Nomination for worst youtube soldering tutorials.

[ampdoctor]

Wow, this was almost painful to watch!  Funny thing is that it's titled "proper" soldering technique.  This should have been called "what you can get away with using half assed jacked up equipment and heavy handed techniques"  Try not to laugh too hard when you see the tip of this guy's iron.

[smashedProton]

I never thought that I would hear someone use the words "cheaper at radioshack"  all in the same scentence!   

[smackaay]

I've never seen anyone solder a wire to the body of a pot, maybe it's common? There's a perfectly good solder lug right next to where he's soldering.

[64bitDOS]

I've never seen anyone solder a wire to the body of a pot, maybe it's common? There's a perfectly good solder lug right next to where he's soldering.

It wasn't unusual to see this in radio/audio gear 40 years ago.

[rollatorwieltje]

So the big deal is that he's not using a $300 soldering iron? Who cares anyway for such crude stuff. He even used solder wick to clean up a tab, I wouldn't even bother. He also applies fresh solder to the joint instead of using the iron as a paint brush, so he's correct on that part as well. Even shrink tube is used, I've seen plenty of stuff wrapped in electrical tape...

The end result is what counts, a properly wetted soldering joint. I have used an old soldering gun with a custom made tip (from a piece of 2.5mm2 solid installation wire) to solder stuff like this. Sometimes a crude tool is all you need.

[ampdoctor]

I'll admit that I've used rat shack soldering irons in a pinch but i sure as hell wouldn't recommend the things as a preferred tool.  if you're on a seriously tight budget at least get one of those 20 dollar "consumer" 50w or whatever weller stations. and that silver solder is so much better than tin/lead.  also don't forget to use an iron tip with more pits and craters than the dark side of the moon...and be sure to always store it in a coffee can!

I've never seen anyone solder a wire to the body of a pot, maybe it's common? There's a perfectly good solder lug right next to where he's soldering.

Often times they'll ground the body of a pot for shielding purposes so you don't pick up any unwanted hum when you reach down and touch the controls.  however the amount of time parked the iron on the case probably damaged it in some way or another.  the proper way is really to scuff the plating off, clean with IPA and apply generous amount of flux then solder the bus wire with a tip that's got a high thermal mass so you can get on it and off fast.

[smashedProton]

Who uses silver solder?  What a dumb place to spend your money.  Good flux and 60/40 is all you need.

[ampdoctor]

So the big deal is that he's not using a $300 soldering iron? Who cares anyway for such crude stuff. He even used solder wick to clean up a tab, I wouldn't even bother. He also applies fresh solder to the joint instead of using the iron as a paint brush, so he's correct on that part as well. Even shrink tube is used, I've seen plenty of stuff wrapped in electrical tape...

The end result is what counts, a properly wetted soldering joint. I have used an old soldering gun with a custom made tip (from a piece of 2.5mm2 solid installation wire) to solder stuff like this. Sometimes a crude tool is all you need.

I'm not saying you need a 300 dollar iron.  a consumer grade station for home use would work just fine.  But i do say at least use a clean properly tinned tip that's not all pitted up, covered in oxidation and burned up flux residue.  His wire tinning procedure is horrific as well.  he's worried about not having the iron close to the insulation but the solder runs down inside the insulation anyway.  he overheats the control pot when soldering to the case.  And use some liquid or paste flux.  What you can get away with and what's proper, which is what he's saying his video illustrates, are two totally different things.

Who uses silver solder?  What a dumb place to spend your money.  Good flux and 60/40 is all you need.

the audiophools use silver solder to keep the werewolves away from their gear.  thought everybody knew that?

[smashedProton]

And he even says "sodder"!  What a fool!

[c4757p]

Er... aren't you from the U.S.? Where do you live where people do not say "sodder"?

[andrea87]

Plus, RoHS soldering for beginners, while using an unregulated firestarter-like iron. sounds funny.

[SparkysWidgets]

Phew, not one of my videos,  I do cringe at the site of those tips.

[SLJ]

For someone who states the importance of tinning the tip at the beginning he sure doesn't follow his own advice.  Guess he hasn't figured out that a little solder helps to transfer the heat faster.  That is one ugly tip.

[ecat]

Er... aren't you from the U.S.? Where do you live where people do not say "sodder"?

The world, it is a changing...

Dean over at Hack A Week ( http://www.hackaweek.com/hacks/ ) has been quietly giving the 'L' some love for quite some time. In a recent video, the Quad Copter one if memory serves, he comes fully out of the closet and formally announces his love for the 'L' saying 'it's how the rest of the world pronounce solder so it's good enough for me' (my paraphrase).
 

[madires]

For someone who states the importance of tinning the tip at the beginning he sure doesn't follow his own advice.  Guess he hasn't figured out that a little solder helps to transfer the heat faster.  That is one ugly tip.

He knows his stuff :-) In the comments of that video he wrote several times that he has "30 years experience in electronics technology". So we are doing it all wrong ;-)

[c4757p]

ecat, that sounds wonderful. We should all start saying soLder. "Sodder" sounds absolutely idiotic.

[G7PSK]

That is not silver solder or silver soldering, this is silver soldering.

http://youtu.be/kIKQ-FL96uU

Silver solder melts at 640 deg C and above. It is therefore not of any use for most electronics and in most instances not melt with an electric iron, you would need an electric furnace or a blowtorch.

http://www.cupalloys.co.uk/popular-silver-solders-leads-to-prices-c26.html

He might have a silver bearing tin solder alloy but it is not silver solder in the true sense.

[LEECH666]

He says to stay away from all the leaded solders in the comments, but he is using leaded solder as well (Part no. 64-013 @Radio Shack). I just pointed that out in the YT comments, a moment ago.

[SLJ]

I read some of the comments there.  Scary.  I left a comment but I'm pretty sure he won't like it.  I told hem he needs to get some training before he posts more videos.

[Sam__]

That was painful to watch. I couldn't make it through.

[LEECH666]

He deleted my comments that pointed out a few of the advantages of lead over lead-free solder. Wasn't even bashing, just pointing out. *sigh*

[JoannaK]

Phew, not one of my videos,  I do cringe at the site of those tips.

My thoughts.. 

[Neganur]

Who uses silver solder?  What a dumb place to spend your money.  Good flux and 60/40 is all you need.

It depends what you are working with, doesn't it? Some components, PCBs , connectors and wires in older Tektronix oscilloscopes and other RF equipment are plated with silver. There you would use the silver bearing solder I believe (to prevent silver scavenging).

Silver bearing solder is expensive compared to lead free and standard SnPb solder but I would not go as far as to say spending money on it is wasted. If you don't need it OK, no point arguing

Silver bearing solder does have a lower resistance though, and has a better reliability compared to non-silver Rohs and 60/40 tin/lead solder. The reliability here is regarding thermal fatigue and mechanical strength of the joint. Note, that this is only true for solder with lead, too little is known about the impact of silver and copper in Rohs solder regarding thermal fatigue at this point.

Silver is added to RoHS solder to lower the melting point and improve wetting. Silver in RoHS solder makes it more likely to fail to mechanical shocks but improve resistance to thermal fatigue (at least, better than RoHS solder without silver).

I use Sn62Pb36Ag2 solder for SMD work, and also have about 2kg of 0.5mm 60/40 solder. I believe I'm biased towards the silver bearing solder.

What I don't understand is, he says his solder is lead free and calls it silver solder. If it's one of those 3.5-4% silver bearing solders that melt at 180-200 °C / 400 °F, why does he have to heat his solder iron up for 20 minutes (well, that black tip says it all)

EDIT: he didn't claim his solder is lead free. No idea why I thought he did.

[LEECH666]

Well it's not bad to advertise Sn62/Pb36/Ag2 solder, but saying that you should stay away from leaded solder in the same comment is at least an incomplete statement. If he means to not use plumber lead based solder (Pb75/Sn25), then he is correct, however if he means don't use Sn60/Pb40 or Sn63/Pb37 in favor of "silver solder" (which apprently is Sn62/Pb36/Ag2) then it's just plain stupid. They are all kinda alike since they're all lead based. He makes it sound like Radio Shack silver bearing solder is lead-free or that he's soldering with pure silver now.

Also I am pretty sure that unless you're in some very very specialized field of electronics the conductivity of solder doesn't really matter, and I've never seen a corroded Sn63/Pb37 solder joint, which he claims to be the reason why "everyone" uses "silver solder" (which is another unproven claim). Sure they can corrode under extreme conditions and over time, but does silver really fight that effect? Not convinced.

Pretty sure that before ROHS became mandatory for electronics manufacturers that they mostly used lead based mainstream solder like Sn60/Pb40 and Sn63/Pb37 mostly unless they had a very specific reason to not use them (joint strength, silver scavanging). It doesn't make sense from a price point of view to use a rare metal and increase the cost of your product. Oh he also claims that price for whatever stuff might halve if they used lead based solder. Yeah right.

[Monkeh]

Well, he's deleted one of my comments and blocked me from making new ones. And I didn't even get insulting.