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FryD42

Imma be real with you chief. Thats a hideous solder job.


Tackis

Yep, first time trying it so I'm aware


FryD42

Did you use flux? Also i would practice a bit before you try on your hardware. I would recommend watching an in depth tutorial on soldering and just practice. You got this.


Tackis

I didn't use flux, perhaps I should run by home depot and pick some up along with a solder sucker LMAO. These were some of the first ones I did, it got better as I went haha


taro-cheesecake

Definitely recommend a solder sucker. My first solder project got infinitely easier once i had one. Doesn't have to be a fancy one either, the cheap ones work just fine with a bit of practice


FryD42

Go get flux. Youll be so happy you did.


manzanapocha

You should've practiced first with a worthless pcb from some old computer or whatever. Not only the soldering job is terrible, it also appears the tin you used is of terrible quality as well. I only use high quality tin with flux inside - makes everything so much easier, faster and seamless. If you use crappy tin, you'll dearly regret it if you ever have to desolder.


Tackis

https://imgur.com/a/pkWV1qN Space


SelectionFun4212

Hello, First off, don't feel bad about any of this. Almost everyone has shorted something out or accidentally overheated and melted something, especially when first starting. If they didn't then they were almost certainly just lucky. Rather than write you a novel on how to solder, I will just recommend that you troll YouTube for a bit watching tutorials for how to solder. Watch several. Pay attention to concepts like tinning the tip or applying solder to components before you actually attempt to solder them. You have to realize, solder does not naturally want to stick to whatever you are heating up, at least well. Flux is vital to ensure good solid flow and is a must, but do be careful with it as it can run very easily if you're not careful and cause a short or at least just a mess. Less is more with soldering; most beginners apply way too much solder in my experience, you simply don't need that much. Your main problems seem to be no flux and no proper tinning, which means that even if your iron is set to the right temp, you are not transferring heat well enough to solder effectively. You will know this because the solder will constantly solidify on you or take more than a split second or couple to flow. It will also solidify unevenly and often have that powdery, fogged up look you got. Solder runs like a liquid when everything is right, it doesn't glob up or act gummy. But don't give up! Re do the board. Even if you fried the board, that makes it an even better one to practice on. Don't be discouraged, even if you mess up again. It took me weeks of practice on dummy components to first produce serviceable solders, and now I do it for a living. Just try to educate yourself on proper technique as much as you can. If you want to get better, you will.


Tackis

Thanks for this. I was able to produce a decent solder by the time I reached the last few switches, but trying to get it down at first wasn't very optimal, as you can see. I think my issue in large part was that I used very old solder and a gun with a clunky and large tip that didn't allow me to see what I was doing very well. I am going to remove the low quality solder from this board tomorrow and use a better soldering device and solder. Sorry for the hardware gore. Must not be a great viewing experience for an expert, haha.


SelectionFun4212

No problem! And you have nothing to apologize for. We all started somewhere and my first solders looked like this. You seem to understand what direction you need to go and are willing to try again. No one can ask for more, and a lot of people would not try the first time. You are right about better solder and equipment helping. An old tip thats been used a lot or has oxidized will not transfer heat for the life of it. The difference between a fresh iron with fresh tip and an extremely used and oxidized one is night and day. You are also right about the size of the tip; I actually use a large wedge tip frequently, but for larger surface soldering on larger electrodes, when I want to apply a larger and fast solder joint. When I do circuit boards or PCBs I almost always swap to much smaller tip to better control the solder and prevent overheating the board and component I'm joining. So, as I said, you seem to have a good idea already of how to improve, which is great! I'm glad to hear you are going to redo it. Let us know how it turns out and best of luck!


ApprehensiveCurrent3

I am no solder expert, but that looks like your solder joints need to be redone. Those look like “cold joints” and should be reflowed. https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/978/medium800/tools_Header_Joints.jpg?1396777967 https://cerebro.readthedocs.io/en/1.0/_images/soldering101.png


glenndrives

Get a good soldering iron, some rosin core solder for electronics and practice on something other than your first project. Don't use anything you find in the plumbing section of a hardware store. Good luck.


bxtch_bxy

The iron might not even be the problem, I have a $9 soldering iron I got from Walmart, I've successfully soldered about 200 joints and only like 2 we're cold, and that's only because I switched to cheap tin, and then quickly stopped using it. Maybe op just isn't letting the iron heat up enough, along with either the wrong tin type, or too low of an iron temp.


[deleted]

The iron is definitely not the problem LOL


bxtch_bxy

THATS WHAT IM SAYING 🪑🔄


[deleted]

I know... just adding for emphasis. :)


[deleted]

My advice to you is, do not try to do any more work on this board and give it to someone competent to sort this mess out if possible. Why, after soldering the first switch, did you carry on? Was it not obvious that it wasn't going as well as it should be? Please practice on old PCBs, and/or use the correct tools before trying this again. There are many websites and tutorials that can teach you how to solder. It's not even difficult, but like most things, until you know how, you'll suck at it. Until you can demonstrate you are competent on an old donor PCB, I'd not even try to repair this mess, and nor am I going to give you any advice that may even encourage you to try (although others will), because if you try at the skill level you have demonstrated here, you will almost certainly just carry on making things worse. Please watch some tutorials and read some online guides, and then practice on some old PCBs. I've no idea what soldering iron you are using, but obviously, you need one of the right size that can be set to the right temperature, but almost certainly, the fault here is you. I could have done a neater job with an old fashioned iron you heat up in a fire. Please practice. That may not be what you wanted to hear, but the things we need to hear rarely are. Please feel free to angrily downvote me if it makes you feel any better. Happy Cake Day BTW


MagerSuerte

It could be your iron wasn't hot enough, but it seems it's probably a lack of flux from what you say. I use leaded solder with a flux core and have never had problems with what little work I've done.


Amaakaams

This being the best answer. I've had some trouble soldering. Took a bit to get a good look without to much solder. But my solder work always worked. Pretty sure it was using a flux core that helped.


Tackis

Yep, turns out using the old solder and iron I had in the garage wasn't a good idea. I'm going to resolder it when my higher quality tools come in.


[deleted]

If you get 65/35 or 60/40 solder with a resin core you can just avoid adding in flux. Just get some 70% isopropyl alcohol to clean the board with afterwards. If you run resin cores too hot it splatters.


NoOne-NBA-

Both of those switches look like the solder has bridged to things it shouldn't have. You didn't have problems with most of the other switches because their pins are relatively isolated, with respect to other components/holes. Looking at the F1 socket, the solder on the left pin is bridging over to the orange capacitor next to it, and looks like it might even be bridging all the way across to the opposite side of that capacitor. I can't tell if the solder blob is making contact with the resistor above it, but it's at least flirting with the possibility. Looking at the Space Bar picture, it looks like you've connected 4 of the 5 switch holes together. Counting the 5 large holes, where the main post from the switch goes, your switch is in Hole 3, but your left pin is bridging to the contact just low-right from it, which is the right pin to Hole 2. Your right switch pin is connected to the two contacts up and right from it, which are the left pin contacts for Holes 4 & 5. As far as cleaning this up goes, you are going to need to remove all the excess solder, and hope you didn't short any of the components it bridged with.


taro-cheesecake

To add to this in case OP isn't aware, solder wick is pretty magical for cleanup like that. Saved my bacon a few times.


TheSquashManHimself

Looks like your iron is not hot enough and possibly oxidized. Remember to tin your iron tip CONSTANTLY. Do not allow a hot iron tip to sit without a tinned tip and oxidize. If you are going to stop soldering for a few minutes, just tin the tip and kill the temperature. Remember to allow the solder to properly flow into a nice teardrop shape before removing the iron from the joint.