
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So there's a ton of things that come up on the ebat link. You mean a Weller soldering iron?
 
BOBBY_G

BOBBY_G

Well-Known Member
yeah search for 'soldering station' specifically, you see the little console style with adjustable temps. even a $30 one of those is gonna be way better than the HF cheap straight irons
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
BOBBY_G said:
yeah search for 'soldering station' specifically, you see the little console style with adjustable temps. even a $30 one of those is gonna be way better than the HF cheap straight irons
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Luckily, I had a little newer iron that I was able to use and get the job done. Just use some sandpaper to take off any oxidation and went to work. All my joints are tight stiff
 
V

VegasWinner

Well-Known Member
I use 18 gauge solid wire for my star diodes. Also it is best to tin the star pads before you mount the stars to the heat sinks because once you have the TIM attached, the heat transfers to the heat sink and they never get hot enough to tin the pads. Tin the wire before you attach to the pad, as well I make all my connections, wiring, before I attach the stars to the heat sink with TIM.. good luck. peace
 
BOBBY_G

BOBBY_G

Well-Known Member
Fry's rules! what temp do you dab at. ill bet i can get ceramic tips for my weller.

taking me back the old days when we used the soldering iron in the wooden box as a vape lol
 
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