A major advantage of temperature controlled irons is that with care and a
quick finger, you can touch the tip of a properly adjusted clean iron to
help guide it.
With an uncontrolled iron this will get you burned immediately. but with a
controlled iron it is possible when nothing else gets you where you need to
go. I've done it a lot and still read braille <GRIN>
tom Fowle
On Sun, Aug 20, 2017 at 08:42:52AM -0400, Scott Granados wrote:
Wow I???m getting 3rd degree burns just reading this.;)===========================================================
I???d be paranoid, probably wearing welding gloves or something. I find this
topic super interesting and appreciate the pointers to the links.
On Aug 20, 2017, at 6:41 AM, Mike Ray <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Before you attempt to solder, spend some time with the soldering iron
you intend to use unplugged. Make sure you always hold it the same way,
and in the same position on the handle. This will make sure the tip of
the iron is always the same distance from the end of your fingers.
And then spend an amount of time, a LOT of time, with the iron unplugged
and totally cold, practicing placing the tip of the iron at the joint
position. You need to get used to where it is in relation to the end of
yur fingers.
I have also used a brass thimble on the index finger of my other hand
which means I can use t, briefly to probe for the end of the iron.
I have also used another technique which requires about a 12 inch
leangth of thin metal shaft. A gear shaft from a model shop is perfect.
These are 2 millimetres in diameter. Hold one end in your teeth, and
put the other end against the position of the joint. You can probe for
the shaft along it's elngth with the tip of the iron, careful not to get
close to your mouth, and then slide the tip down to the joint.
Wrapping solder around a component wire does not work very well in my
experience, since soldering is all about heating the joint, not melting
the solder. This just melts the solder before the joint is hot enough to
take.
Before the end of lead-free solder I bought three big reels of it,
because lead-free solder is totally rubbish. It does not take properly,
and over time it grows tiny whiskers. Any time now, airoplanes with
circuit boards assembled with lead-free solder are going to start
dropping out of the sky. And all because one in ten million people got
nasal cancer from sniffing too much solder.
I have recently adopted another technique, I have joined my local Linux
User Group and take stuff along there for somebody who can see to solder
for me under my direction.
Mike
On 20/08/2017 04:08, chuck winstead wrote:
Thanks you guys. i???ll check this out.
Chuck
On Aug 19, 2017, at 10:05 PM, Tom Fowle <wa6ivgtf@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Rich's techniques are fine, I do find that with smaller parts,
particularly
chips it is to advantage to feed solder with two fingers of the hand that
isn't holding the iron. This gives feedback as you can feel the solder
melt
when the joint becomes hot enough, and also feel the temperature rise just
before the melt point.
Much less risk of dropping extra solder about and lets you get off the
joint
as soon as it's soldered.
A good temperature controlled iron and a good cleaning spongue are real
advantages.
Tom Fowle WA6IVG
On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 05:14:31PM -0700, Rich Morin wrote:
I have helped several blind people to learn basic soldering skills, using===========================================================
some techniques taught by Jonathan Miele. The basic idea is that you fix
all of the components into position, then wrap a tiny bit of solder
around
the place where you want the connection. Finally, heat up the connection
with the soldering tip. If all goes well, some of the solder will attach
itself to the wires and make the connection.
However, molten solder will also drop off onto your work surface, other
parts, etc. This can cause assorted problems, such as short circuits, so
you'll need to check for (and tidy up) stray bits of solder.
You can increase the robustness of the connection (and your chances for a
successful result) by bending some relevant parts of the wires in
advance.
For example, to connect the end of one wire to the middle of another, you
could (using needle-nose pliers) make a hook on the end of one wire, then
wrap it around the other wire and crimp it slightly. To connect the ends
of two wires, make two hooks and crimp them together. Tinning the leads
first (ie, coating them with solder) can also improve your chances.
Be cautious about using random solder that you may find. Modern solder
is
lead-free, but old solder often won't be. You want rosin-filled solder,
because acid-filled solder (used in sheet-metal work) will corrode wires.
A good setup and some tooling can be a great help. I use an adjustable
jig with spring clips, a fan (to blow away fumes), and a heat-proof pad
(to catch falling solder and keep it from damaging the work surface). I
also have several pairs of cutters, hemostats, pliers, etc.
A temperature-controlled soldering iron is very nice to have. It won't
overheat your parts or the solder and will handle both small and large
wires. Use the lowest setting that works reliably. FWIW, I bought this
one a while back and have been very happy with it:
Aoyue 469 Variable Power 60 Watt Soldering Station
with Removable Tip Design- ESD Safe
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MCVCHJM
Finally, I have a half-hour timer that shuts everything down if I forget
to unplug things. (Leaving an unsupervised, 700 degree iron running is
a Bad Idea!)
Having said all of this, I wouldn't recommend soldering as a practical
life skill for most blind (or severely visually impaired) people. There
are a lot of prototyping setups that you can use for experimenting with
circuits. If you have a particular problem you're trying to solve, feel
free to get in touch, off-list, and I'll try to offer useful suggestions.
-r
--
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm Rich Morin rdm@xxxxxxxx
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume San Bruno, CA, USA +1 650-873-7841
Software system design, development, and documentation
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-----------------------------------------------------------
Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi logo are trademarks of the Raspberry Pi
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This list is not affiliated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the views
and attitudes expressed by the subscribers to this list do not reflect
those of the Foundation.
Mike Ray, list creator, January 2013
===========================================================
The raspberry-vi mailing list
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/raspberry-vi
Administrative contact: <mike.ray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
-----------------------------------------------------------
Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi logo are trademarks of the Raspberry Pi
Foundation.
This list is not affiliated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the views
and attitudes expressed by the subscribers to this list do not reflect
those of the Foundation.
Mike Ray, list creator, January 2013
--
Michael A. Ray
Analyst/Programmer
Witley, Surrey, South-east UK
Disclaimer: It wasn't me, you didn't see me, you can't prove a thing.
https://cromarty.github.io/
http://eyesfreelinux.ninja/
http://www.raspberryvi.org/
===========================================================
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Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/raspberry-vi
Administrative contact: <mike.ray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
-----------------------------------------------------------
Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi logo are trademarks of the Raspberry Pi
Foundation.
This list is not affiliated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the views
and attitudes expressed by the subscribers to this list do not reflect
those of the Foundation.
Mike Ray, list creator, January 2013
===========================================================
The raspberry-vi mailing list
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/raspberry-vi
Administrative contact: <mike.ray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
-----------------------------------------------------------
Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi logo are trademarks of the Raspberry Pi
Foundation.
This list is not affiliated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the views and
attitudes expressed by the subscribers to this list do not reflect those of
the Foundation.
Mike Ray, list creator, January 2013
